Should I feel guilty?

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Okay...we advertised our OEGB hens and rooster for sale. This nice guy (probably mid 20s) called and wanted them. He doesn't drive (don't know why and lives at home with his parents) so he offered to pay more if we would deliver them. No problem! When we arrived I noticed he had a large coop/run set up that was very nice. Inside, he had a trio of HUGE buff orpingtons that were breathtaking! We complimented them and imagine our surprise when he said to put the OEG Bantams in WITH the BOs. I asked him if he thought the roosters would fight and he assured me all would be well. We put them in and all did seem well. The boy was VERY pleased with the OEG bantams. By the time we returned home, he had called. He was so enamored with the OEGBs that he wanted to know if we had more. We only had 4 one week old chicks hatched from those parents we sold him so we told him that and he said he'd never had chicks before. Long story short, he begged us to trade our 4 little chicks for his 3 Buff Orpingtons!!! Adult, huge buff orpingtons! He begged his parents (I think he is maybe a little "special needs"? As is my son..) and he talked his parents into the swap! I felt bad because I knew he was getting the short end of the stick here, so my husband and I constructed him a brooder box, gave him a feeder, two weeks worth of feed, a chick waterer, the lightbulb and cord, and two pages of detailed instructions on how to care for baby chicks. We offered to bring the babies to his home today (Friday) but he was so excited he couldn't wait so we met his mom and him at a bank near our house yesterday and made the trade. We got home and saw that indeed the roosters evidently fought: the BO rooster has fresh scabs on his comb so I wonder how the OEGB boy fared... anyway, that is out of my hands. While taking the hens from the box to put in our quarantine coop, lo and behold there was already an egg in their box!

The question is: should I feel guilty? He would have taken the chicks without all the extras I threw in and would have given me these beautiful BOs in exchange for simply 4 tiny chicks. But somehow I feel bad.

 

[love_a_duck]

short answer - no, not guilty.

if he is special needs, you did not take advantage, he talked to his parents.
i think the chickens are his pets, and his parents are okay with that.
he seems very happy with his oegb's.
and you are happy with the buff orp's. (i love buff orpingtons, do you have pics?)

PS, if it ever was (and it never was) a bad trade, i think you made up for it with the extras.
everyone is happy.

Beth

 

[sourland]

Chickens have been traded. Both parties are pleased, plus you threw in extras. The situation with two adult roosters in the same pen probably was not going to work. No guilt!

 

[Judy]

Agreed. I imagine in the parents' mind the trade was a good one.

 

[IdealisticRoo]

Not guilty at all! You went out of your way to make sure you really hooked him up with EVERYTHING he needed!

He sounds like me, chickens are fun, but trading chickens and getting new chickens is REALLY FUN!!!

I have looked back on the many chickens I have sold or traded and sometimes regret the ones that I no longer have, but it has all been part of the learning process!

I LOVE OEGBs and I would have made the same trade! Buff orpingtons are nice, but OEGB are fascinating!

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Thank you all! I will try to get pics soon: the rooster is pretty old. Has long spurs and just looks like a "senior gentleman" and one of the hens seems older and has some crooked toe issues. I say she's older because her comb is paler and her overall color is lighter, like she's had more moults. The younger hen is brighter golden and just seems younger. All three probably weigh at least 8 pounds each with the rooster even bigger. They seem very calm and slow...and the younger hen is checking out the nest box as we speak.

I too loved OEGBs but I LOVE big birds... I would never have agreed to the trade has his parents not given permission.