:( Very sad and feel guilty

[jdywntr]

Quote:
Thanks. I wish I had thought about these things beforehand. I'm trying not to feel too bad. My DH is ticked and he is only hearing about it via text message.

I just try to remember that not everyone thinks/reacts/learns the same way. Try to take this as a learning experience for yourself too. I plan on selling chicks/poults/goslings/ducklings next year, so this winter I will be devising a care sheet for each species to give to each customer.
I myself have learned a valuable lesson this week....I decided for the first time to let a persistently broody hen have eight eggs. I marked all the eggs and my DS and I knew how many and what to look for. This hen has been sitting on these eggs for a week...and today I only found 7....OMG, I am so stupid to not have separated this hen from the coop!

So now I have to panic thinking I sold either a rotten or partially developed egg to one of my friends....Lesson learned?? SEPARATE the broodies!!!

LOL, true, very true. Thanks.

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
I just try to remember that not everyone thinks/reacts/learns the same way. Try to take this as a learning experience for yourself too. I plan on selling chicks/poults/goslings/ducklings next year, so this winter I will be devising a care sheet for each species to give to each customer.
I myself have learned a valuable lesson this week....I decided for the first time to let a persistently broody hen have eight eggs. I marked all the eggs and my DS and I knew how many and what to look for. This hen has been sitting on these eggs for a week...and today I only found 7....OMG, I am so stupid to not have separated this hen from the coop!

So now I have to panic thinking I sold either a rotten or partially developed egg to one of my friends....Lesson learned?? SEPARATE the broodies!!!

LOL, true, very true. Thanks.

Welcome!

 

[RunnerWhisperer]

Sorry!

 

[desertdarlene]

Makes me very sad.

. Hopefully, this won't happen again.

 

[agregg15]

Quote:
Agree!!! If someone is going to take on the responsibility then they need to be prepared before hand!!!

It makes me sick how people can take animals and have no idea how to care for them or keep them safe, or make the effort to give them a good quality of life!

Again, this is why I feel guilty. I didn't ask. Should have, but didn't.

It's not your fault that someone was idiotic enough to not have a shelter for the ducks. Before I sold anymore I would ask to see a pic of the coop they built with someway to certify that they built it. If they don't want to build one, can't certify they built it, or they don't want to send you a pic, then offer to buy the duck back for the price you sold it.

 

[froggie71]

We had ducklings we sold to someone who kept them in his greenhouse and all but 1 overheated and died. He thought he was doing the right thing. I knew he wanted to do the right thing. He was getting into chickens and I even saw the coop he had bought for them (he had it on a trailer when he came to pick up the ducklings). Did I feel bad about the ones that died, yes I did. Did I let him buy more from me. I did. Mistakes happen. I know I wasn't ready for the chicks, guineas or ducks before we got them and we learned as we went. You have to make the call.

 

[LemonDoodles]

That's a tough call. Too bad you can't demand the last one back!

 

[veronicasmom]

I would offer to take back the duckling. Or at the very least, if you want to make sure the poor thing is not alone and he won't return it, make sure the "cage" is decent and big enough before selling more ducks to him. I would worry about the word "cage" personally.

 

[bwmichaud]

Once an animal leaves your custody, you no longer have control over what happens to it. You can take every precaution in the world to make sure that they go to a good home but in the end, anything can happen to them. Some people care and worry much more than others.

I've taken ducks from people that are "free to a good home" and I keep them as breeders, don't eat them and give them a good life. I have also had people come buy birds from me and tell me that they were going to be pets and later I found out that they ate them. I never asked them if they were going to eat them and I really didn't care if they did eat them but for some reason they felt compelled to lie to me and tell me they wouldn't eat them when the inteded to eat them all along.

I always laugh when I see ads on Craigslist for free roosters to a good home, not for dinner. Some of these people buy straight run chicks and have upward of a dozen roosters that they want to get rid of but they don't want someone to eat them. When I have taken free roosters in the past, I have always been up front that I planned to eat them and in all but 1 case, the people didn't care. I have even responded to ads for free to a good home roosters and explained that if they can't find a good home for them, I would take them and eat them. Some of these people accepted the fact that nobody wants a bunch of roosters running around and let me have them to eat.

 

[jdywntr]

Quote:
The man in question is from Eastern Europe so I think "cage" may be a translation issue. I think I will check with him to see he has gotten to house them and how many etc he plans to keep.

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate all of your comments and opinions from both sides.

So glad I found BYC when I got my chickens and that there is a forum for ducks.