Lancaster County PA Rent A Chick???

[Suzanne Dunn]

Has anyone ever heard of this practice? Children or adults are able to rent a baby chick and then return it to the farm. Sounds like a bad deal for the chick for sure!

 

[dekel18042]

Has anyone ever heard of this practice? Children or adults are able to rent a baby chick and then return it to the farm. Sounds like a bad deal for the chick for sure!

You can google this. It seems to be big in the cities. For a very high price (More than buying everything outright) you get a small pen with tiny run, dishes, some food and either two or three laying hens. You may "rent" them for a period of time and then I think you can either purchase them or return them. It's supposed to give people an idea if they want chickens permanently.
The ads I've seen are for adult pullets, almost at point of lay, not babies. If they rented babies they would need to rent brooders and a heat source.

 

[3riverschick]

When I was a child in Sacramento California ( circa 1960) , the Children's Museum had a Rent A Pet program .you could get a rabbit or a guinea pig with all the fixings. Cage and all and rent it for a week . then when you're done you brought it back. As kids our enthusiasm for the Pet did last for a week, so the animals were well taken care of. it was a great experience.
Karen