My strange experience yesterday....and maybe my poor Roos

A few days ago I decided I needed to thin out my buff orpington rooster collection. I had four boys, and over the fall/winter my buff hens have dwindled down to three. 1 was torn open by rooster so bad that I asked DH to put her down. The kids and I cried. One was squished in the pasture around the alfalfa bales by one of our preggo heifers; found her flattened remains one day. One got it in my garden; think it was an predatory bird of sorts judging by what was left over. I have had a few that just went "missing" too. Not the smartest breed of poultry, and thier Colour doesn't camo too well either.

Need to post this and continue on with story, my phone will just "loose it all" if type too much.

Ok, back too my weird experience with the buff orp Roos. My DH offered to ring their necks for me. "better than spending anymore $ on them" he defended. I said I would try something else first thanks. So I listed them on kijiji To Give Away. Next day I get email requesting photos. I send. He calls, and right away I notice he has a heavy foreign accent. He will take both Roos and will meet me at the rink in the afternoon. I ask, "out of curiosity, what will u do with them, eat them?"

He says " no, no. For a collection." oh, OK.
So I pull up at rink and these two thirty yr old guys are waiting for me in their mini van. I ask, "did you bring a box?" they said "No. Ahhh, aren't their legs tied?"
I replyed "Ahhhh, no."
So I said just a minute, I will go get a box from the canteen in the rink, be right back.

I return and have a box that both birds will fit in, barely. I take one out of the cat carrier, and hand it to one of the men and what does he proceed to do? He is carrying it by wings, and at first I think "this guy doesn't know how to carry a chIcken... OMG he's gonna break the wings in a second!
He had lowered bird into box and was folding one wing behind and hooking it into the elbow of the other wing. In the end both wings wre pinned behind the body, hooked on their own elbows!

I started to say "No, no, no, n, nooo! You are gonna hurt him!"
He says "well, this is so he can't fly away"
I replyed " he is not going to fly away, these are pets raised by children. They are very tame and friendly"
So the bird was returned to normal position and both are secured in the box. He asks Why Free? Do you have more big ones like this? No, I do not. I asked him if they lived out in the country, and he said no, in town. Also said they were originally from Fiji.
I again asked him what he was planning with these birds and he said "for a collection. If you get more big ones like this, call me"

Yeah, OK.

Are you suspicious at all?

Been reading this all along...

Interesting... hard to say if he was making a collection of soup or perhaps is breeding them out?

Suspicious? Me? Farmchiq are you judging my nature?

lol

When I finally got into the changroom to get my kid dressed for hockey I of course told all the parents of my strange experience just before. The dads all agreed, the rooster are to be used as sacrifices.


I don't know that I should be too worked up over it even if true, my hubby was going to do his own version of a sacrifice to them if I still had them this weekend.
Hehe.

I have a customer from Fiji..... very nice fella, has lived in Canada for 25 years. He buys all my roosters..
the larger the better. He likes the spurs about a inch long. He eats them but I know that when he comes to get them he is very good and gentle with them. He used to purchase all my finished goats also and treated them with respect. They guys are going to eat your birds and that is why they want you to give them any more that you might raise. Free food is good !! I am sorry they were not honest with you... Sacrifices?? dont think so......

Heh heh. I'm glad someone will enjoy them.

Why do some people find it so hard to be honest.

Dan Smith wrote:Why do some people find it so hard to be honest.

I think that they try to tell what they feel the owners giving the birds away want to hear. If they were to say they wanted to eat the chickens many owners would not give them the birds .... Many owners raise them and expect them to go as pets.... or...... for the owners that would let them take the birds for food would make them pay which is a good thing. Good money goes into raising excess Roos..... and hens... They shouldn't be given away for free.

Those Fijiian fellows are going to eat the birds. I had the most wonderful experience with people of this origin when we lived on the coast. I raised Muscovy ducks and let me tell you, the people from Fijii and Indians of the East LOVE muscovy ducks. They also LOVE roosters too, the bigger the better. I sold many an extra rooster to these people, they were my repeat customers and phoned me always to see if I had more birds for sale, they paid well, they did not complain about any prices, although the price was not extreme either. Even offered to meet half way from the Okanagan to the Lower Mainland, if I was raising muscovies, very good clients. When the Fijiian couple would come and get the young drakes, they would kill the birds before they left. At first I had a problem with this. But I watched one time. They would take the drakes one by one into an empty stall that I had, where no other birds could see them. The neck was slit, and the bird bled out. This was tidy, this was clean and before this was done to each bird, the man said a blessing upon the soul of the bird before it went to bird heaven, as they thanked that bird for providing a meal for them. There was never a sound, nor a mess, nor a smell. Their method was quick, clean and very painless, as far as I could see. I had the UTMOST respect for this particular culture and would do business again with this couple in a heartbeat. The Indians of Eastern culture too. They highly respected me and our home farm and it was given back to them by me. Those fellows were going to eat your cockerels, and I can bet they gave a prayer for peace as the birds' souls left their body. Rest assured, they were providing some nice food for a table of probably a very large family. Nice story, by the way, have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.

There used to be small poultry auctions around here and the Asians would come out for them. They'd pick up anything cheap (basically anything that noone else bid on). I used to wonder if their landlords knew what they did in those apartments.

Well. Rest assured, the idea of a family eating my old roosters does not bother me at all; my own family has taken the opportunity. These Roos were offered for free as I really do not (did not) see a market for them up here in this rough oilfield town. I did not like the way the birds were handled in front of me. I think that if that scene was avoided, I would not have left with such a feeling of surprise and a touch of unease. The buyers did expect the birds to be leg tied and wing hobbled, and I found myself in the middle of a villiage market for a second there!

Hah, this time last year I met with an older gentlemen who was advertising weaner piglets on kijiji. He arrived with a selection for me to choose from. Each one individually tied in an old feed sack and stored in the trunk of his teenage son's Volkswagon Bug, complete with racing fin. The son translated, because dad spoke only hungarian. I was alone and this was my first true farm animal purchase; I had never even seen piglets in person before. Dad would grab a pig by the rear leg and lift out of bag for me to examine. Hard to pick with the squeeling that could have been heard a mile away. I specifically requested females, and the first one was girl for sure. I had asked a second time, these are girls, right? Oh yes they are!, the son replyed.
I guess if a buyer is too city-slickered to identify Male or female piglet, well then u get what u deserve.
Second one was a boy, found out when got home. Darn it. My DH still teases me.
Believe me, that will not happen to me again, I will make damn sure that I know what i am getting