Your take on Birds from Tractor Supply?

[4HDad]

We got bantams from TSC last year for my sons 4-H project. The employee that was in charge of the chickens could not identify what breeds were what on the bantams as they were all mixed together. We bought 7 that looked similar and ended up with 7 OEGB's.

The birds were all healthy and we did not lose any. I've been told they are not show quality due to being larger than standard.

If you have certain bantam breeds you are interested in look at the "What Breed Or Gender is This?" forum on this site and search on TSC. There have been many people post pictures of chicks they bought at TSC asking for help ID'ing them. Also, if you can find out the hatchery your TSC gets chicks from you can go to their site for help ID'ing them. Ours were from Mt. Healthy and they just list bantam mix.

Roger

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I got 6 chicks last year at our Tractor Supply. They were marked as Golden Comets, when I called the store after they feathered in white, they told me that the bin had been mislabeled and that I should be happy that I didn't end up wt roosters like a lot of their other customers. No 'sorry to inconvenience you'. Nope, just a 'aren't you glad you weren't one of our other customers?, they're really mad'.

 

[speckledhen]

I'd never buy chicks from anywhere they are put out in a bin accessible to customers, period. It's not safe for the chicks-some brat squeezes one, drops it, unsuspecting customer buys it and it dies from internal injuries later because it was handled roughly by the previous brat. Or someone with a sick flock handles the chicks, passes on illness to someone else's flock who buys that chick exposed to the illness. Too many reasons to avoid that type of setup.

TSC is on my blacklist for several reasons and unless I have a specific reason that I must buy something there, they don't get my business, certainly not for chicks. Well, generally, I refuse to buy hatchery chicks anymore anyway so guess no one really gets my business for chicks much these days except for maybe reputable breeders when I must bring in new blood.


TSC just gets in chicks from whatever hatchery they happen to be using at the time. May be different hatcheries for different locales.

 

[ozark_chickies]

I'd never buy chicks from anywhere they are put out in a bin accessible to customers, period. It's not safe for the chicks-some brat squeezes one, drops it, unsuspecting customer buys it and it dies from internal injuries later because it was handled roughly by the previous brat. Or someone with a sick flock handles the chicks, passes on illness to someone else's flock who buys that chick exposed to the illness. Too many reasons to avoid that type of setup.

TSC is on my blacklist for several reasons and unless I have a specific reason that I must buy something there, they don't get my business, certainly not for chicks. Well, generally, I refuse to buy hatchery chicks anymore anyway so guess no one really gets my business for chicks much these days except for maybe reputable breeders when I must bring in new blood.


TSC just gets in chicks from whatever hatchery they happen to be using at the time. May be different hatcheries for different locales.

It wasn't like that at all last year. The TSC I bought chicks from had them fenced off with a locked gate. A employee wearing disposable gloves filled my box. There were a few in the bin that had pasty butts , probably from stress, but all of my chicks were healthy and lived.

 

[OkChickens]

I'd never buy chicks from anywhere they are put out in a bin accessible to customers, period. It's not safe for the chicks-some brat squeezes one, drops it, unsuspecting customer buys it and it dies from internal injuries later because it was handled roughly by the previous brat. Or someone with a sick flock handles the chicks, passes on illness to someone else's flock who buys that chick exposed to the illness. Too many reasons to avoid that type of setup.

TSC is on my blacklist for several reasons and unless I have a specific reason that I must buy something there, they don't get my business, certainly not for chicks. Well, generally, I refuse to buy hatchery chicks anymore anyway so guess no one really gets my business for chicks much these days except for maybe reputable breeders when I must bring in new blood.


TSC just gets in chicks from whatever hatchery they happen to be using at the time. May be different hatcheries for different locales.

I Agree, I will not buy any chicks from Atwoods, Feed Stores, or TSC. The reason being is that 2 years ago I had bought 12 BSL Pullets from a feed store. I got them home and about a week later all of the chicks just started to die. They were sneezing and had runny noses. This spread to my laying flock of 25 birds and pretty much every bird died with in a week of the first sneeze. I called the feed store and explained to them what had happened and they said I was the 3rd person that that had happened to. They said that they would pay me market price for all of my birds even my laying hens that died They paid me $12 per bird and refunded the money for the chicks. They also gave me a $25 of feed for free. They said that the hatchery that I will not name had an out break of Mareks and the store had to cull all of there chicks and they refuse to order from that hatchery. I imagine that this happen a few time a year. You never know what person touches the chick if they have a sick flock. It's not worth the risk of making the flock sick for a few chicks. Now I only buy from NPIP Sources and from reputable breeders.

Nate

 

[buzymom13]

I bought my comets and tetra tints last spring from Tractor Supply. They were sexed correctly...healthy birds...and have turned into beautiful birds. I also got 4 straight run bantams from them...3 were roos and 1 was pullet... They are very nice birds...no issues.