What do you look for when you buy pullets from a private person?

[The Chicken Lady]

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A pullet is a young hen under one year of age. A cockerel is a young rooster.

 

[chickenfanatic]

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couldnt have said it better myself

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

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LOL!

 

[Anny]

Remember that if you don't like the birds you always have the right say "no thanks I'll keep looking" I know alot of people have a hard time doing that once they are actually AT the place looking at the birds in front of the person.

Make sure you like the bird and that they like you.

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

Thank you, thank you, thank you all! These suggestions have helped me immensely. I have to wait until we actually move to our new location and figure out where the chickens will live, build a secure coop, etc.

I think we will order some hatchery chicks, so we can get a variety all at once. I think my 2 year old will enjoy watching them grow up, and will hopefully be able to handle them and come with me to "help" take care of them once they're out of the house.

I am also going to look for some local pullets, and your suggestions, comments and experiences will be very helpful when we're ready.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[Chickenaddict]

When i sell any chickens i make it known that for ANY reason they want to get rid of them i would be happy to take them back but i be sure to quarentine them for 30 days before introducing them back to my flock. Altho i have NEVER had an unhappy customer. I don't sell ANY of my chicks until the sex is known and in doing this got stuck with a ton of cockrels so now i sell them in pairs. When i buy birds i check them out thoroughly even smell them to make sure they dont smell sour. I try not to buy from hatcheries because i had half of my first round of chicks die on me over a 2 week period. Out of 52 chicks i ended up with 26. I picked up some brown/red chochins this summer from a local lady who was more then happy to show me her set up. I went there only intending to buy a few but she only had 8 left and kind of pushed them on me. One of the babies was clearly a runt with a bad pasty butt. Funny soon as i got them home and in their cage no more pasty butts. Ask questions like have any of their birds EVER been sick? Do they quarentine new birds they get? Are they kept away from strangers or are people allowed to come in and pet them? I could think of tons more but i dont want to write a book here lol. Private is better in my opinion as well like people have stated that gives the opportunity to see where these birds have been living and in what conditions. Best of luck to you and your chicken adventure

 

[chicka_chicka_boom_boom]

This is exactly what I want to know... what type of questions do you ask a person you are buying chickens from? I understand why you want to look around at the environment and check out their other chickens... but I'll tell you, I can clean my house and make it look like I'm a good housekeeper... this doesn't mean that my house is always clean (if you catch my drift).

I guess you just have to trust your instincts to an extent?

The reason I am still considering hatchery chicks, is so that I can get an assortment of chicks that are all the same age. I'm also thinking of getting some chicks in September, so I thought it might be hard to find local chicks in Michigan at that time of year. I haven't checked yet of course... still waiting to get the house.

I guess we could start out with what we can find locally now, and then add to our flock in the spring. I'm just so anxious to get started... this house-waiting is really getting to me now! I can't wait to move (did I just say that? lol)

 

[Chicabee19]

Anny,

you are entirely correct about feeling pressured to buy!

My husband and I were looking at expensive hand-made ceramic tile on Craigslist, called a lady in Portland and told her we'd come look at what she was selling. I said we were "very interested".

When we got there she told us how she had taken her ad off the list since we called, how difficult it would be for her to have to put it back, having to go to her brother's house to do it, etc...

Against our better judgement I let them influence me, and my husband, even though he did not want it, is not the 'put my foot down' sort of guy.

Once we got the tile home, we found that they had put all the better pieces on top, and underneath there were unusable tiles - unevenly made and finish not matching.

I told my hubby - "next time let's have a signal, then you pull the mean husband act, so I can do the poor deprived wife act and we can get the heck out of there!".