Chicken adopters grab wrong birds

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DENVER, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A number of people looking to adopt chickens from a farm in Colorado accidentally ended up stealing birds from the wrong farm, officials said.

The three-day Hen Again adoption drive at Grant Family Farms was aimed at helping save the bankrupt farm and saving thousands of chickens from slaughter by finding them new homes, The Denver Post reported.

However, an advertisement for the event in an area newspaper printed the wrong address and a number of people showed up Saturday at the wrong end of the farm and began taking chickens that were not actually up for adoption.

"They saw a bunch of chickens, so they started taking them," said Teresa Redmond-Ott, who heads the Hen Again adoption program. "There were carloads of people just taking chickens."

Hen Again realized the problem and reached out to people via social media, asking them to return the birds on Sunday.

"I know people are good, and I'm pretty sure people will return them," Redmond-Ott said.

Of the hens that were actually up for adoption, about 1,000 were taken on Friday and Saturday, Redmond-Ott said. About 200 hens were still available for adoption on Sunday.