Pretty sure I sold to a rooster fighter

[HenX]

I've had chickens for over 10 years, and have occasionally sold my extras on Craigslist with a lot of success. I try very hard to sell responsibly, and I am not opposed to people buying my birds for butchering. I eat chicken, and I don't mind if others do as well, as long as the process is quick and humane as possible. Mostly though, I get people who just love chickens and want more.

This May, I ordered 17 birds from Meyer (I ended up with 14, different story), and knew there would be a few roosters in the mix. A few weeks ago, I placed several pullets, an Easter Egger bantam rooster and a silkie rooster on Craigslist. I was suspicious, but decided to sell two of my young cockerels to someone who seemed fairly innocent. I had my doubts, but chalked it up to the buyer being a bit naive. He said he was renting land and starting a big flock.

At the time, my daughter and I couldn't seem to part with our bantam mottled cochin roo. He was adorable and funny, and we really liked him. But, in the interest of being polite to our very good neighbors, we decided to put him on Craigslist this past Sunday. I got a message yesterday that someone was interested. So, again, I had a twinge of suspicion at the first text, but I asked several questions and made conversation over text to decide if the buyer was legit or not. Honestly, you never know, but you can try to do your best. I assign contact descriptions to people who have purchased from me before off of Craigslist so that if I get a text from someone having an issue, I will know who they are. It gives me a heads up. (Ex: "Hey this is Buff Orpington 7/11/18 and I'm super angry!")

Well, my husband and daughter met the buyer at a local gas station and it turned out that my daughter recognized him as the buyer of my last two roosters. She told me this after the fact and I was just sick. He did not come up in my phone as the contact that I had previously given him. He texted me shortly after (unsolicited) to assure me that the rooster settled right in, was totally docile, the children loved him, they had him in the house with them, not "back at the coop". He said he was the one who had bought from me before, that the Easter Egger and the silkie were doing fantastic and were "pretty big now" and that if I ever needed to sell any other pullets or cockerels, to let him know. I asked for a picture of everyone, and I did get one of our cochin in the house with a younger serama that his "wife sleeps with." (Either way, this story is out of my comfort zone.)

Is it unreasonable for me to think this is a possible rooster fighter? In my mind, people don't really need to acquire 3 roosters in three weeks' time, and then ask for more. The ironic thing is that every day I work with the public and am paid to detect fraud as nicely as possible. And I'm not bad at it. So in addition to feeling sick about my decision to sell one of my favorite birds, I'm super steamed that I most likely got played in my personal life. I can't know for sure, but my gut certainly warned me and I didn't listen. I basically told myself that I can't go around with a persistent bad attitude simply because I see so much corruption in my work.

I'd like to think I'm totally wrong on this one. Besides owning up to the consequences of selling chickens, anyone have advice?

 

[SueT]

I can't imagine anyone would buy a bantam Cochin for cock fighting! That would be like buying a toy poodle for dog fighting.
I'd say fret not, and enjoy your chickens.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Since the guy seems comfortable sending you pictures of the bird settling in. You could bait him with another cockerel and offer to drop it off at his house. If he adamantly declines that could be a red flag. Another thing to do is to talk this guy up. What chicken owner doesn’t love to talk about their chickens, especially to other chicken owners? Ask him how he got into chickens, what breeds he has, how many he has, if he plans to breed them, etc. Once you and him are chummy you might be able to get him to show you his flock.

 

[lazy gardener]

The only thing I can say is this: When your gut tells you something, you'd better be listening. B/C those gut feelings are usually "right on". Do we all get duped, taken advantage of, "played"? Of course. I'm hoping your gut is wrong in this case, but... you might want to put this buyer on your black list.

 

[bobbi-j]

Not wanting you on his property is not necessarily a red flag for him being a cock fighter. He could be concerned about biosecurity. I know it doesn't make sense if he doesn't keep a closed flock, but you never know.

ETA - this is not to say you shouldn't trust your gut. Just that everyone who would rather meet elsewhere does not mean they are doing anything illegal. You should go with your gut.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I think it's unreasonable to assume he's cock fighting. You are creating a world based on his contact not being the same. People change numbers, use wifes phone, etc.

Is it odd that his wife sleeps with a Serama? Yes it is.

 

[centrarchid]

Chicken was not acquired for fighting. People that know something about subject will tell you it is not, unless making fun of you. Looking ripe here.

 

[HenX]

Yes, it is entirely based on my gut feeling and a few contradictory messages I got between the two different sales. In one, he's starting out a new flock on land he's renting in a different town. In the second, he's had chickens for a long time, even had them as a kid, he loves his serama, etc. The messages appeared as though I was communicating with two different people. Had I known it was the same person with the differing stories, all deals would have been off.

Meeting at a public place was my suggestion. I just feel more comfortable that way. But it would be interesting to see what his flock set up is.

 

[Mrs. K]

nope, you sold them, not your problem anymore, not your responsibility. Don't sell to him again, if that makes you uncomfortable, but let this go. You are not responsible for someone else behavior. I think you have taken a button and sewed a vest to it. Don't sell to him again, as I don't think you will feel good about it, but just let this go.

ps, sleeping with the bird is strange. But then to each his own. Some people, especially people new to chickens have some very strange ideas about keeping them.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There are many many people who are careful chicken keepers who would rather other chicken owners stayed miles away from their home because of the very real danger of introducing diseases, pathogens or other pests to their flock.

In fact there is a well known chicken producer near here who has a multimillion dollar plant that's sole purpose is to sterilize their chickens' feed. I would hate to see what would happen if you showed up uninvited at their front door with a flock of backyard chickens in tow.

This chicken breeder in fact has similar operations on 6 of the Earth's 7 continents, only Antarctica is unrepresented for obvious reasons.