Birds of Fire

It was 10:40pm as I found myself surfing on Ebay. I was dog tired, but staying up late with a computer in front of me was my attempt at being "social" with the rest of the family. I very rarely visit Ebay; it drives me crazy when I see something I'd like to have and then I get outbid. I think if I ever went to a live auction, I would probably end up getting in a fist fight with whoever outbid me... 

Scrolling through the list of hatching chicken eggs that were up for bid, I found multiple auctions that interested me. Rare Isbars and Legbars were at decent prices, Partridge Silkies were going fast, Lavender Orpingtons were as beautiful (and pricey!) as ever... 

And then on page #6 I saw it:

8+ Pumpkin Hulsey hatching eggs were up for bid. There were 13 hours left, and the current price was only $6.50.

I gasped audibly, which made the family turn at look at me for a moment before realizing that I was merely exclaiming over a bird. They went back to their card games, books, and quilling projects, while I was seemingly hung in suspension. 

Those of you who have been here awhile may remember a post I wrote last month about the coveted Pumpkin Hulsey chicken. I've wanted this breed for somewhere around 2 years and even ducked into the world of cockfighting to find a pair. They are birds of fire; the color of flame, charcoal, and smoldering brown. I've always wanted a hawk or falcon of my own, but since I can't at this time, a Pumpkin Hulsey is probably about as close to having a raptor as one can get. They are fierce looking birds; more hawk-like than chicken. Alas, their price, which went as high as $1,000 for a pair, always prevented me from getting any breeding stock of my own.

Frozen in place, with a laptop sitting in front of me last night, I saw the opportunity to finally have my own Pumpkin Hulseys.

I immediately placed a bid, and then went to bed. I'm just not a social person it seems... Or not at night anyway when I'm tired and know that the cow needs to be milked early the next morning. 

This morning I checked the bid again, but found that I was now competing with someone else for the eggs and the price was higher! Noooooo! There were only two hours left before the auction was over, so after finishing barn chores I plunked myself down at the computer and watched that bid like a hawk. 

When the bid was down the the last minute I placed my bid. To my horror, I found that my competitor had placed a maximum bid of an unknown amount, so as the clock ticked and my time whittled away, I was desperately raising my price a little higher and higher, praying that the other person hadn't bid too much.

The clock had exactly 2 seconds left when I finally placed the magic number and got my bid higher. My total was $10.51 for 8+ Pumpkin Hulsey eggs. There were other bids going on for some other Hulseys, but those bids had already soared sky high and were way out of my price range (the usual 3-digit amount. Sigh.). I couldn't believe that this bid had gone unnoticed, and that I had gotten this highly sought-after breed for the price of two Little Caesar's pizzas. Who says magic and luck don't exist? The breeder/seller seems honest and has an excellent track record for her sales; the bloodlines behind these Hulseys is stunning as well. I'm happy.

So how about that?? After all these months of searching and waiting, I'm finally getting my birds of fire. My fingers are crossed that I get a decent hatch rate with the eggs, but even if I only end up with a pair I'll be okay with that. Ten bucks for chickens is a good price and you can't beat that with a stick my friends.