Craigslist

[silverlaced44]

Hi!
I'm wanting to upgrade my flock by one of two chickens and I need ones that are the same age as mine or older. Has anyone had experience with buying chickens from Craigslist?

Thanks!!

 

[klohman]

We are in IL, we bought chickens off Craigslist with no problem and we have sold twice on Craigslist. Everything worked out fine for us.

 

[donrae]

I sell on CL all the time, and am buying some birds from an ad on there today. CL is simply an advertising site, all sorts of folks advertise there. You can get high end breeders, or skeevy scary bird mill folks. You can usually tell some from the ad, but you really need to make contact with the person and check out their place to decide if you want to do business with them.

 

[izziebean]

I've sold a lot of chickens this year on craigslist.. bought a few too. Ask questions. Such as.... 1. Where did the birds come from? 2. Were they vaccinated?(helps to know either way) etc etc. 3. What kind of food are they eating (layer or starter) (pellet or crumbles). I usually send a couple of emails and then give them my cell phone number to text with them. I then do a little bit of research on the internet using their caller ID information to make sure they are legit. When you bring them home, please don't just toss them in the cage with your other chickens. It's best to set up a quarantine for at least 3 weeks. I think 21 days is when most avian viruses will show up. If you are comfortable with not doing the quarantine (which is an okay choice just know that you might lose your whole flock), then at least give them a little bit to get used to your girls. Put them in a separate fence from the other chickens, but to where both groups can see each other. After a couple of days, start integrating them. I usually choose one of my more docile birds to put into the same cage or create a new one so that none of them feel like they need to protect 'their space'.

Also, I do not go to anyone's farm and I do not let them come to my house. I meet them in a parking lot that I know has cameras. It makes it a bit hard to see the chickens and their behaviors, but I worry about illnesses when visiting someone else's farm. If you do go, put ziploc baggies over your boots. That way you aren't tracking in something to their farm and they aren't being exposed to anything from yours. Even the nicest person can miss signs of illness. Better to be safe than sorry.

All of my sales and buying took place over a few days. The one person who was very eager to buy the chicken right away, I ended up buying back because they weren't prepared. It was more of an impulse buy. From my perspective, I raised them as pets so they were emotionally hard to re-home. I was very choosy with who I would sell to. If you feel iffy or weird about it.. listen to instinct and walk away. There are always more birds.

I also just bought some really nice birds off of facebook. They were shipped directly to my home. Beautiful birds.. but they are more of the show quality than pets. I was told in advance that they were not raised as pets so I have a lot of work to get them to like people... but they have already started warming up to me.

Also, remember, once you buy the bird, it is your responsibility. If it isn't working out, then you will likely be responsible for re-homing. Some sellers will offer to take them back. Ask in advance if that is an option if you are uncomfortable with re-homing. As a seller, I would not offer this again. I do not know their farm so I'm not sure what they have been exposed to when not in my care. I do not want to have to quarantine them for 21 days just to sell them.

Final note.. if you like the chickens and they are fitting in nicely to the flock.. it is really nice to send them a text a couple of weeks later showing what a great addition they are to your flock and thank them for the sale. You have no idea how much that has meant to me. One lady even friended me on facebook so I am able to see them when she posts pictures of her chickens.