Joe Villamil gets a gleam in his eyes when he starts talking poultry. Joe runs Villamil Farms in Westville, and he was the auctioneer and emcee for the Muskogee Poultry Swap on Saturday. About 1,700 birds were brought into the Muskogee Fairgrounds and swapped, sold, bought, and admired by 250 or more poultry lovers.

Villamil has 13 years experience in the poultry business, and eight years in running poultry events. He volunteered his time Saturday to make sure things ran smoothly.

“We had a lot of good birds and a great turnout on buyers,” Villamil said. “We’ve done a similar show in Stilwell, and this facility is much better. It’s bigger, and it’s much more accessible for the buyers.”

There was a lot of poultry experience gathered under the roof of the sale barn. Sean Clark has been raising poultry since he was 5 years old.

“It’s a significant portion of my income,” said Clark as he watched his son Dale play with a rooster. “I spend several hours a day with my birds, and I raise several different breeds.”

The types of birds swapped and sold were endless; chickens, pigeons, turkeys, geese and peacocks, just to name a few. Even more numerous were the breeds, some of which were imported from Sweden and Great Britain.

Some of the birds fetched prices of up to $75, while others sold for just 50 cents.

“I sold some of mine before I even got set up,” Villamil said. “I had a couple of Golden Cochins that went for $50 apiece."

“My babies went cheap,” said Kim Johnson, who is also an independent inspector for the National Poultry Improvement Program. “I gave some of them up for 50 cents, but I just didn’t want to take them back home.”

Johnson was on hand to inspect poultry for buyers if they needed it, as well as to sell some of her chickens, peacocks and guineas. The results of her inspections are reported to the state, and serve to control the spread of communicable diseases in Oklahoma poultry.

Most of these birds do not contribute to the kitchen table, though.

“I have over 500 birds on my property,” Clark said. “And I still go to Walmart for eggs. It’s cheaper.”

Johnson said she wouldn’t ever eat one of her chickens, even at the end of their life span.

“It’s cheaper to go to the store, after you factor in the cost of raising them,” she said. “I take them to auctions when they get old and sell them there to folks who want to butcher them.”

Both Villamil and Clark agree that for a first year swap, it was done very well, and they are depending on word of mouth to increase the traffic for next year’s swap. They hope to make the swap an annual event.

“Attendance-wise it was successful,” said Clark. “Some of the prices were a bit low, but it’s all about supply and demand. This event just needs time to grow.”

Villamil said he’d like to see more public interest and involvement, and mentioned you can “Like” his farm’s page on Facebook to keep up with information about other local poultry swaps and auctions.

“We’ll be back next year,” he said. “It’ll be around the same time of year, and we hope to have even more folks come out.”