I thought it was kind of funny that the chicken police came in and seized the shipment.

It was actually the SPCA, who confiscated the colorful chicks at the Johnston Post Office Friday morning.

They come from Texas from a poultry farm in Texas, delivered to the Johnston Post Office. A person that owns a pet store in Johnston ordered them.

We were gonna order some chicks for the kids and to replenish our stock, and we chose to go with the colored ones that look cute.

So you ordered the chicks for personal use, not to sell from the store?

Yeah. You know, You don't make poultry in exotic. It doesn't work out.

But what Pure Paradise Pets store owner Domenic Parisella claims he didn't know was that Rhode Island law prohibits anyone from possessing dyed poultry.

I had no idea that there was a ban on dyed chickens. Had I’d known, I would stay away from it.

But Parisella said he had no reason to think there will be any problems since neither the dyeing process nor the dye is harmful to the chicks.

It's a full grain dye. That's not gonna hurt. It doesn't, even if it goes in eyes or mouth, whatever. It's no different than the food coloring that you get on your average birthday cake.

But it's enough to detour the 48 chicks, and leave everyone wondering: what will happen next?

Right now I am in the darkness to what's going to happen to them.

If they find their way back to me, that will be great 'cause I got probably about 8 little kids that are looking forward to having some multi-colored chickens that they won’t have. But, you know, it is what it is.

SPCA: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals