I tried the Rent A Hen

[home town girl]

the CT rent a hen as a professional run business has been extremely disappointing. I was so excited to get my 3 hens that were to be 1-1/2 years old, egg laying, let them free range and they just go right in at night and up the ramp to bed and all you have to do is pull up the ramp at night for protection and let it down in the morning. STOP right there, guy arrived with "I have 3 beautiful hens 5 months old and will be laying in a month" me: "Umm! wait, you promised me 1-1/2 year olds laying" the owner... "I could bring them back in a month if you want" (when they start laying). I decided to keep them as I took the day off of work for the delivery (which he knew I was) . Very unprofessional not to let me know ahead of time and make that decision in advance. After he unloaded the coop and put it in place with a struggle as the wheels where broken! Really! but Ok he is setting it up what do I I care. Oh wait, I later realized I would need to move it and with a struggle of no easy rolling! And oh the rain, rain and more rain and the poor little ones where so upset as their roaming area inside was totally soaked due to the design of the coop - Very poor Triangle design leaves maybe 12" if that in the middle of no rain pouring on them. Now mind you these ladies are only 5 months old so upon the arrival and setup, deciding to keep them even though they were so young, the guy tells me, "now since they are so young you are going to have to train them". Well the coop is in the yard, the girls are now in it... what was I to do but say OK. So they don't go up the ramp at night, they huddle together in a corner on the bottom, it rains for 3 days straight and they are not happy! I hand picked them up one night and put them upstairs only to find out 2 did not come down in the am after I left for work!!Poor things were up there all day no food nor water, thankfully we are still in cool temps. So I left them down in the pouring rain since then. I almost wanted to call and tell the guy what a jerk he is! But it's not the hens fault, so I dragged with lots of effort the coop in a new area, put up a 10 x 12 tarp so the girls could dry out in a non muddy area. I got thinking, why the heck wouldn't the owners of rent a hen give me a heads up of that suggestion of a tarp or some sort. Yet, they are pros, in business 3 years, know it all. NOT!!! I think the owners need some business guidance, you can't mislead people or you'll loose out in the end. The all inclusive deal in not all in inclusive! On the website, there are different statements be careful they suck you in and yet cover their ass. They supply bedding, read down only for a month and they bring it in a trash bag hardly with anything in it. While I don't mind buying wood shavings and a bail of hay, I felt they betrayed me in believing that would all be supplied. And there are other food need you will also have to buy, as their little baggies of what they give you does not last a month. So I'm going to stick it out, as the girls are here - but I would SO NOT recommend this LLC just on principle of neglect to be honest upfront. What else are they hiding! Oh and yes they would like you to purchase the coop and girls once you fall in love with them.... and one more thing he gave me a RED with deformed feet... Of course I said OK. But very poor business on his behave give all the poor things he already handed me! I'm loving the girls, it's not their fault, but this business needs to go out of business!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

What a crummy start to having chickens. Sounds like they get away with it because you were accommodating (not blaming you, if I took the day off and was expecting a service to be done, I'd figure the business knew how to best handle things - that's why you're the paying customer!)

I'm glad you're trying your best to take care of these chickens while you have them, though I'd hate to say "buy them to save them" because that just means another group of chickens will take their place and business goes on.

If you do decide that keeping chickens is something you'd like to do, I hope you can build a much better coop and run, in a better spot, so you'll have healthy happy birds and get to enjoy chicken ownership.

 

[JDN]

The rain isn’t going to hurt the chickens; if it weren’t for predation you could keep them in a tree. there is nothing wrong with an A Frame coop, and they don’t need training to exit the coop. If you were so dissatisfied with the age of the chickens, their feet, or the state of the shelter you could have refused delivery. It says right on their website “bedding for the first month.”

One of my chickens has goofy feet, it doesn’t seem to stop her.

 

[nminusyplusm]

The rain isn’t going to hurt the chickens; if it weren’t for predation you could keep them in a tree. there is nothing wrong with an A Frame coop, and they don’t need training to exit the coop. If you were so dissatisfied with the age of the chickens, their feet, or the state of the shelter you could have refused delivery. It says right on their website “bedding for the first month.”

One of my chickens has goofy feet, it doesn’t seem to stop her.

from their website:
"We provide the coop, three egg laying hens, water and feed container and everything else you need to have your own hens."

They didn't provide any hens, they were all pullets. And they didn't provide everything if the OP has to now go out and buy bedding and food while she raises their pullets to POL for them. Just from the first page alone the OP could file a fraud case with the CT atty general.

 

[JDN]

from their website:
"We provide the coop, three egg laying hens, water and feed container and everything else you need to have your own hens."

They didn't provide any hens, they were all pullets. And they didn't provide everything if the OP has to now go out and buy bedding and food while she raises their pullets to POL for them.

http://idiom.ucsd.edu/~schane/law/ambiguity.pdf
See, I knew that business law class I took would come in handy. That’s the thing, “hen” means a female fowl. Now, a hen, as opposed to a pullet, can mean that she’s laying eggs, or that she’s a year old, or that they are at POL, the only commonality is that they are females.

Just from the first page alone the OP could file a fraud case with the CT atty general.

No, the attached screen shot is from their page where it says one month of feed and bedding, right on the homepage. Did OP Even as for more food after she ran out? And Fraud??? Get real. How was OP damaged (legally?). OP knowingly accepted the coop with shakey wheels and young birds. And paid. Offer/Acceptance. They didn’t conceal anything. If I sell you a coop (or bycicle or car) and you see it’s condition and later want to complain because you were too excited to be intelligent with your money. Grow up.

 

[nminusyplusm]

http://idiom.ucsd.edu/~schane/law/ambiguity.pdf
See, I knew that business law class I took would come in handy. That’s the thing, “hen” means a female fowl. Now, a hen, as opposed to a pullet, can mean that she’s laying eggs, or that she’s a year old, or that they are at POL, the only commonality is that they are females.

On the webpage of CT Rent a Hen there are contradictory statements which doesn't mean a business can legally pick and choose which one is truthful. Also from the first page:
"Our hens not only provide wonderful brown eggs..."

And again:
"We provide the coop, three egg laying hens, water and feed container and everything else you need to have your own hens."

The "hens" delivered to the OP do not provide any eggs at this point at all and may not for several months.

The buyers in the case you linked bought "chickens" which definitely is an ambiguous term given the context presented there (of course we aren't shown the contract). The idea behind these rent a chicken places is that the customer is supposed to get all the benefits of having chickens without the learning curve and preparation right from the start. One of the main reasons people want chickens is for eggs. If they are delivering chickens that don't do that then they shouldn't be advertising the rental of hens that provide eggs.

Just wondering: if the company had no language specifying the chickens were alive, would you think it was ok if they delivered some butchered female chickens and a coop?

No, the attached screen shot is from their page where it says one month of feed and bedding, right on the homepage. Did OP Even as for more food after she ran out? And Fraud??? Get real. How was OP damaged (legally?). OP knowingly accepted the coop with shakey wheels and young birds. And paid. Offer/Acceptance. They didn’t conceal anything. If I sell you a coop (or bycicle or car) and you see it’s condition and later want to complain because you were too excited to be intelligent with your money. Grow up.

It also said they provided "everything else you need" which turned out to be false advertising. I wouldn't have accepted delivery but then I wouldn't have rented hens to begin with but it doesn't matter that the OP took delivery or not, that doesn't change the fact that the company advertised something it didn't deliver.

 

[aligarysmom]

Omg 400 bucks for three months! Then 60 /month after? That’s crazy. And they don’t lay?

 

[nminusyplusm]

Omg 400 bucks for three months! Then 60 /month after? That’s crazy. And they don’t lay?

Yikes!

 

[aligarysmom]

Sorry someone should welcome you to the group. They have some wonderful people that are extremely helpful on this forum if you need help.

 

[nminusyplusm]

Sorry someone should welcome you to the group. They have some wonderful people that are extremely helpful on this forum if you need help.

Oops, yes! Thank you for the reminder!

Welcome to BYC, home town girl! I'm sorry you're going through this but I hope you have a great time with your chickens and we are very glad you've joined us!