CHICK DAYS TRACTOR SUPPLY BEWARE

[SueT]

One person recently wrote they bought chicks labelled Orpingtons at TSC and they turned out to be Appenzeller Spitzhaubens, ----you might end up with a happy surprise!

 

[21hens-incharge]

All I can say is we must educate ourselves.

If there is a particular breed wanted please memorize what the chicks look like.......Every detail from beak to bum.

From learning what the chicks look like to walking away if they have pasty bums, are weak, or just look off.

 

[CannedMonster]

Exactly!
I have been regularly studying photos of chicks for a while now. I like Meyer Hatchery’s chick identification portion of their website. Very helpful.
Just Google “Meyer chick identification” and you should find it.
It’s also helpful when hatcheries include photos of each breeds chicks.

 

[CannedMonster]

I was at my local TS today and my friend who works there was trying to tell me the chicks in the bin were Australorp.
They did look just like they should except the wings were starting to feather out and there was a white spot on the end of the wing feathers.
Now I’m not an expert on how Australorp chicks grow but that didn’t seem right to me.
I know they grow into a black bird with no other colors.
I don’t know...maybe the juvenile birds have some white on them?
I just let it go though because she’s my friend but I was disappointed because she has her own chickens and is involved in 4-H so I thought she would be more knowledgeable than she seems to be.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I was at my local TS today and my friend who works there was trying to tell me the chicks in the bin were Australorp.
They did look just like they should except the wings were starting to feather out and there was a white spot on the end of the wing feathers.
Now I’m not an expert on how Australorp chicks grow but that didn’t seem right to me.
I know they grow into a black bird with no other colors.
I don’t know...maybe the juvenile birds have some white on them?
I just let it go though because she’s my friend but I was disappointed because she has her own chickens and is involved in 4-H so I thought she would be more knowledgeable than she seems to be.

Australorp chicks look like adorable penguins with their yellow/white tummies and white tipped wings.
They lose the white over time.

This is a pic of my bantam cochin with her adopted Aussie babies.



They are all grown and gloriously black now.

 

[Duckstail]

So I bought what was labeled as Americauna, turned out to be Easter Eggers was fine with that. Went back and bought what was supposed to be sexed pullets and brahmas, i don't think I got a single brahma, I will post picks this weekend but 3 of them are bluish color with no leg feather, the others look like cochins not brahma. This is very disappointing! Does anyone here have any experience with TSC with this issue and is there anything I can get them to do?

I was under the impression that Americauna's lay easter eggs style?

I bought 5 ducklings from Tractor Supply in New Jersey everybody there is very knowledgeable and very helpful. The nice thing about buying from a store like tractor supplies that the Animals is there you don't have to deal with shipping. And when you're only looking to buy a few at a time that's the best way to go!!

Think about it like this whenever they pay someone minimum wage they're telling them I'm going to give you the least amount of money legally to do this job, on the flip side the person working the job is going to do the absolute minimum necessary.

And I'd hardly compare Walmart and Tractor Supply. Walmart has the cheapest products at the lowest price. Tractor Supply sells all sorts of quality products.

 

[lazy gardener]

What 21 hens says. I might add my own advice regarding buying chicks at TSC. Don't! Their rep is notorious for selling straight run as pullets, and having breeds mis-labeled. At least in my area, the feed on the shelves can be 2 - 4 months old. I've learned that I'm far better off doing business with a store that pays attention to such details.

 

[Member 482121]

Well, I ordered 50 Australorps, and I got Australorps. Unfortunately they had to go 4 days without food or water. There were some delays in transit, and on top of that the local post office closes at noon on Wednesdays, so they had to spend Wednesday afternoon and night there. I picked them up early the next morning. Thursday night five died. Another died a couple of days later. But TSC treated me fairly and I was reimbursed for the loss of the five. The sixth died after the 48-hour deadline for filing a claim. Maybe I would have been reimbursed for that one, too, but I did not think that filing a claim for one dead chick would be worth my time and effort. I consider myself (and the chicks) lucky that only six died after that ordeal. Now they are getting bantam size and are healthy and frisky. But, yes, I noticed that the TSC store people know very little about chickens--even less than I do, which is pretty tragic. I would expect a store chain that conducts brisk business on chicks and related equipment and supplies to know more about what they sell.

 

[Rlmp817]

I found it much more fun (although a touch more expensive) to get my chicks from a local farm.
The experience was way better, the farm owner is super knowledgeable (and a great resource, cause I can email her with questions regarding the chicks).plus I helped a local business

 

[snoozing chick]

Why did you order shipped chicks from TSC? If you are shipping chicks, why not go straight from the hatchery? TSC chicks are from hatcheries, and you then have the complicating factor of a middle-man to deal with too.

Well, I ordered 50 Australorps, and I got Australorps. Unfortunately they had to go 4 days without food or water. There were some delays in transit, and on top of that the local post office closes at noon on Wednesdays, so they had to spend Wednesday afternoon and night there. I picked them up early the next morning. Thursday night five died. Another died a couple of days later. But TSC treated me fairly and I was reimbursed for the loss of the five. The sixth died after the 48-hour deadline for filing a claim. Maybe I would have been reimbursed for that one, too, but I did not think that filing a claim for one dead chick would be worth my time and effort. I consider myself (and the chicks) lucky that only six died after that ordeal. Now they are getting bantam size and are healthy and frisky. But, yes, I noticed that the TSC store people know very little about chickens--even less than I do, which is pretty tragic. I would expect a store chain that conducts brisk business on chicks and related equipment and supplies to know more about what they sell.