Experience at TSC

[beej]

I am a new chicken owner and bought my chicks at TSC on Wednesday. I found the sales person to be somewhat knowledgeable and extremely helpful. She was a nice young woman and the great thing about her was that she had a smartphone and was not afraid to use it to help a customer. They had a bin of Tetra Tints and in all of my reading preparing to get chicks I had never heard of them. She did not know about them either but whipped out her phone and Googled "Tetra Tint" and I got the answers needed.

She also went to bat for me the next day and put a hold on the 5 CXs they had remaining so when I came that night to pick up my girls my carnivore hubby would have his meat chicks. It is against store policy to hold chicks but she told them that I had been in looking at them and she was going to hold them for me since I would take all they had left and I really wanted them and they may not get more in since they don't sell well there.

So on Wednesday night I went home with Gertie (Tetra Tint), Rita, Dot, Aurelia (Red Sex Links) and the 5 "freezer birds" (I love them but will not name them). Overall I has happy with my experience at TSC but then I was pretty prepared for chicken ownership before I want in there.

Now all I have to do is wait for the Chicken Math to get hold of me

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

I was going to call TSC and see what breed of chicks they had. I still want some Welsummers for the dark eggs.
Congrats on your chicks, hope your meaties get nice and plump for you.

 

[bj taylor]

my experience has been a mixed bag. i've become a regular since getting my chicks. i wish more of their staff knew more about chickens, especially during this time of year. if i hadn't had the great benefit of byc over the last several months - staff there would have steared me really wrong a couple of times(not on purpose). i prefer people who say "i don't know." rather than those that fake it. i think the thing to do is learn to recognize the ones who know & hunt them down. that's my plan of action.

 

[BA CHICK CHICK]

TCS has a great setup and i think they have great customer service

 

[ipie68]

i went there today but my store has RIR NHR and other chickens with the same feather pattern in with each other so if I wanted RIRs I would have to gamble on that.

 

[LittleDarlings]

Sounds like a good day to me! My TSC was pretty good too. Apparently they have passed a rule that says customers cannot get in and pick their own chicks. Not only did mine let me in, the guy sat back and laughed while I was hanging over the side of the bin chasing a certain chick!! LOL

As for chicken math...it got a hole first time!! I went from 10 chicks (5 Cornish X & 5 Pullets) to 20 in 24 hours!! (The last 10 are bantams!!)

Good luck and enjoy!!

BTW~We didn't name our Cornish X's either...except "Dinner"

 

[beej]

I agree that it is a mixed bag and what I appreciated most about the young woman who helped me was that she was willing to admit what she did not know and try to find out for me with her phone.

It is amazing how fast the meat chicks grow and they are already at least a third bigger than the "Girls" and are starting to sprout tail feathers. My Better Half is a little concerned, I think, that I am going to get attached to the CXs but I know that they only have a limited lifespan and I just want to make the time they have as happy as possible for them.

I gave them all a little scrambled egg today and loved watching the chick-keep-away; what a hoot.

And BJ I think that our strategy of finding the right person to talk to is a good one. I might adopt that myself.

 

[partsRheavy]

Chicks are popular!! TSC here in TX is_sold out_ until Tues. night.

I thought their setup was good. Thewere clean and had heat food, and water, and the corral kept prying hands out. There was some mixture of breeds in a couple of bins but the chicks were healhy and happy. Three days later all that I purchased are alive and peeping in one of several boxes that they will inhabit before going into the rough raccoon-filled world....

I was able to communicate my desires to the employee who picked up the chicks and put 'em in their first box. I don't expect the employees to be breed experts or to know anything more than to keep them warm, watered, fed, and clean.

 

[DCasper]

If TSC had a sporting good department, they would be the perfect store.

 

[Cpntherfan]

i would love to get the CX but i could never butcher wha i raised, do yall use someone or do it yourself?