Done with feed store chicks...roosters

scooter147

Songster
11 Years
Jul 30, 2008
2,042
84
221
Missouri
Ok this is the third year in a row that I've bought chicks at a feed store. I've purchased at two different feed stores.

Each time I've bought 6, what are suppose to be pullets, and I've ended up with 3 roosters all three times.

This year in my group I bought 1 Buff Minorca, 1 Silver Laced Wyondotte, 1 New Hamphire, 1, Easter Egger and 2 Amberlink hybrids.

Well the 2 Amberlinks are both roosters and the New Hampshire is as well. I guess the good news is these three birds will have some meat on them so I guess I will let them get to about 5 months or so (or crowing whichever comes first) and put them in the freezer for soups this winter.

Both of these feed stores buy from the same hatchery which will remain nameless as I don't know if its permitted on this site.

So one of two things are going on the hatchery can't sex to save their hind end or the feed stores are buying straight run and charging for pullets.

The feed store has a sign up on each cage and at checkout that if you buy pullets and end up with roosters no refunds or exchanges.

I don't want large numbers of chicks anymore so I don't buy from a hatchery but when I did the hatchery I bought from (based in Iowa) never once made an error in giving me a rooster when I ordered pullets. I know mistakes happen but a 50% ratio seems very very excessive and suspicious to me.

Anyone else have such experiences?
 
I've had it happen twice and once was a new hampshire. I hope he doesn't turn out like my chicken. He was the meanest roo I've ever had. The other one was a buff orp. Our of the six I bought in each group had one rooster. The last time I purchased 6 chicks and all turned out to be pullets. Sorry about your luck I know it's disappointing.
 
The roosters won't have a chance to get mean. I have one rooster and that's all I want and Gomer is such a big friendly pet that freezer camp for him is out of the question.

It is very frustrating when you pay for something and you don't get what you pay for and I'm just suspicious the feed store(s) are not being upfront about what's really in the cages. I find it hard to believe the hatchery is that bad at sexing or my luck is that bad to get the one rooster out of a hundred the sexer missed.

Oh well I guess I'll soon be sharpening the hatchet.
 
The roosters won't have a chance to get mean. I have one rooster and that's all I want and Gomer is such a big friendly pet that freezer camp for him is out of the question.

It is very frustrating when you pay for something and you don't get what you pay for and I'm just suspicious the feed store(s) are not being upfront about what's really in the cages. I find it hard to believe the hatchery is that bad at sexing or my luck is that bad to get the one rooster out of a hundred the sexer missed.

Oh well I guess I'll soon be sharpening the hatchet.
Some feed store employees will say anything to get those chicks sold, even if that means telling an unsuspecting newbie that the Cornish Cross will be great as backyard layers, and of course those are all pullets...
Amberlinks are a feather sexing sexlink. They are one of the only crosses that can be sexed by feather development reliably. Males feather in much slower than females. There is no reason for them to be missexed. The stores are ordering straight run, and selling as pullets.
You simply can't trust what the the local chain (rural king, agway, TSC, and the like) feed store says.
 
Because both Amberlinks are roosters is why I believe they are buying straight run and selling as pullets. I knew they were feather sexed.
When I go into buy my feed I should tell the store manager I have Google and that sexing Amberlinks should be 99.99% accurate.
 
I had ordered for the 1st time online from Mt Healthy last May. Minimum order was 10, so I ordered 12 thinking maybe a couple maybe wouldn't make it and they sent 14. ALL were females to my surprise, including the mystery chicks. It was a bit pricier this way ( ordering so few) but well worth it. All are doing well today...my only disappointment was my one and only EE doesn't lay blue or green. Wish I had ordered more of them
sad.png
but I now know tan is not unusual for them.
 
Ok this is the third year in a row that I've bought chicks at a feed store. I've purchased at two different feed stores.

Each time I've bought 6, what are suppose to be pullets, and I've ended up with 3 roosters all three times.

This year in my group I bought 1 Buff Minorca, 1 Silver Laced Wyondotte, 1 New Hamphire, 1, Easter Egger and 2 Amberlink hybrids.

Well the 2 Amberlinks are both roosters and the New Hampshire is as well. I guess the good news is these three birds will have some meat on them so I guess I will let them get to about 5 months or so (or crowing whichever comes first) and put them in the freezer for soups this winter.

Both of these feed stores buy from the same hatchery which will remain nameless as I don't know if its permitted on this site.

So one of two things are going on the hatchery can't sex to save their hind end or the feed stores are buying straight run and charging for pullets.

The feed store has a sign up on each cage and at checkout that if you buy pullets and end up with roosters no refunds or exchanges.

I don't want large numbers of chicks anymore so I don't buy from a hatchery but when I did the hatchery I bought from (based in Iowa) never once made an error in giving me a rooster when I ordered pullets. I know mistakes happen but a 50% ratio seems very very excessive and suspicious to me.

Anyone else have such experiences?
It's not unusual in my area for there to be one roo in a group of 6 pullets. However, I've heard of bins of auto-sexing chicks that were advertised as pullets, when in fact there is not a single pullet in the whole bin. When I special ordered my Dominiques from a feed store, the hatchery sent 100% roos. Doms are auto sexing. I knew the minute I laid eyes on them that they were roos. It's difficult for me to figure out how a hatchery can make such blatant mistakes when the customer is better at sexing the auto sexing birds than their employees are. Personally, after my last experience with feed store chicks, I swore I'd NEVER go that route again. The employees had NO IDEA what they were doing, and the chicks were freezing, some of them were comatose due to improper temp. You might have better luck ordering direct from a hatchery, and selling the extras. At least when you order direct the hatchery has a 48 hour survival guarantee. With feed store chicks, once the chick is in the parking lot, if it dies, the customer is left with nothing more than a dead chick.
 

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