10 Count Cornish Cross from Hoover Hatchery (via Tractor Supply)

[Jack and Sara]

Hi Everyone. We previous searched for others experiences ordering Cornish Cross from Tractor Supply but there did not seem to be much. So we figured we will share our on going experience.

We ordered the chicks on Friday 10/8/21. Straight forward online order. Didn't get any updated til Wednesday [I also called Hoover on Wednesday, they stated Tractor Supply doesn't have their expected shipping dates correct, which can vary with the season. At this time (off season) they only ship chicks on Wednesday. Ours were awaiting pick up].

[Note: Last night (Thursday the 4th) we received an email from TSC that our item was delayed. Seems this might be further illustration of poor communication with the supplier as they arrived as expected]

This morning (Friday 10/15/21) we received a call that our chicks were at the post office ready for pick up. My Wife just picked them up and we received 10 chicks, all alive. We will update on their progress and share our experience.

Feel free to chime in, we are brand new to backyard chickens and are raising both layers and meat birds.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Following. Particularly interested in your feeding program choices at weights at various ages.

Hoover's doesn't have a great reputation on BYC - part of that is because TSC so routinely miss identifies birds - but more its because, while they don't necessarily have bad birds, they don't tend to have exceptionally good birds either. (All of my birds are from Hoovers, thru TSC, btw - or bred from them. I have few complaints, but not much praise, either.)

So I'm quite interested to see how this batch puts on the pounds, for comparison with other CX from other hatcheries being raised this time of year (though you are late in the season to be starting - our more northern neighbors have largely wrapped up CX efforts for the year).

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[Jack and Sara]

Update day 1:

Chicks seem to be doing great. Very active, quick little guys. Drinking, eating, running around and napping.

My wife gave them nutri-drench in their water and we are feeding them Purina Flock raiser (20% protein). This is our second batch of chicks [first ever experience was May this year. 4 meat birds 4 layers from stromberg's chickens]. We looked at the label/ingredients at TSC for starter vs flock raisier and the flock raiser had exactly the same ingredients all the way down with a little more vitamins and minerals. Ask the person at TSC the difference and pretty much every reason they thought starter was superior was proven incorrect by the label (which had them a little bewildered) so we went with the flock raiser. Our Brooder is in our kitchen and we use a brooder plate [to give you an idea of our set up].

I plan to weigh them tomorrow for our initial weigh in (giving them a chance to relax from their travels).

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Love you already for reading labels - you've stumbled on a truth we keep explaining on the feed forums.

Though i don't feed it myself, its my view that the Purina All Flock is probably the best of the reasonably priced, readily available, commercial offerings. Good choice

 

[Jack and Sara]

Love you already for reading labels - you've stumbled on a truth we keep explaining on the feed forums.

Though i don't feed it myself, its my view that the Purina All Flock is probably the best of the reasonably priced, readily available, commercial offerings. Good choice

Awesome. I'm glad we are on the right path. (The person at TSC ended up saying that is the feed they are told to suggest for chicks and no one could answer why based on ingredient comparison... guess that's the engineer in me) Eventually we would like to get more "organic" but for now, we are happy with it. We also feed our chickens a rooster blend that has whole corn, peas, oats and other good stuff that we soak/sprout/ferment. Oh and fodder

Thanks for your post.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

i'll warn you now, cost aside, its *hard* to find a good organic feed for chickens. That's a lengthy conversation. There are other posters who routinely feed Organic, but you should expect that (in terms of raw nutrition numbers) its much easier to build a great feed than it is to build a great organic feed. The engineer in you should be alert to any mention of Methionine. For reasons.

 

[Jack and Sara]

Thank you for the info. I will definitely look into methionine.

Not sure if I'm using the correct terminology with "organic" but my intent is just to try to be more natural and healthy from our diet to our chicks diet.

I have looked into "organic" labeled feeds and they are pricy, also have a lot of ingredients, which is not something that seems "natural".

But I am learning. Thanks for your words of wisdom, they are appreciated.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

happy to help, i've only been at this 18 months, and while i'm learning by doing, I'm trying to skip some mistakes by learning from others. Welcome to BYC

and of course sharing my mistakes so others need not make them

 

[Jack and Sara]

Just got my crash course on methionine

Thread 'Methionine, cat food and chickens - a scientific look' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/methionine-cat-food-and-chickens-a-scientific-look.939481/