I accidentally sold someone 7 male chicks

[Poultrybonkers]

I sold straight runs this year think they bought 7 and 3 where males so months go past they message me and I gave them 3 guarenteed pullets I was raising up as I just didnt wanna process females lol but said I cant take males back due to biosecurity. Someone getting all males does sound like a scam and will get out and no one will buy then from you anymore

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wonder how other private sellers sell "straight run".

I literally would just grab whichever ones I caught. All of mine ran fast, male or female.

 

[fat brown hen]

Someone getting all males does sound like a scam and will get out and no one will buy then from you anymore

Right! I still haven't replied to their text message about the 7 males. If I say, "You know what straight run means, don't you?" then I sound rude. I sold on craigslist so it's not like they can leave a negative review or anything. But they know where I live and they could come egg my house. oh wait they don't have enough hens for that. Ha, ha, ha. No seriously I still feel bad.

I also feel bad about the 10 chicks I recently sold, that were probably all male. I will probably get more complaints in a few months.

 

[theoldchick]

That happens to me all the time. If I buy straight run I will have 90 % male. I never blamed the seller. I figured it was the luck of the draw. So I learned to buy sexed chicks.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Right! I still haven't replied to their text message about the 7 males. If I say, "You know what straight run means, don't you?" then I sound rude. I sold on craigslist so it's not like they can leave a negative review or anything. But they know where I live and they could come egg my house. oh wait they don't have enough hens for that. Ha, ha, ha. No seriously I still feel bad.

I also feel bad about the 10 chicks I recently sold, that were probably all male. I will probably get more complaints in a few months.

If you don’t respond that looks even more scammy or something. I would just say something like “I am so sorry for your luck however unfortunately there are no refunds or exchanges being that they were sold as straight run” as long as they actually were sold as straight run.

 

[junior67]

I have sold a few as straight run. I try to grab some that I "think" may be male and some that I think may be female. Now where they are so young when I sell them I am not always sure but I try to give a mix as best as I can. Most times I just grow them out till I can be pretty sure. When selling younger pullets I will say that I "believe" they are pullets but they are still young so I can't say 100%. I had 1 guy last year that got a frizzle cochin from me, it was a decent age to tell I thought. The other younger ones (frizzles) were all roo's and had combs EARLY, this one still did not. I was keeping 1 and they both still looked the same. Well like a MONTH later the one I sold started getting a bigger comb and wattles and tail changed a bit, it was too young to be getting ready to lay (think like 14-16 weeks old!) yup it was a roo. He never complained and let me know. This year I had other chicks and he messaged me about a pullet. He asked how much and I did tell him nothing because of the mix up last year. I give my roo's away and sell the pullets since roo's are so easy to come by here that people don't really buy them. Straight runs I sell cheaper so it hopefully balances out for them on cost.

 

[McChooky]

Sexed chicks is the way to go if you want egg layers only and won't eat your birds.

 

[fat brown hen]

I literally would just grab whichever ones I caught. All of mine ran fast, male or female.

Yeah, mine are all pretty fast by about 2 weeks, which is why I can't let the buyer pick what they want. I might not be able to catch those.

 

[FunClucks]

If you feel bad about it, and think your collection method was to blame, you can offer to reimburse them for half of the roosters. Unfortunately you can't take them back due to biosecurity, but tell them they could sell them to someone else if they wanted to. I assume best case for straight run is 50/50 since that's the natural frequency at which chicks hatch when you hatch enough of them.

If you did due dilligence and tried to grab both male and female chicks, I'd just say, sorry to hear that, I did my best to grab you a mixed bag based on chick behavior, but there are no guarantees with straight run, because no one can tell at time of sale if they're male or female.

It's okay to offer reimbursement to one unhappy customer if you think it's the right thing to do. Did they send you pics of the 7 obvious roosters?


In future, I'd make sure to tell buyers, since this is straight run, please make sure you have a plan in place just in case you have a number of roosters.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I read this on another BYC thread, that when choosing chicks, the males will be more curious, outgoing, upright, look right at you, even come up to your hand, and the females will be the opposite.
So you might find the boys easier to catch.

Females can share the same behaviors as male chicks. I've had plenty. I've also had plenty of male chicks that were scaredy cats, shy, or want absolutely nothing to do with me.