TSC selling wrong chicks

[Mayberry Anj]

I picked up a dozen cornish x a couple of weeks ago.The other day I noticed they were feathering out a brownish gold color.I had no idea what they were,so I took them back and got a dozen more.I'm pretty sure theses are cornish x.The manager couldn't figure out what to do with them,so I ended up buying the mystery birds back for .50 a piece,and giving them to my brother.I was so ready to get them into the tractor,but had to start all over.The manager even tried to argue with me that they were cornish x.My buddy bought a straight run of Rhode island reds three weeks ago from there,and they ended up being red sex link.Let's just say I will never buy another chick from tsc.

 

[silkiecuddles]

Welcome to BYC!
Haha, yeah. They don't really know what they have. We got 12 ducklings from them last year. One I was told was a pekin. It turned out to be what I thought it was, a blue Swedish. Which is what I wanted anyway.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

They did that here to. Had red pullets labeled as cornish rocks i got one. Because I know my breeds. And knew it wasnt a cornish. You gotta know your breeds to make sure you get the right ones.

 

[Eliza1313]

I picked up a few from TSC. I am no expert on the breeds. The local TSCs seemed to be keeping them separated well and marked as per what they were marked when shipped. I did buy 2 that were just marked as broilers, suspecting they were Cornish X but hoping they were a slower growing breed. They appear to be Cornish X though, have out grown the Barred Hollands I bought from a hatchery that are a week older. They are about 3 weeks now. Starting the hunt for a processor, in case we can't manage to do it ourselves.

 

[yellowswirl]

Yea, totally agree. We got 6 pullets and 2 have turned out to be meat birds, so now we have to make a decision about what to do with them. They are about 4 weeks and not sure if we can cull them ourselves. So we're looking for someone else to process them.

Although they've been great about replacing any sick or wrong breed birds, I don't think is ever go there again to get chickens.

 

[silkiecuddles]

For some odd reason I enjoy hearing people's stories of getting wrongly-labeled chicks at TSC. Anybody else have some?

 

[yellowswirl]

For some odd reason I enjoy hearing people's stories of getting wrongly-labeled chicks at TSC. Anybody else have some?

That's just wrong! LOL

FYI, we now have double the number chicks. If we had gotten the correct ones at TSC, we would still have 6, not 11. I still don't think i would go there for chicks again.

 

[lazy gardener]

At risk of causing rumpled feathers, after hearing so many stories of mislabeled birds, straight run being sold as pullets, meat birds being sold as layers, antibiotics sold without reason, it boggles my mind why folks continue to buy chicks from them.

 

[havery]

At risk of causing rumpled feathers, after hearing so many stories of mislabeled birds, straight run being sold as pullets, meat birds being sold as layers, antibiotics sold without reason, it boggles my mind why folks continue to buy chicks from them.

I've bought from my local Tractor Supply twice now and haven't had an issue. I actually bought my first flock there because I was more concerned about learning how to raise chickens than what breeds I got, so I went with their "assorted pullets." The lady that helped me has worked there for years and actually knows her stuff. I still have six of those eight original hens (all were actually pullets) and they are super healthy and awesome layers. This year I bought some Cornish X to replace the Red Rangers I lost in shipment along with a Welsummer pullet I just couldn't avoid. The Cornish are getting on 3 weeks old and have feathered out wonderfully and just as active as the rangers they're being raised with. The Welsummer was in a box of straight run "specialties" and the lady helped me get one with female markings with no complaints and was actually happy to learn there was a difference!

I really think you have to know your stuff before going in and make a judgement call, because not all stores are equal. Some don't care at all, others like mine actually put effort into learning about the chicks and breeds and taking care of them. Their stock is not any worse than you'll get from any hatchery though.

 

[Kev]

It's a good general statement though, as the breed and gender guess thread has quite a lot of mislabeled chicks from TSC. Cockerels from pullet only bins, wrong breeds being very common.

I visited TSC for the very first time last month and asked about the chicks... the answer was so incredibly ignorant I just had to smile and nod thanks.... Very nice people, but NOT chicken folk for sure.