[GrannieAnnie]

2 days ago a lady called, I thought she sounded Chinese, but she's from India.  She wanted 25 of the brown hybrids.  They are £8 I told her, oh my friend bought some 2 months ago and he said they were £5.  Yes, they were then, they are now laying, so are £8.

Okay she said, we will come on Saturday.  Well I didn't think she'd get here.  But she and her husband turned up about 10.30.  Brian said I could give her a discount as she was buying 25!  So we caught the 25 for her.  She only brought one poultry crate which is supposed to be for about 12 full size chickens and 1 medium sized box.  So I sent Brian to the greenhouse for the one box I had left.

We managed to squeeze them in, but I wasn't happy about it as they only had a car, and it was quite warm in there.  so Brian was telling them to keep the back windows open so they could get some air.  She was nattering on her mobile nearly all the time, then said can we have 13 of the little black ones as well for my friend?  

Well you can I said but we don't have any more boxes and they will be too cramped in your car.  do you know what she said to Brian?  Could we tie their legs together and lay them down next to the boxes?  

   I couldn't wait to get rid of them.  They reckon they are coming back tonight for the 13 blacks, but I hope they don't!  They obviously don't care about the chickens.  Brian kept saying look if you want any more, come back again, just get those ones home and out of the boxes!  we were so worried about the ones in the crate, that Brian made me empty a box I had in the garage with old birthday cards and trinkets in, so he could take some of the others out of the crate!

Honestly, people!  I just hope they look after them!  

[arugula]

What horrid sounding people! 

[Ice]

What a horrible situation.  I guess it's a cultural difference and what we regard as cruel is regarded as perfectly normal.  I hope they don't return this evening.

[JaK]

They sound horrid! Hope they look after them well enough.

[shetan]

in india it is perfectly normal to tie bird's legs together to stop them from moving about. there is little concern for animal welfare and in most cases birds are either carried around by their feet or by holding the wings together at the shoulder blades.

also, because it is too warm to keep butchered meat. birds are held in cages for customers to choose from and then culled. if this is done in a shop then the birds are out front and then taken in to be culled. however, for the less wealthy, the option is to buy from roadside vendors who will cull infront of the other birds with no concern for welfare.

i am indian and my family back home is against this kind of thing. most of my rural family keep and cull their own for this very reason.

please, please don't let them take the other birds grannie. if they are willing to take that many with legs tied, i am doubtful they will have the correct setup or husbandry skills.

i also fear that if they don't lay as soon as they hope they will either hassle you or kill and replace.

cultural differences aside - if you live in this country abide by the rules and customs here. be a better person by educating yourself and constantly learning. or choose to live in ignorance as most certainly do.

[GrannieAnnie]

Awww, thanks for that Shetan!  I hope you didn't think I was being nasty to Indians!  There are stupid people in all countries!

I know different countries and cultures have their own beliefs, I haven't travelled very well, but when we went to Tunisia some years ago, they had very similar ideas, but it was usually for the chickens and goats that were being culled to be eaten.  But if they want chickens to lay them lots of lovely eggs, then they need to learn to treat them well don't they?

In fact, the husband came back with his friend who wanted to buy 13 of the Shaver blacks which are 11 weeks old.  He brought 5 big boxes to put them in, and has kept chickens before.  So we were much happier about him taking them, and in fact he had all 22!  He is Indian too, so it just shows you the difference!

He said he'd had 12 chickens, but some people got into their shed a couple of weeks ago and stole them all!

[bantam novice]

The second visit sounds less stressfull.  Good luck and I hope all goes well.

[shetan]

unfortunaterly grannie idiots are born all over the place...take my next door neighbour as an example!

thank god someone else has had all the others.

some people are just ignorant, regardless of nationality and sadly think chooks are easy to keep. my dog is a far simpler animal and if he could lay eggs it would be the answer to all my prayers!

we finally located a brahma suitable for us in stafford and picked him up on monday evening. in the end the chap gave us a trio. i only went for the rooster so the box was only for him. i asked the chap for another box and even offered to pay for it. i hate it when people treat animals like they aren't living beings.

maybe suggesting tieing their legs might open eyes...

[GrannieAnnie]

Well at least now I know that their friend has kept chickens before, and he seems much more 'animal friendly', hopefully he will help them and open their eyes! 

I hope your new trio do well for you shetan!

We try to keep boxes for all the people who turn up to collect chooks, and I say "Have you brought anyting to put them in?"  "Oh no" they say, "we didn't think!"  What do they think, the chickens are going to sit in the back of the car with their seat belts on? 

[Oliveview]

The first toms we got hens here they tied their legs together! Since then there are new people there and they supply proper strong cardboard boxes.
Pamela

[GrannieAnnie]

Obviously more civilised people Pamela! 

[Elcie]

Oh Grannie Annie that did make me laugh with the thought of the chickens with their seatbelts on!  Pleased it all seemed to work out well in the end.

[bantam novice]

 
Perhaps a row of booster seats?

[Anndee]

Or even r(b)ooster seats     

[bantam novice]