An Eastern Cape show chicken breeder could not believe her eyes when two of her prized “Bearded Silkies” sold for R5,000 each on an auction held on WhatsApp.
Adele Breedt, from Stutterheim, might not name her “show chickens”, but she is very proud of her two silkies that sold on a WhatsApp-based auction service called “Poultry WhatsApp Auction” over the weekend.
“It was a huge surprise. I am a fairly new chicken breeder, but I grew up with stock animals and later bred dogs,” Breedt told TimesLIVE Premium on Monday.
Her chickens are seldom bred to be eaten. They are used by their new owners for their eggs, in breeding or kept as outdoor pets.
“Sometimes breeders just do what they do to keep a specific breed alive.”
She is still almost breathless with excitement about the auction.
“The opening bids were R350. Normally a good price for these would be between R500 and R1,000. The previous record was R3,000 for a cuckoo silkie,” Breedt said.
The silkie is a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, said to feel like silk and satin. The breed has several other unusual qualities, such as black skin and bones, blue ear lobes and five toes on each foot, whereas most chickens have only four.
According to Breedt, their “shredded feathers also contribute to the fact that they are flightless and unable to keep dry and warm in cold wet weather”.
She loves her champion birds.
“It was all very thrilling. When they reached R3,000 they took a break. I was already over the moon, but then they continued after the break to R5,000!”
Her two prize winners are still quite young.
“They hatched in September, so to get such good prices for birds that are barely four months old is wonderful.”
She recommends silkies to chicken-loving (as pets or egg providers) city dwellers.
“They are small and very tame. They lay medium-size eggs and are not bothered by children.”
She does offer a caveat.
“These are flock birds, so please don’t keep them on their own. Two or three together is ideal.”
When asked why the chickens don’t have names, Breedt laughed.
“Most breeders do not grow too attached to their birds. They do have ring numbers, so they have identities, just not names.”
Saartjie Odendaal owns Poultry WhatsApp Auction, a business she manages on WhatsApp and Facebook. Odendaal grew up in an agricultural marketing home.
“My dad was a salesman, I often drove with him when he was on the farms buying this and selling that. He taught me that you had to be able to make money with your own hands.”
In 2024 the agricultural corporation where she worked closed their local branch.
“It was either move to another town or find another job. I was down on the ground because we had bought a house in Amalia — about 60km from Schweizer-Reneke — in 2006, so moving was out of the question,” Odendaal said.
Living on a farm, she was already staring at the answer to her problem but did not realise it at the time.
“I had huge cages full of budgies. One morning I woke up, and I didn't have enough money to feed the birds. I decided to sell some of them to feed the rest.”
At the time, Blackberry phones were all the rage.
“I put out word via my Blackberry and the budgie sales went well. People continued calling well after they were sold. It got me thinking,” Odendaal told TimesLIVE Premium.
“I’ve been to many auctions in the farming world. It is always bloody hot and a lot of hassle. You have to take your animals all the way there and then still transport them back home if they are not sold. I decided to take the heat and the hassle out of the equation.” Then another call changed the game even further.
“A woman from Bloemhof called me and said she was selling show chickens but was struggling to find a market. I told her I would do it, but on another group. The chickens did so well I have no time for other birds these days.”
When it comes to her auctions, she is satisfied, “but still growing”.
“We hold an auction every Tuesday and every Saturday evening. Our turnover for last Saturday’s auction was about R20,000. The transport of the chicken is the buyer’s responsibility and the seller pays me my 5% commission once they have been paid.”
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