“Clearance Bin” at Tractor Supply

[rosemarythyme]

As "mean" as it seems, I simply would not buy chicks or supplies from a store that was treating the animals that poorly or negligently. I know people want to rescue the poor things, but buying them just means they'll order more and the cycle continues. And meanwhile you get stuck with injured or sickly chicks.

 

[New2Chicks97]

I hate going to feed stores. Really the management is awful. I saw two chicks being pecked (one in the eyes) and brought them both home for free last year. All the employee did was move them into another brooder (really? How would that help?) and then I asked if I could take them. Sadly, one of them died (I'm sure it was being picked on for being weak and sickly, I do not think I could have saved it even if I knew what was wrong), but the one being pecked in the eyes survived and miraculously is not blind. A few days ago my sisters and mom were at TSC and they told me that there was a dead chick--completely flattened and had been eaten and trampled by the other chicks, and the ducklings didn't have any water because "they put their feet in it" (I don't know what my mom said to them but by the time they left, the ducks had water). Really people! It makes me so mad. I wish I could take all of the babies home with me.

Thankfully the stores here locally are really good compared to some of these horror stories. We have North40 Outfitters and The Country Store for larger chain stores. The chicks are well taken care of for the most part. They have food, clean water and the brooder were clean. A few had pasty butt and that will happen no matter what. The one store actually employs a guy who raises chickens and knows what he is talking about.

The little locally owned feed store has a nice brooder set up that is much more like a commercial brooder. They do mostly preorders for customers and small orders. Which means limited stock on hand and less crowding. They really aren’t more expensive either and they offer a better selection of breeds especially if you preorder and pay. This is where we got our latest chicks. They have a cute store rooster. He is an Old English Game Bantam named Rudy. My daughter thought he was adorable!

Makes me wish that all stores & employees had to have some training before being allowed to have/handle living animals.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

As "mean" as it seems, I simply would not buy chicks or supplies from a store that was treating the animals that poorly or negligently. I know people want to rescue the poor things, but buying them just means they'll order more and the cycle continues. And meanwhile you get stuck with injured or sickly chicks.

Most feed stores are on an auto ship with the hatheries that's how they end up with tanks full of them.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I don't go to TSC often at all.

That said, the first time I was in ours the chicks were mixed up, filthy and most had pasty butt. I left disgusted.

Recently I had to go in for something my regular feed store was out of. The chicks were properly sorted and clean. The young man tending to the brooder was knowledgeable about the breeds and their care. I was surprised as he wasn't much over 18. There was one bantam looking a bit off. I watched that chick for a bit. She/he had some pasty butt. I mentioned it to him. He put together a little box with shavings, carefully picked up that tiny chick and let me know he was going to clean it right away. As he walked to the back I heard him talking to it.
Seriously, yes maybe he is the exception rather than the norm, I was impressed with his caring attitude regardless.

I just wish they didn't order so many breeds as straight run.

My regular feed store does a nice job caring for the chicks as do all the other local shops.

 

[cmom]

I go to both TSC and Rural King. I know this is a bit off of the topic, but several years ago we had a monthly farm swap at our farm. Hubby got nervous about if someone was to get hurt, so we called around for event insurance. We couldn't find any company where we could get it. A friend of mine who worked at TSC suggested maybe having the swaps there so I made arrangements and we gave it a try. We have been doing it there now for around 10 years. Now we have a very successful monthly swap on the 2nd Saturday. I hatch out a lot of birds every year and can't keep them all so this is a good place to sell some and it helps with the feed bill. We have a second monthly swap at the local Rural King on the 4th Saturday monthly and it has also become quite successful.
Our TCS monthly swap.

Our Rural King farm swap.

 

[Rooster_Tyranny]

We’re fairly new to hobby farming (just shy of a year) and this is the first time I’ve seen the “clearance bin” of chics at Tractor Supply. I don’t know if it’s like that at every store, but it was truly awful at the store I went to . In the 10 minutes we were there, the lady took out 4 dead chics (all dead from being trampled). I cannot believe how many they had in this bin and the size differences were way too great! It looked like 2 week old chics with day old chics!

Anyway, we were horrified and somehow left with 36 new chics! Thank goodness our new barn with massive chicken coop is almost done because I think that now puts us around 91 chickens!!

Ohhh man, I hear ya! Yesterday I went to IFA to get chicken feed and they had 2 50% off bins. They were packed to the brim, almost every chick had feathers that were picked off, one was even missing ALL of its back feathers, and they had no food or water because they had knocked everything over. So many were huddled together in the corners of the bin, one had cross-beak, it was awful.

And my heart swelled and I ended up taking home a little Brahma chick for 2 dollars. (only had the space for one more). I wasn't planning on it but I have the space and materials to accommodate it so why not?(I have other chicks in the brooder already, they're getting along fine). What really bothered me is the indifference to the employees, don't get me wrong, they seemed to like the animals, but they seem to think chickens missing all their back feathers is normal.

In short, I'm not going to any feed store during chick season ever again.