Tractor Supply Rant

So I go to tractor supply for some bedding right. I get the bedding and i decide to take a look at the chicks so i go over and the chicks are way too over crowded and i see that some of the leghorns have wounds that are getting ripped at so i call a worker over and when i finally get one over he tries to grab the ones hurt and it runs to the other side so HE GIVES UP AND JUST LEAVES i mean really? So i call them back over and the other guy is trying to grab the chickens and i notice that two of the tiny bantams have splayed leg and are getting run over and squashed so i show him those too and he IGNORES ME so i am sitting there watching the two chicks and it is sooo crowded i really am feeling for them and i notice that the splayed leg chicks eyes are starting to be pecked and ripped at and the guy yet again ignores me. that is to the point that i just leave because i have way too many chickens as it is and i don't need to add more. if i had stayed any longer i probably would have almost bought them out of sympathy.


By the way thanks for listening to my rant

What an idiot!

Report him and the chick situation to head office and hope they do something about it?

yea that was ridiculous it put me in a bad mood all day

I feel for you Tractor Supply is where I bought my first two batches of chicks. Although the people at our store are SUPER NICE the chicks aren't being taken care of properly. For example Ducks have no water, I saw a dead chick in one of their brooders, Disgusting bedding, and isolated chicks in which they don't even know why they are isolated. In my case I bought the chicks out of sympathy, I was going to buy some anyway but I picked out the ones that looked the worst and took them home and now they are fine. I have bought a total of a dozen chicks from tsc and now have 11 (one bantam died) and then I bought 4 ducks. I am obsessed and all about giving animals a chance especially if they are slim. I figure why not spend 3 dollars and try to save a life lol. Sorry if I made you feel bad for leaving them. I feel for you

What a horrible thing!! I'd be so darn mad too! I'd would have probably made a scene before I left!! This just makes me sick. I understand, you've got your hands full too. How could someone not care about those sweet little souls???

It's the same way at pretty much all feed stores. Main difference is most feed stores keep their chicks in the back where you can't see. So it's not a unique situation.

Blaming it on a $8 or $10 an hour TSC employee is hardly the answer, nor is it fair. It's been my observation that most of the "floor walkers" have little or no practical experience in any sort of animal husbandry. They are no more qualified that a HS student working at McD's.

What you can do is blame the culture that allows this to go on. Don't buy your chicks from TSC or any other feedstore. With modern communication you can order from the hatchery, almost any breed, in any number and have it delivered directly to your home within 48 to 72 hours. At no more expense than purchasing from TSC.

You have to remember the guys at TSC are just trying to make a living much as you and I. Being employed their, they become part of that culture, don't blame the working man, blame the culture.

I work at a feed store, and let me tell you, they are thankful to have someone knowledgable about chickens. The chicks would thank me too if they could.

I completely agree about the employees but every business has a "Bad Egg" lol and like they said before they were rude to her and ignored her so at that point they should be blamed. I would say though that there are some feed stores in my area that take excellent care of their chicks. Maybe the businesses should train their employees as we have trained ourselves. All it takes is 10 minutes to read a care sheet and if they are going to be in charge of that dept. then they should have to look into chickens and their care.

twentynine said:

It's the same way at pretty much all feed stores. Main difference is most feed stores keep their chicks in the back where you can't see. So it's not a unique situation.

Blaming it on a $8 or $10 an hour TSC employee is hardly the answer, nor is it fair. It's been my observation that most of the "floor walkers" have little or no practical experience in any sort of animal husbandry. They are no more qualified that a HS student working at McD's.

What you can do is blame the culture that allows this to go on. Don't buy your chicks from TSC or any other feedstore. With modern communication you can order from the hatchery, almost any breed, in any number and have it delivered directly to your home within 48 to 72 hours. At no more expense than purchasing from TSC.

You have to remember the guys at TSC are just trying to make a living much as you and I. Being employed their, they become part of that culture, don't blame the working man, blame the culture.

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I agree with you to some extent, but if it's true that an employee walked away from an obviously injured chick, that's not "culture", that's completely on the employee. Even if they haven't gotten any training, it's their job to find someone who can fix it. What they make an hour has nothing to do with it. They'll get paid for the time they spend taking care of the problem. If I saw something like that, I would demand to see a manager, and in the case of a chain store, contact their corporate headquarters after taking pictures of the sick chicks with my cell phone.

What hatchery do you order from that costs the same as purchasing the chicks from TSC? I'm not trying to be obnoxious, I really want to know. I've been interested in ordering chicks for years because of the vast number of different breeds I could get, but I can't find one that charges less than $70 or so to ship. Money is tight as it is, and that just seems like too much to pay for what I can get nearby for free.

I got my chicks from TSC and I'm happy to report that the conditions that their chicks were in was fantastic. The employee also knew a lot about different breeds of chickens and overall chicken care. Their water was clean and full, their bedding was clean and dry, and the chicks all appeared healthy. I can't afford to order from a hatchery either most orders are a minimum of 25 I don't need that many. In the matter of ordering from a hatchery do we know if the chicks are in great conditions there? What about lost chicks in the mail or chicks that arrive deceased? I think it's a matter of what you don't see can't hurt you. I purchased some ducks from a well known breeder and inside his overcrowded brooders I took out 4 dead chicks in the first 5 minutes we were there, yet he came highly recommended and has been in business for 20 odd years. I guess when you have 1000's of chicks losing some didn't matter to this breeder