Debating craigslist roos and etiquette

[thebulg]

Our city ordinance allows 10 poultry per property, and chickens fall under the noise laws, so a rooster is fine as long as there is no noise complaint.

Ok, that aside. We are slowly working toward your typical homestead solution i guess, where we just cull excess roosters/bad hens.

People in this area do a poor job (honestly people in a lot of areas) understanding the laws and getting caught up in cute chicks and not thinking things through. Free roosters end up on craigslist often. Very often. There are 5 on there now and one for $15. If we got them all, that's less than $3 per bird.

My husband and i are trying to decide what our responsibility is. Anyone who includes a full personality description and glitter feeders and an instragram account for their rooster is obviously out, but for the most part, is it good manners to offer to get the roo and explain that it will almost certainly be made into nourishment, or should we simply say "we can take him" and leave it at that unless they ask?

Do other people on here do this?

 

[donrae]

I'm in the don't ask, don't tell camp. If folks list the bird with no provisions, he's fair game. I wouldn't necessarily flaunt the fact you're going to eat him, but the fact is, once he's yours, you can do with him as you please.

Love the Instagram comment

there was a member who sticks out in my mind from a few years ago, I think her username was booker81. She did quite well eating off CL roosters. Try a search for her username, she had quite a thread going with good pics of her free food.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm in the don't ask, don't tell camp. If folks list the bird with no provisions, he's fair game. I wouldn't necessarily flaunt the fact you're going to eat him, but the fact is, once he's yours, you can do with him as you please.

Love the Instagram comment

there was a member who sticks out in my mind from a few years ago, I think her username was booker81. She did quite well eating off CL roosters. Try a search for her username, she had quite a thread going with good pics of her free food.

If they ask just tell them that you LOVE roosters. Let them make what ever out of it that they wish to make.

If a twitter message is a tweet, would a chicken communicating with Instagram be peeping?

 

[Blooie]

We talked about this as well. What if they eat treated grass or have been vaccinated or on antibiotics? That's certainly worth knowing, because our guy and gals are raised pretty naturally. I think over time we are going to have to set some standards of sorts with ourselves and judge living conditions a little. The really sad reality is that even a rooster from what we would consider bad backyard conditions probably is twice as healthy as any factory bird. Which blows my mind.i dont think we would eat a rooster coming from filthy backyard conditions and it makes me feel a little strange about what i've been eating all these years.

I tend to disagree with this - not with the sentiment because I certainly do agree in principle, but facts sometimes have to take precedence. There's a family in our area with chickens. Lots of people used to buy eggs from her. Once my girls started laying I gave away eggs, telling people that as the girls got older and their eggs were larger and more consistent in size the price would be "X". One gentleman came buy to get a dozen eggs, and commented that it was nice to have the eggs washed first for a change. Since I was on the town council and he was a town employee I took him back to see our setup. As we were talking, one of the girls stood up off the nest and gave her proud egg song. I reached in under her, pulled out the egg, and said, "See, I don't wash them first. This is how I get them." After that I had a customer for life, and he's referred lots of folks to me.

I have constantly had comments on how healthy my birds are, and even living smack dab in town people smile when they drive or walk by and see them outside enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, and doing a little nibbling on what they find. By contrast, her birds are kept in weather-worn, misshapen OSB shelters that are little more than dingy boxes. They aren't living, they're existing but she stays just on this side of "turn her behind in". The pens are basically mud. I'd 10 times rather buy a factory bird than anything that might come out of that place. But I'd 100 times rather buy a bird from a place like mine that either hers or a factory.

Aaand, I forgot the question......

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I think it's don't ask/don't tell -- if someone is set on having their bird not become dinner they are going to say so in the ad, many folks would rather not know so they just leave things unsaid and figure whatever happens once the bird is out of their control is not on them and they can believe he moved off to that fairytale place where all roosters live long and happy lives frolicking in big, green fields.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Etiquette dictates that you respect a persons wish of what they want for the animal. Legally you can do whatever you want with it once it's yours. As others said most just want the animal gone and don't want to know what your doing with it. Then there are those that not only want to know about your pen and coop setup they also want a verbal agreement it will live it's days in peace and harmony till the day it passes and falls of the roost. Then they want to charge you for it too. Those people don't get rid of their extra cockerels very often and likely to a person without etiquette. It would have to be a desired standard bred breed for a person to want to pay $15 for cockerel/cock bird. I see a lot in my area trying to be sold for $5. Most are free with no conditions.

 

[eviemethugh]

Hmm I do think in some ways it would be good to know how he was raised and what they know about him. We had 5 geese last summer that were MEAN buggers, and I put in the ad point blank that they were READY for the table! ha! And the lady asked about shots, and if they had been exposed to any chemicals, garden spray, pest control. How they were fed, how old they were, etc etc etc. All super good things to know before you eat something!

 

[thebulg]

Hmm I do think in some ways it would be good to know how he was raised and what they know about him.  We had 5 geese last summer that were MEAN buggers, and I put in the ad point blank that they were READY for the table! ha! And the lady asked about shots, and if they had been exposed to any chemicals, garden spray, pest control.  How they were fed, how old they were, etc etc etc.  All super good things to know before you eat something!

We talked about this as well. What if they eat treated grass or have been vaccinated or on antibiotics? That's certainly worth knowing, because our guy and gals are raised pretty naturally. I think over time we are going to have to set some standards of sorts with ourselves and judge living conditions a little. The really sad reality is that even a rooster from what we would consider bad backyard conditions probably is twice as healthy as any factory bird. Which blows my mind.i dont think we would eat a rooster coming from filthy backyard conditions and it makes me feel a little strange about what i've been eating all these years.

 

[donrae]

I think you can judge a lot simply by going to the property to pick up the bird. I know some folks on CL want to meet at a different location and I respect that, but you can tell a lot just by seeing where the birds are kept and talking chickens for a little while. If I'm not going to the seller's property, I would ask the same health questions regardless of my intentions for the bird.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I think you can judge a lot simply by going to the property to pick up the bird. I know some folks on CL want to meet at a different location and I respect that, but you can tell a lot just by seeing where the birds are kept and talking chickens for a little while. If I'm not going to the seller's property, I would ask the same health questions regardless of my intentions for the bird. 

Exactly, the questions are the same regardless of what you intend to do with the bird.