Selling your chicks to unknown parties.

[Lucky13Farm]

I had a random person find me on Facebook. He messaged me on Good Friday asking if we had some ducklings to sell but it had to be before Easter.
We were offline most of the weekend so I did not even see this message until this (Monday) morning. So, I was too late to respond.
Got to thinking about it and did not like the feel at all. We raise our own birds for eggs and meat. Not really looking to sell any. I do have 18 eggs in the incubator and hope to have a good hatch of Khaki Campbells in about 12 days.
If someone comes out of the blue wanting what I will call "Special Occasion" birds that means they are probably not going to take care of the ducks for their 10-15 year lifespan. I mean dont they even know that Tractor Supply does this kind of thing? If they are not aware of Tractor Supply they are not getting any of my babies.
What do you think? Ever had to decide if the person wanting to buy your chicks was OK to sell to?
Do you feel any responsibility for the animal after you sell it?
BTW, I simply replied, Nope, sure dont have any.

 

[slordaz]

Even in the local chicken group there are some I wouldn't sell my birds too. if you get a bad feeling listen to it, I occasionally see chicks I blessed others with 4 years ago. Had one guy wanting to take any cockerels left over supposedly for a bachelor pad that I had bad feeling and said sorry don't have any, he was busted for illegal cock fights a few months later. Most of us small back yards wouldn't want them harmed.

 

[Percheron chick]

It was probably for an Easter basket. Trust your gut.

 

[cottontail farm]

I've sold plenty of chickens and ducks, even some quail on craigslist but yeah, you have to be able to "read" the person responding to your add. People who are legitimately interested in birds will ask questions, seem excited. Also, set your price high enough to weed out the weirdos. Selling two drake ducks to a family who wanted them for the kids after they lost theirs to a raccoon - getting $40 for those 2 ducks gives me a good feeling they are going to be cared for. I would never sell to somebody like the person who contacted you. The other member was right, those ducklings were going to be basket stuffers.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If they had wanted the ducks for ducks, they wouldn't have required them before Easter. That's my logic. They would be okay getting them a day or two after

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

This is something a lot of people have to be careful of. We listed two Pekin drakes and a silkie rooster a while back, had one guy contact us asking if we could deliver them to his house like an hour away, we said no. The next day another guy asked if they were still available, and if he’s be able to stop by. We felt a lot better about this guy and said yes. When he came it was clear they’d be taken care of. He held the ducks upright and placed them in dog crates with shavings and was just overall really sweet to them. His daughter was ecstatic about her new duckies, it was precious. He even mentioned clipping their wings, and turned out he was driving 3 hours round trip for them. Just little things that make a big difference.

 

[Lucky13Farm]

Thanks for the advice and opinions. I just knew something was wrong. They grow at a very fast rate when they are babies. If they went without food or water for a day they would be in bad shape and probably dead by morning. Besides, we are not looking to get into selling babies. We want a big flock and sell the ducks eggs for cooking and such. Got a small interest already with a local dairy that can sell my duck eggs to his customers.