First time selling my chickens

I didn't expect to feel this way. I have had nine broody hens. Chicks everywhere. Someone has to go. I put an add on craigslist and someone wants my beautiful barney/sussex crosses. I can't believe how protective I feel. I want them all to have a good home with caring people. I know that is out of my hands . It was different selling the roosters because I was also saving their lives. My girls are a different story. I did ask what kind of set up. I wouldn't let them go to a tiny little back yard coop if I could help it as they are used to being free. What kind of questions do you ask people who are buying your birds if any?

Just remember if you don't sell them, you will run out of room and then be faced with eating them. A backyard home with a portable run can be awesome if they are protected properly from predators...that's my biggest question is what they are doing to keep them safe at night and during the day while they are away. I've seen some pretty spoiled city chickens that are loved to bits.

Did any of the barney boys end up being girls? I'm finding a few more than expected of my 'boys' have ended up girls - yeah. My broody who hatched 4 "boys" appears to have two girls. Super happy.

THis is going to get me in lots of trouble but...I have also struggled with this issue. I almost prefer to sell an animal that is going to be eaten because at some point, if it's living a miserable life, its life is going to end. BUt an animal meant for production can be kept a LONG time in misery.

MY surplus roos, I took some to the auction and I was just not comfortable with what happened there. I am not interested in eating my own surplus roos. So, they live a good life here, until their own hormones make them fighting, crowing, sex machines, and then I chop their heads off and throw them in the bush.

Is it a 'waste'? If you ask the bird, no. Dead is dead as far as he's concerned and he's no happier dying so you can eat him than he is dying to be thrown in the bush. Either way, as my dinner or coyote dinner, he still ends up dead, he comes out on the losing end of this deal.

I think it's a waste of my effort to feed him for 8 months thinking I'll have a table worthy product when I'm done. In case of world famine, yes. BUt since there is no famine here just yet no, I will throw that tough, skinny, no breast fellow in the bush. Buh bye. A coyote can gnaw on him, but I sure don't want to.

Horses, cows, dogs, goats, I don't think I'd be a good trader. I have done it a few times, but it does not sit well with me. I understand your dilemma.

uno wrote:THis is going to get me in lots of trouble but...I have also struggled with this issue. I almost prefer to sell an animal that is going to be eaten because at some point, if it's living a miserable life, its life is going to end. BUt an animal meant for production can be kept a LONG time in misery.

MY surplus roos, I took some to the auction and I was just not comfortable with what happened there. I am not interested in eating my own surplus roos. So, they live a good life here, until their own hormones make them fighting, crowing, sex machines, and then I chop their heads off and throw them in the bush.

Is it a 'waste'? If you ask the bird, no. Dead is dead as far as he's concerned and he's no happier dying so you can eat him than he is dying to be thrown in the bush. Either way, as my dinner or coyote dinner, he still ends up dead, he comes out on the losing end of this deal.

I think it's a waste of my effort to feed him for 8 months thinking I'll have a table worthy product when I'm done. In case of world famine, yes. BUt since there is no famine here just yet no, I will throw that tough, skinny, no breast fellow in the bush. Buh bye. A coyote can gnaw on him, but I sure don't want to.

Horses, cows, dogs, goats, I don't think I'd be a good trader. I have done it a few times, but it does not sit well with me. I understand your dilemma.

That makes me sad, even a skinny roo makes good soup or stew...I had some processed last year too early and they weren't too meaty in the chest, but lots of leg and back meat and wow did they make good soup. And because the meat is more dark and nutrient dense, it's more filling. I roast up 3 or 4 at a time, make a meal or two and then make the most amazing stock for the freezer with the remaining parts. Best stock ever, full of beautiful gelatin and dark rich flavor! I live on soups and stews at work for meals, I don't have time to even make a sandwich (and I can't eat bread anymore anyhow) so soups and stews are the best, I have 20-30 containers in the freezer at all times. And I share my frozen soups and stews with my elderly friend who doesn't cook much, and anyone else who needs food and always have spares at work in-case someone forgets lunch. I haven't used store stock in years. I figure I've likely put $10-$15 in food into them by processing time, so it's worth the extra $4 to have them processed so I can have soup - a container of quality stock is atleast $4, and I can get 4-5 cups of rich stock per bird. I recently had a friend who claims my soup saved his life (I know he was exaggerating a little!), he had a life threatening auto-immune illness and could only eat soup through a straw, but the hospital soup wasn't helping him any and had too much salt, and he couldn't have any spices and salt burnt the sores in his mount and throat. I whipped up a soup with my freezer stock, frozen squash and apples - quick, easy - too me all of 3 minutes to prepare and another 5 minutes to blend after it was cooked. Sent that to the hospital, and it was all he ate for 3 days.

I get it's a pain, and time consuming, so to each their own. I suspect you have the healthiest and happiest coyotes in the land.

Island Gal, I am the WORST soup maker I have met! I even took a soup making course, if you can believe such a thing. I failed. I do not doubt that your home built chicken soup saved a life! There's  got to be some truth to the idea that chicke soup cures everything, including the soul.

Since I do not make soup or stew with my chickens, there is no point for me to eat surplus roos. We do not take them to anyone to process, we do it ourselves. It's a lot of work and mess and I want premium product at the end of the day. I know my way of thinking is not popular. Instead of $15 raising a broth bird, my $15 simply raises a bird who lives a good life until the day he doesn't anymore.

What happens to a bird AFTER it is dead is not the debate and yes I realize I opened that can of worms (bad me!). How the bird lives up until the moment of  death is the issue, and how selling a bird leaves its existence open to the great unknown.

I'm sure I do have well fed coyotes (and hawks and other critters). I hope that FULL critters do not feel compelled to mess with my hen house. It is hunger that drives them to take more chances. Not hungry, less bold, not motivated to break and enter. Feeding them dead birds does not let them know where the hen house is...they know already!

I agree, Island Girl! Those oversexed, over here, unwanted boys, when roasted up, fill a couple of chicken curry pies and then make THE BEST stock ever. Gallons of it, to feed us and the girls away at uni as well.
Not much to making stock - just freeze up carcasses, and bits you don't eat, as you go, then boil them up in a huge stock pot, add the pan drippings (also frozen in wait), skim off the fat, filter out the big hard bits, and voila! stock. Sometimes I think its the best part of the chook.

Nothing tastes as delicious as old rooster soup! There is hardly any fat and the flavour barely needs salt.

But Uno, if you are not a soup maker, why not give the raw birds to your dogs? Plucked and gutted of course! My butcher will even put them through a grinder!

well im with uno. I dont have the space or interest in raising the boys for 5 months then paying to slaughter them. I know they make good soup etc etc I just dont have the space. Same with the banties. Not worth it. My extra ducks I will raise and get processed because they are easier to deal with and only take 3 to 4 months.

I dont even feed mine to the coyotes...purple juice and the landfill.

Thank you fuzzy!

I feel a rant coming on. Perhaps I can head it off at the pass.

I understand both sides of this. I usually process a handful of cockerels every year, not a lot of them. I grow them out to pick my breeders anyways, so why not.
Well they are old enough and I know who I want for breeders and this is when the rest start to drive me crazy. The last month. They are not quite beefy enough to process, for me anyways, but they are noisy and bossy and full of testosterone. Sometimes I just want to do the Uno and off with his head. Will see if they make it to through the last month or I have a rush of blood and feed the coyotes way up in the bush!!!

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Well the woman just picked up the three birds. She said she was going to put them in a chicken tractor in the yard so the other birds could see them and they could get used to each other. and then is going to put them in the coop at night so she knows enough to do that. They have a predator proof coop. She lives on an island with her husband and two kids. I don't really know how they are with chickens. It didn't feel very good to me or my husband when we stuffed them into a rubbermaid tote with air holes cut into it . I have rarely had anyone pick up a bird in a proper cage. mostly they get stuffed into cardboard boxes. One guy duct taped the box to his motorcycle seat. None of this makes them bad chicken owners necessarily, just makes me feel uncomfortable. I love your philosophy and think you are right Tara. The answer for me is to not have the broody breeds.I don't like what you have to do to them to break them. If I have only barneys and buff sussex hopefully I will get only a few chicks every year and not have to sell any. I am definitely more of a pet owner than a farmer. I keep trying to get tougher but I think it is a lost cause. As for roosters, I have been lucky to find some really nice people to take them. I did have one experience that made me feel a bit queasy. I am more careful now to check people out. Uno If we were closer I would give you one of our roosters to try. I could not believe how delicious and tender they were. I did find out that leaving them in the fridge for a couple of days before freezing makes all the difference. We don't like breast meat so we are quite happy. I also think it is not a "waste" to give it back to mother nature. Those critters will be happy for the free meal. If someone doesn't want to be bothered gutting and plucking I think it is a good choice.

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Selling chickens is the same as rehoming any animal. The bottom line is you want to be sure they are going to be appreciated and well cared for. This year and last year I've had more customers that are new to chickens. I spend a lot of time helping to make sure the family is feeling ready and are properly prepared well in advance. I spend a lot of time offering suggestions and answering questions via email and phone calls, and by the time they pick up their birds I know they are going to a good home with good, caring people to look after them.
In certain circumstances I have given birds to people I know well, but that isnt something I do regularly. I believe people who are willing to pay a fair price to buy quality birds will appreciate them and be more inclined to look after them well. I always worry when I see people selling 5.00 chickens or free roosters. If they are valued so low by both buyer and seller, what kind of life will they have?