Newbie Chicken parents...Craigslist warning!

[ellie_may12]

I needed to get rid of some of my older girls, because my pullets are going to be laying soon and they are eating me out of house and home....so I posted them on Craigslist for $5 and made sure folks knew that they were 2 years old. I had a father and son come over and pick up several on Friday....So today, I'm looking over Craigslist and found my chickens being offered by the same person who got them from me...they were selling them for $15 each!!!

I haven't done a whole bunch of investigating, but would be willing to bet that he isn't telling folks that these girls are 2 years old. I would hate for someone to get old hens just because they didn't know what to ask.

So, if you are shopping on Craigslist for laying hens, be sure to ask some simple questions.

How old are these chickens? Did you raise them from chicks? Tell me about their health history?

I'm sure there are many more experienced chicken parents out there that could add to this.

 

[mamabahre]

unfortunately that happens with all varieties of animals on CL...the pets section is quite the dumping ground and hoarders will collect free critters then resell them.

 

[JDodge]

Craigslist is full of jerks, but thanks for the warning!

 

[cobrien]

You can reply to his post and post directly on CL to warn people about it. Happens all the time unfortunately. I see it all the time - a post for what seems like a mixed breed puppy for a small fee, and a reply posting saying to beware of the seller as they are a puppy mill and other similar sad stories. While you have to take everything with a grain of salt I'm always grateful that someone at least posted a warning even if I can't tell it's true. I've also seen chicken sellers post ads and people responding saying that they got diseased chickens from the seller - again hard to know the truth but at least it's a reminder to be careful as people can be naive.

 

[KFox]

The rescue group I used to work with called these people "flippers" because they flip animals for cash. They pick up the cheap and freebie animals and then sell them for more. Most are not very honest about the history or health information.

Anyway, I always appreciate the warning posts.

 

[Pele]

Boy, you are preachin to the choir over here. I put up my 6 week old barred cochin rooster there free to a good home. I carefully talked to everyone who contacted me before I let them come and look at him, and I STILL got a crazy lady.

The lady that I had been talking to shows up in the most beaten up, stolen looking junker you've ever seen. I mean, it didn't have a dashboard, and just wires sticking out everywhere by the steering column. Also, the car was crammed full of random junk that was all stained (as badly as her clothes). All of her windows are down (most likely due to driving a hollowed out car with no climate control). She also had a pomeranian yapping and running around loose in there on top of all the junk.

I tried not to judge her appearance, as after all we all can come off badly on our worst days, and asked her if she had a box, or if she needed me to provide her one. She blithely replies "oh no, he'll just ride in here with us", and that the pomeranian loved chickens and slept with them at night. At this point I was appalled because it was becoming very clear that this woman was an animal hoarder, and she was trying to get ahold of my lovingly raised cochin (who is the sweetest baby in the world, I cried when I finally did give him away).

It took some polite lying, but I did manage to make her leave without my baby. She was none to happy, but to her credit she didn't put up a big fuss.

I shiver to think about handing over any animal to someone who doesn't care to keep their environment clean, or for their safety in a moving vehicle.

Beware Craigslist!