Free Baby Chicks?

Free baby chicks?  Yes, please! 

I was in the right place at the right time yesterday.  🙂  I went to town to get some ducklings.  I came home with my planned 5 ducklings AND 12 free baby chicks.  Here’s the story…

I went to town to pick up 5 ducklings I bought from someone online. I stopped on the way to Tractor Supply for duck feed and some bedding.

Baby chicks came walking in the door.

I was checking out when a man comes in the door holding a box of baby chicks and feed he had just purchased.  He looked at the clerk and said “My wife don’t want these”. Poor guy, he looked frustrated. I felt bad for him.

The clerk tells him they don’t usually take returns of live chicks but since he just bought them she’ll check and see what she can do.

I don’t think he wanted to wait because he replied, “if someone wants these, I’ll just give them away.  I don’t need my money back.  (My theory is that he had a spat with his wife and was frustrated. That’s my totally uninformed guess.)

He then looked straight at me. I said “Really? I can’t pass on free chicks. How many do you have?”  12….. 12?! free baby chicks! 

Enjoy!

This poor frustrated gentleman hands it all to me including the receipt and says “enjoy” and walked out the door.  I looked at the clerk and said “Is this legit??”  She laughed and said yes, he just bought them they are fine.   

How long can baby chicks stay in the box from the store?

So then after going to the car and realizing the chicks would be in the box for a while. I went back and asked the clerk, “How long are they ok in this box? It will take me an hour or two before I head home. (I still had to go get my ducks.)  Nope, too long, they won’t be ok.  So she graciously offers to keep them under heat for me and I’ll pick them up on the way home.

Waa hoo!  12 free baby chicks, a bag of food, a bag of some sort of supplements for their water.  Value about 61.00 No charge.  

Was it really free??

Now technically it was not ‘free’.   I now have 12 chickens to take care of and feed. I realized I only had one brooder set up and needed to buy another heat lamp and waterer.   That did cost me about 32.00.   But it is something I can use anyway.  I have plans for more of this in the future. And I’ll have chicken eggs!

I got 8 pullets which are hens, and 4 straight-run chicks.  Straight run means I won’t know if these are hens or roosters until they grow.

I still don’t know what type of chickens they are but hey… they were free.  🙂

And I also got the 5 ducklings I had planned on.   🙂  

(btw, the baby chicks were in the totes for a week or two and quickly outgrew that. They ended up in brooders in my rustic greenhouse.)