Feed Store Chick Buying Guide

[torilovessmiles]

There could be a part 2 about how to pick out individual healthy chicks from the feed store!

Are there pics of your coop? The color and trim look so cool that I wanted to see more of it. I just found the pic of the cut-out heart steps.

I will take some tomorrow! I was actually looking for some and couldn't find any full ones! Just a warning, the finished product doesn't look too pretty because we were re-using wood from an old barn for the ramp, door, and step rails. It is actually a re-purposed playhouse that is roughly 20 years old! The chickens don't seem to mind though!

I will definitely do a part two, probably within the next week or so!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I also cant wait to see pictures! And part 2! Thanks

Also glad you posted this because even though I'm not getting any more and ordered mine from Meyer, I was at TSC yesterday getting food and they had 6 bins, one was labeled bantams but was empty, one was Rhode Island Red, one was Jersey Giant, and the other 3 were "pullets", all red, and I heard someone ask what the others were, they were getting jersey giants, and the girl (who actually seemed to really love the chicks) said "those are actually pullets too" and "yeah we got a lot in" when I'm pretty sure they meant the breeds LOL oh well. Wish they could have had this great article though!

ETA: oh and they have a poster on a stand of all the breeds and an illustration and sure enough amereucana is on there and i thought to myself Haha they're not really Americanas though, theyre Easter Eggers.

 

[torilovessmiles]

I also cant wait to see pictures! And part 2! Thanks

Also glad you posted this because even though I'm not getting any more and ordered mine from Meyer, I was at TSC yesterday getting food and they had 6 bins, one was labeled bantams but was empty, one was Rhode Island Red, one was Jersey Giant, and the other 3 were "pullets", all red, and I heard someone ask what the others were, they were getting jersey giants, and the girl (who actually seemed to really love the chicks) said "those are actually pullets too" and "yeah we got a lot in" when I'm pretty sure they meant the breeds LOL oh well. Wish they could have had this great article though!

ETA: oh and they have a poster on a stand of all the breeds and an illustration and sure enough amereucana is on there and i thought to myself Haha they're not really Americanas though, theyre Easter Eggers.

Yeah, I don't know why that one bothers me so much. I guess it's not really hurting anything, it's just misleading and it kills me! I would love to get me some true Ameraucanas!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, I don't know why that one bothers me so much. I guess it's not really hurting anything, it's just misleading and it kills me! I would love to get me some true Ameraucanas!

Yeah, it just seems so wrong to do that to people!!! And to me it is kinda wrong/harmful if they want a show bird. But then again near everyone going to feed stores just wants a pretty colored egg laying chicken and if they want show quality even if its a purebred like a buff orp they wouldn't get hatchery quality usually and would go to a breeder so technically its not harming anything but it just is really misleading and doesn't sit well with me either. Its lying

 

[torilovessmiles]

For those asking about my coop! The chickens love roosting 5 feet off the ground. It helps them stay protected from a lot of non-climbing predators, too! The only problem is that it's hard to get up in the winter. The steps get very icy and I have to go up there multiple times a day to collect eggs. I don't know how I haven't busted my head open! The plastic tote and tire (not sure if you can see it) are toys for them to climb on and dust in. The rooster stands on the tote and keeps a lookout! The playhouse was given to us by someone for free and we used a lot of scrap wood, all in all I think we spent about $80 converting it. I plan to update it further.

Sorry it's looking a little rough! I'm in the process of spring cleaning

 

[hasdaa]

thank you so much! i really needed something like this to help me out!

 

[torilovessmiles]

thank you so much! i really needed something like this to help me out!

You're welcome! Glad I could help! Thanks for reading!

 

[driftlessgirl]

I wish I had found this a couple days ago! My husband and I have been talking about doing the backyard chicken thing for over a year now and happened to walk past the bins at TSC and said "Why not?". The only breed I recognized on the bins was the Buff Orpington (one of the breeds I had wanted to try) but had no clue what a Red Ranger or a Cornish Rock was. We grabbed 4 of all 3 kinds and called it good. Looks like we'll have some chicken in the freezer instead of the eggs I was hoping for. Oh well, lesson learned!

 

[torilovessmiles]

I wish I had found this a couple days ago! My husband and I have been talking about doing the backyard chicken thing for over a year now and happened to walk past the bins at TSC and said "Why not?". The only breed I recognized on the bins was the Buff Orpington (one of the breeds I had wanted to try) but had no clue what a Red Ranger or a Cornish Rock was. We grabbed 4 of all 3 kinds and called it good. Looks like we'll have some chicken in the freezer instead of the eggs I was hoping for. Oh well, lesson learned!

I'm so sorry that happened! I wish that feed stores would have descriptions with their breed labels. It would make it a lot easier on people!

 

[torilovessmiles]

Feed Store Chick Buying Guide Part 2: Choosing Healthy Babies is now up! Thanks for reading everyone!