Steve Morrow saw an "urgent sale" ad on the New Zealand auction site Trade Me from a free-range chicken farmer who was shutting down and selling off his 1,000 chickens; Morrow thought he was bidding on one chicken, but ended up buying all 1,000 of them for NZD1.50.
He has since given away 700 of his accidental flock via social media ads. Morrow says the ad was confusing, but the seller, Matthew Blomfield, insists that it was all clear: "It's pretty bloody hard to get that wrong."
The two are collaborating with Animal Sanctuary to screen potential bird adopters. Morrow is planning on keeping 20 birds for himself.
Morrow said he wasn't going to let the 1000 birds down and let them be killed.
"I wasn't going to let that happen. I was going to save 1000 lives, even if I had to drive up to Auckland and feed them myself while looking for homes for them."
$1.50 for 1000 hens: Hamilton man desperate to rehome birds after accidentally winning auction [Torika Tokalau/Stuff]
(via Metafilter)