How do you know a buyer is gonna take care of the brids you sell?

[Linita]

I know a lot of people don't care about this, but if you do care about where do you send your animals and feel responsible for the life you give them or send them to, stay with me.

I have hatched some japanese isabelle coturnix quail and I'm having a terrible experience so far selling the chicks.


Not asking how to know for sure, because unless you know the person or they give you a very good vibe and show obvious interest in good care, you're not going to know for sure.

But asking instead what's the best you can do? What can you do about it? What do you guys do about it?

I think this is a very interesting topic and a concern for a lot of people, so I hope we can come up with some ideas.

As for my story and what I am doing already:

I hatched birds as a project. I didn't know how many would hatch if any and I was advised to put a full incubator. So from that I had 18 chicks that I planned on selling. I had sold a rooster and a hen before and didn't get into this kind of trouble, I really wasn't expecting this to happen. It was just unthinkable for me that people would buy a very specific type of laying hen chick without even knowing how to care for chicks in general. I never thought someone would attemt to throw chicks in the backyard in the middle of winter. I mean chicks need a brooder it's like ABC so I obviosly wasn't expecting people who keep animals to not know this or don't care about it. Specially not after they've specifically go to look for them, pick them up and pay for them.

I have put all info in my add, including minimum care like having a brooder and a heat lamp, but yet almost everyone that writes to me hasn't even bothered reading the add, and 90% of people intend to just throw the chicks in a yard in the middle of winter.
I still feel so awful about the first person I sold the chicks to. He took 11 chicks. I thought it was obvious for pretty much everyone that chicks need a brooder and heat source yet I even put it in the ad. This man tho, didn't say anything about it and after he had given me the money and I had given him the birds he told me that last time he threw the chicks in the yard and that's that, like he wanted to do that again. I told the man we're in the middle of winter you can't do that, and besides they need the heat lamp and being indoors for at least 1 month and a half even if we were in a different season with better weather. This man overall gave me terrible vibes, I insisted a lot in explaining him and his wife the minimum care for the chicks and then went away.
Even after screening the buyers a lot most of people like, don't seem to know the care of a chick, or don't take it seriously, or they just don't care. I've been holding for the rest of the chicks until now, telling every potential buyer even if it's written in the add that they need a heat source. And they all have been terrible or write saying they don't have a heat lamp they'll tell me when they have one and never get back to me.
I don't want to send the chicks somewhere where they're gonna freeze to death or not be protected from predators. I don't know how to try to screen the buyers, as I'm doing it right now looks like I go to no buyers.
I live in a one bedroom appartment so I can't hold very long on the chicks. Most of them I need to sell by the time they're 1 week or 10 days old.
What do you do to screen your buyers? What advice do you have?
This is what I've been doing so far:
-I chose a laying spieces and that it's also very scarce in the area to incubate, so that I get more buyers and I expect them to take better care of the quail.
-I have waited 1 week at least to sell the chicks because they start being less vulnerable after this date, although if I had more energy space and resources, I'd have liked to wait longer.
-I have priced the chicks I believe on the pricier side, so that if someone buys them I expect them to take good care of them to protect their investment.
-I check buyers reviews if they have any (mostly they don't have any) and avoid the ones with bad reviews.
-I try to avoid people that give me a bad feeling. Although I've now agreed to sell the rest of the chicks (4 of them, I'm keeping 3) to a guy that gives me a bad feeling, since he said that he had quail but a predator eat them. Because I've asked him and he says he has a brooder and a lamp and that's the best I've found so far. Also he seems very bold. He overalls gives me a bad feeling but I don't know what else to do, the rest of the buyers seem even worse or don't really commit to the purchase.
I do care a lot about the chicks. I love every single one of them, and it breaks my heart to give them to someone who's not gonna take good care or at least decent care of them.

The only previous experience I have selling animals is selling a hen and a rooster, and I faced different problems, people not buying and a guy even stood me up after going with the hen far away from where I used to live, but as for taking care of the animals didn't have a problem.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Quick answer, you won't know if they're taking care of them. Same for when people are trying to rehome 'pet' roosters. You cannot say with competent accuracy whether this person is going to keep them as a pet or take them home to butcher.

 

[nuthatched]

We all want animals to go to good homes but there's only so much micromanagement we can do.
People never read ads. Ever.
After an animal leaves your care, it's no longer yours, what they do isn't your fault.
Where do you advertise your birds?
It doesn't sound like this is working out for you, I recommend you stop hatching chicks and switch to hatching eggs or not to sell at all.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

We all want animals to go to good homes but there's only so much micromanagement we can do.
People never read ads. Ever.
After an animal leaves your care, it's no longer yours, what they do isn't your fault.
Where do you advertise your birds?
It doesn't sound like this is working out for you, I recommend you stop hatching chicks and switch to hatching eggs or not to sell at all.

I do. But I'm weird like that

I know when I used to sell and give away live birds, I would have people ask me basically everything I had listed in the ads, sometimes more than once. Like they thought I was lying and trying to catch me in it.

Sometimes I would get updates with the pet roosters I gave away. Sometimes I just had to tell myself they're doing good and that they're making lots of pretty babies.

The roosters I was determined to not let someone take for dinner or fly feathers, they often stayed months, Sometimes over a year. I had a pair of barred cochin boys I just adored (I would have kept them if I could have justified having 3 barred cochin males and only one female), they were 18 months when I finally found a home looking for some kid friendly boys. The only inquire I'd had before was someone who wanted them to use for flies for flyfishing.

 

[Linita]

We all want animals to go to good homes but there's only so much micromanagement we can do.
People never read ads. Ever.
After an animal leaves your care, it's no longer yours, what they do isn't your fault.
Where do you advertise your birds?
It doesn't sound like this is working out for you, I recommend you stop hatching chicks and switch to hatching eggs or not to sell at all.

I read the ads, I think it's the least you can do. because if a buyer puts time into writting it so they don't have to explain everything to everyone, well, it's a bit insulting to go ask something that's already written in the ad. I think people should read the ads. They clearly don't but they're in the wrong.

I advertise them in a portal where pretty much everyone does advertise their livestock here in Spain.
I don't understand what do you mean stop hatching chicks and start hatching eggs?
I mean I hatched eggs, chicks come from eggs. Or you mean selling eggs to hatch?
I don't have any farm or any adult birds. I decided to hatch birds for the first time, and I really liked the experience besides selling them. I'd like to do it again, but I have ethical concerns about all of this. But I'm doing so as a hobby or project, I'm just selling them to make sure people will at least care for them somehow because they paid and to cover the cost of the eggs and electricity food etc. I don't make any money. The eggs were actually very pricey because I had to get them shipped, to get this spieces that it's a laying one. No locals sell here. All to give the birds a better life afterwards.

 

[Linita]

Quick answer, you won't know if they're taking care of them. Same for when people are trying to rehome 'pet' roosters. You cannot say with competent accuracy whether this person is going to keep them as a pet or take them home to butcher.

Of course you can't say with accuracy but what can you do besides what I'm doing? That's my question. What's the best you can do?
Btw I read the adds too!

And for me I'm not so worried about the roosters being culled for meat as long as they take good care of the animals and do so with the proper care.

What I am worried is animals being neglected. Dying in the cold, starve, live in bad conditions, getting eaten by predators because of bad protection etc.

Asking for a following in the birds seems unnappropiate since they're paying for the birds. But giving them away and ask for following I think it's WAY WORSE than asking for someone to pay for them. Since if they paid well, you can think they're probably gonna take care of them. If they were free you probably would get ghosted and never knew anything more. Like free chicks, impossible.

(Not saying that you're suggesting I give them away)

 

[nuthatched]

I do. But I'm weird like that

I know when I used to sell and give away live birds, I would have people ask me basically everything I had listed in the ads, sometimes more than once. Like they thought I was lying and trying to catch me in it.

Sometimes I would get updates with the pet roosters I gave away. Sometimes I just had to tell myself they're doing good and that they're making lots of pretty babies.

The roosters I was determined to not let someone take for dinner or fly feathers, they often stayed months, Sometimes over a year. I had a pair of barred cochin boys I just adored (I would have kept them if I could have justified having 3 barred cochin males and only one female), they were 18 months when I finally found a home looking for some kid friendly boys. The only inquire I'd had before was someone who wanted them to use for flies for flyfishing.

It's hard to find legitimate inquires, advertising animals brings the weirdos and incompetent out of the wood work.
I read ads because I'm cheap and hate messaging random people and I want to make sure this worth pursuing.

I read the ads, I think it's the least you can do. because if a buyer puts time into writting it so they don't have to explain everything to everyone, well, it's a bit insulting to go ask something that's already written in the ad. I think people should read the ads. They clearly don't but they're in the wrong.

I advertise them in a portal where pretty much everyone does advertise their livestock here in Spain.
I don't understand what do you mean stop hatching chicks and start hatching eggs?
I mean I hatched eggs, chicks come from eggs. Or you mean selling eggs to hatch?
I don't have any farm or any adult birds. I decided to hatch birds for the first time, and I really liked the experience besides selling them. I'd like to do it again, but I have ethical concerns about all of this. But I'm doing so as a hobby or project, I'm just selling them to make sure people will at least care for them somehow because they paid and to cover the cost of the eggs and electricity food etc. I don't make any money. The eggs were actually very pricey because I had to get them shipped, to get this spieces that it's a laying one. No locals sell here. All to give the birds a better life afterwards.

Yes, I meant sell hatching eggs, I should have clarified, I'm sorry.
Honestly, it sounds like a lot of stress and bother to find good home for chicks, especially since you have to have the eggs shipped and hatch them. If someone wants this certain breed, they should seek it them selves. Hatching shipped eggs to sell the chicks, you can't guarantee the quality or health of the birds and they could come back to bite you, if your supplier has iffy or sick birds.
Maybe offer an incubation service for people to bring their eggs to you and you hatch them? You'd have a more guaranteed good home and not wonder what you're going to do with them unless somebody flakes.

 

[Coops Dad]

Quick answer, you won't know if they're taking care of them. Same for when people are trying to rehome 'pet' roosters. You cannot say with competent accuracy whether this person is going to keep them as a pet or take them home to butcher.

Re: rehoming roosters, I've called people who are giving away roosters and been very upfront about my intentions- quarantine them, fatten them up, and eat them. I've had a couple of folks "nope out" but by and large it's been "whatever, just don't be cruel or inhumane". A couple of the folks who initially noped eventually called me back after not being able to give away their unwanted roosters.

I've sold a lot of chickens on CL and FB, and it's easy to screen out the weird ones or those who are obviously unfamiliar with chicken keeping; to them, I simply say "hey, I'm sorry, it doesn't look like these would be a good fit for your situation. If things change, text me a pic of your (setup/coop/brooder/whatever) and we can revisit it". I've never had a callback from one of those. Full disclosure- my phone conduct is direct, clear and concise, and I don't argue or debate. I apologize and restate my decision.

I DID have a woman and her two daughters drive three hours to buy an Ayam Cemani rooster and his four AC hens. The daughters fell in love with the three silkie hens I was also trying to sell and I was so confident in my "read" of them that I gave them the silkies. She keeps in touch and said one of the silkies is the most aggressive momma when she goes broody.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Re: rehoming roosters, I've called people who are giving away roosters and been very upfront about my intentions- quarantine them, fatten them up, and eat them. I've had a couple of folks "nope out" but by and large it's been "whatever, just don't be cruel or inhumane". A couple of the folks who initially noped eventually called me back after not being able to give away their unwanted roosters.

I've sold a lot of chickens on CL and FB, and it's easy to screen out the weird ones or those who are obviously unfamiliar with chicken keeping; to them, I simply say "hey, I'm sorry, it doesn't look like these would be a good fit for your situation. If things change, text me a pic of your (setup/coop/brooder/whatever) and we can revisit it". I've never had a callback from one of those. Full disclosure- my phone conduct is direct, clear and concise, and I don't argue or debate. I apologize and restate my decision.

I DID have a woman and her two daughters drive three hours to buy an Ayam Cemani rooster and his four AC hens. The daughters fell in love with the three silkie hens I was also trying to sell and I was so confident in my "read" of them that I gave them the silkies. She keeps in touch and said one of the silkies is the most aggressive momma when she goes broody.

That's a good point. I give my ag class at school eggs in return for the male's once they're visibly old enough to sex. I was pretty clear that most that went home with me would be processed when i was told they were ready to go. Kids were a bit bummed, not that I blame them since two of the 3 this time around are very sweet so far (and will stay if they remain okay through puberty and work out in the bachelor Flock).

I love when people tell me they're eating the male's. Gives me a chance to give them one I would be fine being consumed and they don't lose anything (actually sometimes they get a better bird for eating).

I moreso meant in my original post that I could easily lie and say this bird will have a forever home with a dozen hens and free range everyday, and then take him home to eat. Not sure why people would do that, but I wouldn't put it past them either

 

[Coops Dad]

That's a good point. I give my ag class at school eggs in return for the male's once they're visibly old enough to sex. I was pretty clear that most that went home with me would be processed when i was told they were ready to go. Kids were a bit bummed, not that I blame them since two of the 3 this time around are very sweet so far (and will stay if they remain okay through puberty and work out in the bachelor Flock).

I love when people tell me they're eating the male's. Gives me a chance to give them one I would be fine being consumed and they don't lose anything (actually sometimes they get a better bird for eating).

I moreso meant in my original post that I could easily lie and say this bird will have a forever home with a dozen hens and free range everyday, and then take him home to eat. Not sure why people would do that, but I wouldn't put it past them either

I tell them up front because a townie friend of ours gave us a rooster which was processed during the next butchering session. Months later, she asked how <random name> was doing and I asked "who?" She was devastated that we would have eaten such a pretty bird, so sweet, so nice, such personality, etc.

I've been proactive in disclosure since then.