The highs and lows of Craigslist Chickens

[LoweBow]

My 1st year into chickens w/ my son has been fantastic to say the least! Jared is 13 and has wanted livestock on our 200 farm for years now and I finally broke down and purchased 5-17 week old Red Sex Link pullets from a guy on CL that was 20 min from my house. This guy was AWESOME! We talked for over an hour and he answered every question I had on chickens. He taught classes and a University on poulty and at Ag offices all over. How lucky was I? Great guy!

Fast forward 2 months to my son wanting more "color" added to his flock. By this time Jared has shown he is willing to take care of the chickens, clean, water, feed, build the coop, etc. Very proud of him.
We get on CL and find a guy w/ 5/6 week old Dominique and Buff chicks. I meet the guy and he "guarentees" they have been sexed and are pullets. 2 weeks later I contact him that the Dominiques are actually Barred Rocks (Single Comb) and can already tell 2 of them are roos. He sounds shocked and says must be some his buddy helped him sex and meets me w/ 2 more in hand. I take them knowing one of these looks to be a roo also. He says "if you have any more problems just call and I'll replace".
As we figured ..the one looking like a roo starts sounding funny, but we wanted a roo anyways and he's super sweet so all is good!

A month goes by and "Rudy" our little roo meets his demise in a run in w/ a dog. Jared is sad and wants another roo and finds one on CL that night. A lady had 4 BR roos 12 weeks old...$2 ea. The wife takes Jared over after church and he plays w/ all 4 and comes home w/ one. I notice right off that he has white legs.....I don't think he's a BR at all.....looks like a Marans......He's super sweet and has been awesome w/ the other birds the last 3 weeks so oh well. We have a roo. Last week I start noticing behavioral issues between all the pullets. I warn Jared that it looks like 2 of the BO's and one of the BR's are Roos also....We laugh and laugh! Oh well....out $2 ea on the chicks and a $13 bad of feed. LOL!

Well to top it off this morning the other 2...the last BO and last Barred Rock crow at me! LMAO!

I looked and Jared right before school and told him what I'd just heard.....We both bust out laughing!!! He then looks and me and say...." I wasn't too crazy about the Buffs anyways Dad...They were mean, but I bet they'll be delicious!" We laughed histerically!!!

Suprise!! The guys phone is no longer in service!!!

He's such a good kid! He's learned from his Mom and I that you just have to laugh off things in life like this....that this is not a problem...a disapointment, but not a problem.
I think we'll be purchasing from reputable breeders from now on....after we eat some of the rooster/pullets! LOL!

 

[urban escapee]

LOL sounds like my luck. I purchased one rooster, and now have 10 of them, those roos are ruining my progression into the egg business LOL.

however, Like Jared, we are trying to be realistic about the whole thing..roo's are getting moved to free range and when they fatten up, it will be dinner time.

 

[kaybats]

I have been in this now for a little over a year, too. I have gotten my chicks from Orcheln's and directly from the hatchery (the hatchery is about 30 miles away). Out of the first 6 chicks I started with, I got 2 roos. And another 2, one from each of the next 2 bunches of chicks. And now I think I got another one from the newest bunch I just got in March. They were ALL from the pullet bin!

I think I read somewhere that even expert sexers are 90%, or something like that.

But I think you are right when you say it's not a problem, a disappointment maybe, but not a problem. I just haven't been able to bring my self to eat any of them! There have been some confrontations between the roos, but nothing too serious to really worry about. I think it's wonderful how you have taught your son to handle things like this. Good for him!

And good luck to both of you in all your chicken adventures!

 

[LoweBow]

This is one of the "Highs" of our CL chickens. "Silver Queen" is the flock boss, extremely gentle, and AWESOME layer!




She gives us Jumbo Double Yolk eggs a couple times a week!

 

[LoweBow]

This is "Betty White"....she's turned out to be a beautiful rooster!!!

Jared wants call her/him "Frost" now, but my wife won't let him change the name!

Betty White w/ Souvlaki and Barbie (short for BBQ)

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

I was actually shocked at how hard it was to find people who would sex thier chicks when we first sought out our first chickens for our small hobby farm. I have parrots, and they were sexed via DNA. I can imagine that would be pricey and time comsuming for hatcheries, but I had always heard there was a way to sex chicks by squeezing the bottom a certain way, LOL Probably also time consuming and even still a little inaccurate! LOL

The guy we ended up getting our chicks from wouldnt sex them, or make any guarantees, but he agreed to take back any roo's that might emerge and trade them for some girlies. I was pleased with that, and when one roo emerged from the flock of four, we were too attached to trade him in, so he stays!! 8 weeks old and he is gorgeous and hilarious, attempting Sun rise crows already, in the house brooder (still a little cold here at night). He sounds lke a balloon defalting, LOL

But yes, you never can tell with CL or Kijiji what you are going to get until you have it. Those classified sites have taught me people are NEVER what they seem, and are usually trying to rip you off, LOL I feel so fortunate we found our guy through Kijiji, visited, and he was legit!
If you are in my area, check out

www.prairieexotics.com

BTW - Betty White is a handsome Roo!!!! Our Roo is a Mille Fleur originally named Rose. We cant bare to change his name either, LOL

 

[wingstone]

i sell on craigslist, I found that word of mouth spreads and you must keep customers happy,,,I try to sex birds for people but it is not 100%, I do offer them their original purchase price back and to take the roo off their hands, or they may trade for another chick, I tell people this upfront....point is do not buy birds from the first person you come across, ask questions, you can tell if they are gonna be around for you in the future should a problem occur.

 

[GardenGal]

I think a good thing to look for when buying chickens on CL is do they have pictures of their set up and adult chickens. We've had really good experiences with CL, but if something doesn't seem right, back out.

 

[LoweBow]

I've had some great luck on CL and I've been scammed!
My worst experience was selling a "parts" bushhog. I had 2 guys come out to look at it and offer me $300 for the $600 bushog as a whole. I passed. I went to show it to the next guy that came out a month or so later and the PTO drive shaft was gone off of it. A new one would be about $500+. I had no record nor could I prove who took it, but he will be judged someday. But you can see his white legs in the pic.

The lady we got the what looks to be Cuckoo Marans roo off of honestly just didn't know I don't think. She had nothing to lose by advertising them as Barred Rock at $2 ea. Wife and son said she was SWEEEEEET and her place was very clean. They looked at all her chickens and goats and played w/ her Pyrenees while there.

This is him standing on the outside roost. The really dark BR next to him we thought for sure was a pullet, but I swear she was crowing yesterday morning! "Black Bettie" The BO (Nugget) facing the camera w/ the light colored comb is the other that fooled us outright!