Stromberg's ?

[EweSheep]

It is NOT misleading to call a female chick, a pullet. There is no other name except female baby chick. Started pullets can range from a week old to four months old. A layer is a pullet or hen that has been laying eggs. A hen is a year old and older.

Pullet chick is the proper name. So Stromsberg isn't misleading you.

 

[fleahopchick]

Thanks for your reply but I respectfully disagree, and when questioned about the pros and cons of purchasing chicks versus pullets, the Professor of Poultry Science at Auburn University, also indicated that purchasing "pullets" would result in faster egg production. Nothing was specified about "started pullets." You note that "There is no other name except female baby chick." All I suggest is that they be designated as pullet chicks, not pullets.

Chicks are chicks until they are about 8 weeks old. They may be pullet chicks or cockerel chicks but they are chicks and should be described as such. Their web site shows a full grown hen photograph under the option to order Barred Rock pullets with a listed weight of 7.5 lbs. Perhaps not purpusefully misleading but pretty confusing in my opinion.

Anyway, I now have 4 day old chicks and I must get back to them.

Thanks again for your reply.

 

[Aschenfire]

And I disagree with you, fleahop. I just checked Stromberg's site and you have to check "day old chicks" or "adult birds" when you navigate the left hand side of the page. You had to KNOW you were paying for BABY pullets when you ordered. The fact that they have a picture of an adult bird and the adult weight listed is simply for informational purposes. There should have been no confusion once you clicked "day old chicks". Pullets are female chickens under a year old. Cockerels are male chickens under a year old. Enjoy those little pullets.

 

[JeanR]

Show quality CHICKS???--no one shows Chicks--and no one knows if a chick will grow up to be "show quality"!

To raise "Show Quality" birds of any breed, requires some years of experience and selection of a breeding flock. You can not purchase a trio of birds that have been Show Winners for starters, and expect to be a breeder of "show quality" offspring. Have been raising bantams for 25 years, and keep records of every egg hatched, birds sold--and who purhased them, know "pedigree" of my birds. I repeat best breedings and keep enough lines of each variety to rarely need to obtain new birds. (New birds set one back several generations to sort out the best of the "new" birds.) Of course, you may already have that experience--but thenyou will know that you can never expect "show quality" chicks from a hatchery. They have no clue what that chick will grow up to be--out of 1000s of eggs--there indeed MAY be one that can win at a show, but raising a chick to be a show winner in any breed requires a lot of study and examination--or just a lot of good old LUCK. Still, whatever we raise is FUN and always ANTICIPATION of some really nice offspring! For proper housing, pasturing, equipment (even winter heating in some parts of the country) FEED, vaccinations, there is a great cost to raising healthy birds, and one has to do a lot of selection from each hatch. I do not sell chicks or eggs. Birds should be at least 4-5 months old to assess their best futures, and to ship safely. I make no promises of Show Winners--(but have sold birds that were awarded BEST IN SHOW, all breeds ) that is up to the competition and the judge--but I work on breeding only correct TYPE --and with good care and preparation for a show, one can be proud of their birds! Cost? Birds are still more costly than the shipping and their shipping box. I have occasional culls (still beautiful bantams) from my best breeding birds, that can be sold locally,for $10 (well fed, safely housed, vaccinated for Marek"s Disease, handled and tame) but only as colorful "banties"--no breed name. Raising the best birds of any breed takes study, time, work, and expenses--GREATLY ENJOYED, and worth the charges for the birds, to recoup most expenses!

Purchase of well grown birds, if you want GOOD ones, will save a lot of expenses raising chicks, and you know what you are getting--not losing a season, if you do not receive suitable chicks of any breed. Experience is a good teacher--if you have it, you will use it for any future with poultry--great pleasure for those of us who are just chickien farmers by nature! Good luck, J R

 

[jasperca]

I wanted to say my "2 cents worth" on Stromber's. I ordered 5 types of chicks from them aa(28 total) and received half roosters when only one species was supposed to be a mix. I received 100% of that type in roosters. I also ended up with a rooster out of each of the other types. You can only imagine the mayhem and bloodshed that resulted until I finally got rid of all but one of the roosters. Being somewhat of a novice, it took a while to figure out which were roosters, especially with the Astrolorps. They started killing the hens of the rival roosters!
I won't ever do business with Stromberg's again!

 

[NYREDS]

Not too pleased with Stromberg, myself. Their web site is misleading in that a pullet to them is a day old female chick.

Everything I've learned about pullets is that they are between 14-20 weeks old, so I ordered 5 pullets. Imagine my surprise when, after buying pullet feed (grower/developer), preparing a chicken coop, and excpecting half-grown hens, 3 day old chicks arrive and I have to scramble to get a heat lamp, chick grower feed, etc!

So, if you're looking for pullets from Stromberg, be sure you look for "started" pullets. Cost the same as the chicks, but shipping is considerably higher. What a SNAFU! Now I wait 5 months for an egg.

Oh, BTW, the chicks actually came from Cackle Hatchery, not Stromberg!

A female chick is a pullet. It remains a pullet from the day it hatches 'till it turns one year old. Don't blame Stromberg's for your misconceptions about poultry terminology.

 

[NYREDS]

I wanted to say my "2 cents worth" on Stromber's. I ordered 5 types of chicks from them aa(28 total) and received half roosters when only one species was supposed to be a mix. I received 100% of that type in roosters. I also ended up with a rooster out of each of the other types. You can only imagine the mayhem and bloodshed that resulted until I finally got rid of all but one of the roosters. Being somewhat of a novice, it took a while to figure out which were roosters, especially with the Astrolorps. They started killing the hens of the rival roosters!
I won't ever do business with Stromberg's again!

Are you saying you ordered pullets & got 50% cockerels? If so that's hard to believe. Sexers don't guarantee 100% accuracy but what you seem to be describing doesn't sound right.

 

[jaspercat]

I agree, that doesn't seem right, yet that is exactly what happened. You would think even if they didn't bother to sex them, "chance" would dictate around half the chicks would be cockerels. Yet, I received 10 out of 10 cockerels. What a bummer. Out of 28 chicks, I am down to 14 hens and one very happy rooster. I had better luck with a local store than Stromberg's. I didn't expect 100% accuracy, but that seems like I got rooked.

 

[NYREDS]

I agree, that doesn't seem right, yet that is exactly what happened. You would think even if they didn't bother to sex them, "chance" would dictate around half the chicks would be cockerels. Yet, I received 10 out of 10 cockerels. What a bummer. Out of 28 chicks, I am down to 14 hens and one very happy rooster. I had better luck with a local store than Stromberg's. I didn't expect 100% accuracy, but that seems like I got rooked.

In a large enough sample you will get a nearly 50-50 distribution but that doesn't apply to every small grouping. I once hatched 33 RI Red Bantam eggs & got 29 cockerels & 4 pullets. I just recently hatched 21 Japanese bantam eggs & of the 16 short legged chicks there were 13 pullets & 3 cockerels.
You can't expect every small hatch to work out with a 50-50 distribution. Just doesn't work that way.
Also, I don't know if this is true but I have read on this site that Strombergs drop ships birds from another source. If that's true then Strombergs wouldn't have done the sexing.
Did you contact Strombergs about this & give them a chance to make it right? I haven't dealt with them in years but they're an old company & companies that don't provide good products & service don't usually get to be old companies.

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

Have you ordered show quality chicks?

I know show quality chicks doesn't guarantee show quality but they come from quality stock and that should at least give a decent starting place.