It’s not by area, each
Tractor Supply store in that area is managed by different people. They can use different hatcheries. One year mine used McMurray. Last year it was Privett. Different managers manage differently. Some will let you special order and get specific marked chicks as part of their overall order. That can be a good way to get what you want and avoid minimum orders. Mine does not do that. They will special order a minimum of 25 and have them delivered to the post office for you. Not a lot of help. You have to talk to the manager ordering them to see what they will do. It does not work to just talk to any employee there. You can get different stories from different people. The manager that manages the program is the only one that actually knows what is going on.
Some employees know about chickens and some don’t. It’s very easy for someone totally unfamiliar with chickens and chicks to unload them into the wrong bin. One huge improvement I’ve seen in mine the last few years is that they now fence off the area so the customers can’t pick chicks up and them put them back in the wrong bin. That helps with biosecurity too.
Some people are fairly good at avoiding picking cockerels. It’s very hard to sex most chicks at hatch, but a few cockerels have certain tendencies. They may have heavier legs, a more upright posture, or be more curious. The ones that come out to greet you, show more curiosity, and have more personality are more likely to be cockerels. This is only a few of the cockerels, certainly not most of them. It’s not that pullets look like pullets, but if someone picks through them and gets the ones least likely to be cockerels the ones left are more likely to be cockerels. Your odds just aren’t that good, especially if you like the ones with personality.
Now my funny story. Last year my
TSC had a bin labelled ISA Browns. These are hybrid red sex link commercial layers. The hens are pure egg laying machines. The roosters are pretty scrawny and not worth much to eat. They did not know that they were sex links. They were selling them straight run. When I saw them they had two female red chicks left and three to four dozen yellow males. I don’t think the manager there understands much about chicks or chickens. The bins are kept clean and with fresh food and water. I’ll give them that much.
Now to answer the original question. My local
TSC normally has one bin of ducks, one of bantams, one of meat birds, and three bins of regular birds. These thee bins can be labelled differently and that can change as they get different shipments in. One time one was labeled Isa Browns. Other times there might be a red chicks label. Occasionally there will be a pullets label, usually not all red but that varies. I have seen a bin labeled leghorns. Sometimes I see a bin not labeled. That looks like a straight run dual purpose bin to me but that is a guess. There can be other labels. It varies week by week.
