Becoming a Chicken-Sitter By Chance

[MissTracy]

I thumb through my local Craigslit a lot, mostly to see what birds people are breeding, price points, and anything else that might catch my eye. I saw an ad titled ‘Chicken Sitter Needed’. I thought, “I do that every day anyway, what’s a few more birds?”
I ended up meeting a nice lady and her son, who brought their crew over and we chatted for an hour. We toured the farm and I’d like to think they had a good time. I’m not really interested in the pay, but it’s awesome to have interaction with these new breeds on my home turf. One is a turken, and the rest are bantams that I don’t currently have. They have also been de-crowed, which is so weird to me because I have never seen or heard that.
All I have done is confirmed one thing: chickens are some of the coolest things on the planet, and sometimes their owners are pretty cool too.

 

[BY Bob]

They have also been de-crowed

Do you mean to say they have removed the rooster's voice box?

 

[MissTracy]

Do you mean to say they have removed the rooster's voice box?

Is that what you say? Idk they sound like crickets to me. Or maybe like they’re choking on something. Froggy. Weird.

 

[MissTracy]

Okay. So I was wrong. About all of it. I wasn’t chicken sitting for a normal person with space and that has animals with enclosures like the rest of us do. I was chicken sitting for someone who has sheep and dogs and rabbits and chickens and quail inside of city limits. And the roosters weren’t permanently dechanted, they had velcro strips around their throats to choke their voiceboxes.
Oh, and they were being investigated by animal control. And I didn’t get paid for scrubbing out their disgusting cages, moving them into separate enclosures so that they would have space on actual ground, feeding and refilling their leaky water bottles...
I don’t know how to feel right now but it’s overall not good.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Sorry you had that experience. I would be upset, too. Many strange folks on Craigslist I have discovered. You chose to be a good person and thought you were helping someone out. Hopefully those poor chickens will get better homes.

 

[kelzey]

Okay. So I was wrong. About all of it. I wasn’t chicken sitting for a normal person with space and that has animals with enclosures like the rest of us do. I was chicken sitting for someone who has sheep and dogs and rabbits and chickens and quail inside of city limits. And the roosters weren’t permanently dechanted, they had velcro strips around their throats to choke their voiceboxes.
Oh, and they were being investigated by animal control. And I didn’t get paid for scrubbing out their disgusting cages, moving them into separate enclosures so that they would have space on actual ground, feeding and refilling their leaky water bottles...
I don’t know how to feel right now but it’s overall not good.

those poor babies deserve so much better what ): they look so sweet, i can only imagine what their other animals are living like.

 

[BY Bob]

Okay. So I was wrong. About all of it. I wasn’t chicken sitting for a normal person with space and that has animals with enclosures like the rest of us do. I was chicken sitting for someone who has sheep and dogs and rabbits and chickens and quail inside of city limits. And the roosters weren’t permanently dechanted, they had velcro strips around their throats to choke their voiceboxes.
Oh, and they were being investigated by animal control. And I didn’t get paid for scrubbing out their disgusting cages, moving them into separate enclosures so that they would have space on actual ground, feeding and refilling their leaky water bottles...
I don’t know how to feel right now but it’s overall not good.

That's awful, I'm so sorry. You must feel used and those poor animals.

for you, for the poor animals.

 

[MissTracy]

I just don’t understand. In an NCheatwave like we’ve been having, they didn’t shear the sheep. I thought that was normal? And they always wore pants, and I think they were covering up flea bites or something. I just feel bad for the child. I gave him some new shoes, and he had them on when he came back. My kids were thrilled to play with him. Sad.

 

[BY Bob]

I just don’t understand. In an NCheatwave like we’ve been having, they didn’t shear the sheep. I thought that was normal? And they always wore pants, and I think they were covering up flea bites or something. I just feel bad for the child. I gave him some new shoes, and he had them on when he came back. My kids were thrilled to play with him. Sad.

Very sad. Poor sheep. Just a sad situation. I'm sorry you got pulled into it.