Kentucky bans dyeing baby chicks, ducklings, and rabbits for sale

The Short Answer

TRUE! It is illegal to dye or color living baby fowl, rabbits, or chicks, or to sell them in lots of fewer than six.

The Full Story

Every Easter, people were dyeing chicks pink, blue, and purple to sell as cute holiday gifts. Kids would beg for them, parents would buy them, and within weeks the novelty wore off. The now-grown chickens were abandoned or died from improper care.

Kentucky enacted this law in 1942 to curb impulse purchases. The requirement to buy at least six (rather than just one cute colored chick) was meant to deter casual buyers who weren't prepared for actual animal husbandry.

Similar laws exist in other states.

Common Misconceptions

This is not just a quirky Kentucky law — many U.S. states have similar statutes banning the dyeing of chicks and rabbits. The laws were enacted to prevent impulse purchases of dyed Easter animals that were often abandoned or died shortly after. The law also sets minimum sale quantities (six or more) and age requirements to discourage treating live animals as novelty items.

Actual Legal Text

KRS 436.600 — Dyeing or selling dyed baby fowl or rabbits: "No person shall sell, exchange, offer to sell or exchange, display, or possess living baby chicks, ducklings, or other fowl or rabbits which have been dyed or colored; nor dye or color any baby chicks, ducklings, or other fowl or rabbits; nor sell, exchange, offer to sell or exchange or to give away baby chicks, ducklings, or other fowl or rabbits, under two (2) months of age in any quantity less than six (6), except that any rabbit weighing three (3) pounds or more may be sold at an age of six (6) weeks."