Anyone else feel guilty selling chickens?

[SimplyForties]

Have those of you who have too many chickens but can't bring yourself to process them looked around to see if there is anyone in your area who will process them for you? Seems like that might be the perfect solution.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I feel horribly guilty everytime I sell a bird to anyone. The hard part is letting the ornamental bantam seramas go only to hear back from the buyer that the bird was either killed by predators because they let them run loose or died cause it got too cold! Only one person I have sold seramas too still has the birds I sold her. As for the asian folks, have u seen them at swaps grabbing every freaking bird there is to grab before someone else can even get a chance to buy them as a pet? It's rude crude and disgusting! the way they hold them upside down by their legs or by their wings and shove them in the trunk of their cars or just process them in the back of their truck right in front of you?. I am all for eating standard birds that doesn't bother me at all but it bothers me when the banties get sold for eating. I mean come on is it worth all the work of cleaning them for such a little amount of meat? Another thing is when you have sold a bird to someone who promises to give them a good home and take good care of them only to see a bigger price on their head at the next swap! It's a sad sad chicken world out there. I find that if you mark your birds up to say $10 each no one is gonna buy them to eat so thats what I do, mark em up and laugh at the people who try to offer me $3 if the bird doesn't sell then I take it home knowing it will live to see another day.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
No, not necessarily cruel. Actually, I think chickens travel better in snug dark (but ventilated, of course) enclosures, especially if it's just a short trip. That way they're not tumbling & tripping all over their cage every time the car stops or turns. During a short trip they don't need food & water either. In the dark box they just sort of doze off and snooze until they arrive at their destination. And securing their legs together may well insure they don't run away when they're taken out of the box. It can also insure safety for the people handling them, so they don't get clawed or spurred. Maybe these folks cannot keep chickens at their home and intend to process them right away.

This doesn't seem cruel or thoughtless to me. Actually, it shows considerable foresight for the well-being of both the birds and their handlers. I know instances where chickens got out of their cages or boxes while in a moving vehicle and made it very dangerous for the driver, the other cars on the road, and the bird itself if it escaped out an open window.

When I transport chickens I don't tie their legs, but I pack them snugly in cages or crates and make sure the latches are tightly closed. But I wouldn't have issues if someone carried their birds home in the way described. As long as they didn't tie the legs so tight the circulation was compromised, and they weren't handling them harshly.

But I can see how this would upset someone who expected a different treatment for the birds they sold. If so, then just talk to the people, ask them why they're doing what you're seeing, you may learn that it isn't as bad as you thought and you can put your mind at ease.

Like maybe the people clamoring to buy little roos at the swap meet run a soup kitchen to feed the less fortunate. I'm sure they could find better bargains on already-processed chicken at the grocery store, perhaps they're smart enough to know that home-grown chicken is the best, and ambitious enough to process them by themselves. Or maybe the old lady has a closet full of blue ribbons for showing poultry at the county fair and wants to get a few more birds of her own to keep. Or perhaps the crate you thought was too small really is the most secure way to transport the birds you've sold.

Or, like I said before, if it bothers you so much you may need to stop selling chickens or stop hatching out any more than you can keep.

 

[mandelyn]

I've never felt guilty, but I was selling at the flea market and my prices weren't cheap, so that kept the eating people from buying. I'd sit and hold one the whole time to demonstrate how tame they are, and put a big emphasis on the pet idea. Rarely had a rooster that I couldn't pair up, but when I did, he was $5. The rest were $15 and up per pair, chicks were $3 and up. All novelty breeds though. I think it's harder with standard breeds, egg layers, meat birds, or dual purpose, since they do have a purpose for human consumption, and there's so many you can't ask a lot of money to aid in weeding people out in hopes of a better home.

But with Bantams and Easter Eggers, I was sold out by 11am, people sometimes fighting over the really tame ones.

I've done a lot of rescue work, and sometimes had a breeding program, and the amount of animals I've sold or adapted out... I've lost count. With sale animals, I screen people AND hold to a high price if they don't seem genuine. With adoption animals, I stick to some kind of a price, and really screen the people more indepth.

But the rescue work and the flow of animals in and out, it really makes it so I can part with the majority. But my favorites... selling/adopting is not an option... I would feel as bad doing that as if they had died. My Shepherds... never, not for any amount. The little dog... he doesn't even have a real name, we call him "squeekers" or "pipsqueek". He's crashing here until the rest of his behavior problems are solved and he gets neutered, then I'll adopt him out. No hurry, he stays until a GREAT home is found like with anyone else.

Desperation (like if you have a way mean rooster or too many and it's affecting your flock's happiness) means you can't be that picky. No reason to feel guilty though if they end up in an eating home... they are chickens.. organic, happy chickens... who got to live a chicken life before being freezer bound. Way better off than those poor commercial birds who knew nothing but dust, small spaces, crowding, and never even one blade of grass.

 

[patandchickens]

Wow, do you actually think this (tie legs together & carry home in a box) is not cruel?

Well, I don't think it's especially cruel. If not in a box, then what, a limo?

Chickens seem to travel best in smallish quarters (so they don't slide around or try to struggle and bonk their heads over and over) and in the dark. As for tying the legs together, it depends how it is done I suppose, but I do not see that it is inherently cruel and may be a sensible measure to prevent the chicken from escaping at the other end of its juourney when the box is opened, and either having to be chased all around (stressful) or getting loose and dying a lonely hungry cold death by predator (stressful).

if it bothers you so much you may need to stop selling chickens or stop hatching out any more than you can keep.

100% agree, especially about the last half. (Not directed at any particular 'you', just anyone)

Pat​

 

[jjthink]

Just to be clear, I don't sell or hatch chickens (as lovely as it would be to have those little munchkins around!).

And I will maintain till the day I no longer breathe oxygen that it is stressful for chickens to be bound. Clearly, they can't be loose in a vehicle - geez freakin' louise - no one suggested that! - but legs bound in a box is not the only alternative. When I have had to transport chickens, I have them comfortably tucked in a secure carrier that has air and light and a nice deep bed of fresh pine shavings for them to nestle in and/or get their footing should they wish to stand and stretch. I might cover part of it if it were a chicken that didn't know me and would be stressed to see me. They are not released from the carrier until safely at their destination and in a predator proof setting.

They stress badly enough being transported, even when made comfortable. We humans need to try harder to put ourselves in their 'shoes'. There's no talking me out of this, by the way

JJ

 

[Kim_NC]

We raise laying hens for selling eggs. They're not pets and they can't stay here past effective production age, with the exception of good broodys or best layers used for breeders. We also raise Cornish X for meat chickens and POL pullets to sell.

Typically the roos from our hatches (that don't sell) end up as meatpies, coq au vin, soup/stew, canned chicken, canned chicken stock, etc. I have no problem butchering them for us to eat. Spent layers - same thing.

Regarding birds I sell, I have no problem with anyone buying them for eating. It's really none of my business. However, a buyer can't show-up here and expect to mistreat them in front of me either.

I also don't worry about POL pullets and the homes they're getting. I sell them for enough money that people who just want cheap birds and/or don't care about their living conditions will pass me by. Will they all be pets?, all get free-range homes?, all be pampered? Probably not and it doesn't concern me. They will still live in better conditions than factory farm layers.

We've had people contact us, wanting a place to send their aged-out layers. They think sending them to "live out their days on a farm" would be nice. "You know, some place where we can also visit them once in awhile." "You have room don't you?"....OR "Do you take chickens like that?" ......

Really at that point I'm biting my tongue. From our perspective it's just ridiculous. I always forgive their ignorance and respond politely with a "No...blah blah blah". But really, some people need to put a bit of thought into this kind of thing before they hatch chicks that are naturally going to be half roos, raise layers that will age out, accumulate too many pets, etc.

Ooppsss...no rant intended.

 

[brandibaby23]

Anyone on this forum from Pa or close. There are a lot of good ideas for selling birds, and maybe I could go with someone or something to sell a bird at the flea market or something that sounds like a good idea. I have this problem Too. I have 3 Roos now 4 guineas and 11 hens, and six babies (black cochin banties) and 1 weird lookin cockatoo baby and I know this spring I need to clean out a little. But I just can't even imagine who i'd let go. Oh the horribleness of it all

 

[anonymous2342]

There are a lot worse things that could happen to a chicken than to provide nourishment to a grateful human family, even a Chinese one. I know many families who prefer homegrown chicken and consider the ones sold in the grocery stores to be inferior in quality & taste. They probably figure you're doing each other a great favor, they're getting quality protein for their families and you're getting some $$$ and more room for the chickens you wish to keep. So what if they tie their legs together & carry them home in a box? Maybe they have to distance themselves emotionally in order to do the processing effectively. As long as they're not treating them with cruelty you shouldn't mind.

This is the reality if you're raising chickens, especially if you're hatching them out at home. You will probably find yourself with more chickens than you can keep, especially roosters. Even in a mixed flock the best ratio is 1:10, meaning that 90% of the roosters hatched will be surplus. I wish you luck in finding loving homes for them away from some table. Just look at all the roosters being offered for free on the Buy/Sell/Trade forum. You could be grateful that you've got folks who will give you some actual dollars for your extra roosters, to help pay you back for the feed that has gone into them.

I think all the chicks hatched at my place are adorable, and the roosters that result are certainly handsome & personable. But it would be impossible to keep them all, it would make conditions unbearable for both me & them. Like many other chicken keepers, I've learned to process my own surplus roosters. Other folks just have to come to terms with this less pleasant aspect of chicken-keeping. Some sell with a "don't ask/don't tell" policy, preferring not to know what fate befalls their sold birds, others find families they know will at least dispatch their birds with care and sell only to them.

Or you could build more coops. And buy more chicken feed.

Or you could stop hatching out more birds.

I just sold my 9 hens which 5 were bought and 4 were raised since they were children, even though they were bought, they were all loved, we sold them to a chinese family for about 12 dollars each and they were gonna eat them, i feel so bad for the chickens, especially the younger ones we raised since they were jumping out of the box scared and they feared them, the 5 older ones were carried to the car by hand and they just seemed to quiet and it was like they knew their life was over, it was honestly so sad.

 

[McChooky]

It doesn't bother me to sell a meat bird to a family who's eating it but I won't sell a layer to someone who doesn't have a proper coop built first.