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ROFL!!!
That's what DH used to say to me about the hunks working at Higley Feed!
As for Apache Junction, I can't give any recommendations as I haven't been to any of their stores. The Feed Barn is NW Phoenix is pretty good about giving helpful advice; problem is they know far more about horses than chickens, at which they are also relatively new at raising; but they are very willing to learn, do carry a wide variety of supplies and will order things they do not carry or have in stock on request. Rays Feed in s central Phoenix is also pretty good. The problems is that most feed stores provide chicken feed and products as a very small portion of their business; horses and other livestock seem to be the areas in which they are most knowledgeable. There are a couple of feed dealers in Tucson that raise and exhibit chickens, so I would expect them to be knowledgeable; offhand cannot remember the names of the stores, though. Vaquero? that may be the one--not positive.
On a good note, most of the feed stores in Arizona are mom & pop owned, so chances are that whoever you deal with has some knowledge of raising animals, and it is pretty easy to speak directly with the owner. In other areas they have large corporate big box types of stores and the workers may not know a sheep from a goat or a chicken from a guinea.
The feed store here only sells one brand of feed, it also happens to be the feed made at the mill 2 blocks from the feed store. They have got to be getting it dirt cheap, the sell it to me for $18.16 cents a bag. To me, it seems to be more of a gift shop than feed store. They sell some pretty over priced stuff, and no one has a clue about anything, and thats putting it kindly. Id say 15% of the bag is shake. Id far rather buy a bag of Egg Maker at
Walmart if I ran out of feed before I could get to Mesa to get feed. Right now I'm going thru almost 250 pounds of feed per week. I'm also supplimenting the chickens with leafy greens daily or other goodies like watermelon rinds.
