Feed Store Neglect

[U_Stormcrow]

@zerowland10 your profile doesn't say where you were from, and you didn't ID the farm store. Your choice.

Pasty butt is unfortunately pretty common following shipping stresses, but the photo offered is a very severe example in my (admittedly limited) experience. I can guess at causes (pasty butt often doesn't have a simple and obvious cause, just a collection of aggravating factors), but agree something needs to be done for those chick's health.

If you don't get satisfying answers later today, and evidence of corrective behavior by store management (and its going to be time intensive for the employees, a difficult call in a low margin sales environment - it might be cheaper for them to take the losses on the chicks than dedicate and pay an employee to clean all those birds and monitor), you should give serious consideration to escalating it up the store management chain beyond the local store. Particularly with TSC's recent public relations missteps around their new displays, I suspect you will find upper management more receptive to calmly presented concerns. More so in that I expect that level of pasty butt will quickly lead to losses the store won't be able to hide as shipping deaths, and your photos make clear its not "failure to thrive".

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

That looks terrible. I'd've had a fit.

 

[zerowland10]

@zerowland10 your profile doesn't say where you were from, and you didn't ID the farm store. Your choice.

Pasty butt is unfortunately pretty common following shipping stresses, but the photo offered is a very severe example in my (admittedly limited) experience. I can guess at causes (pasty butt often doesn't have a simple and obvious cause, just a collection of aggravating factors), but agree something needs to be done for those chick's health.

If you don't get satisfying answers later today, and evidence of corrective behavior by store management (and its going to be time intensive for the employees, a difficult call in a low margin sales environment - it might be cheaper for them to take the losses on the chicks than dedicate and pay an employee to clean all those birds and monitor), you should give serious consideration to escalating it up the store management chain beyond the local store. Particularly with TSC's recent public relations missteps around their new displays, I suspect you will find upper management more receptive to calmly presented concerns. More so in that I expect that level of pasty butt will quickly lead to losses the store won't be able to hide as shipping deaths, and your photos make clear its not "failure to thrive".

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed to hear. I’m about to head back up there and hopefully talk to someone who cares. I called the corporate office and left a voicemail saying I’d like to talk to someone about a serious concern. Unfortunately, no one ever called me back today.
This isn’t TSC and I normally wouldn’t have a problem sharing the store, but I’ve been to a few other locations out of town and they have all been wonderful. For whatever reason, this specific store in my town is poorly managed and I don’t think it’s a company wide issue. Thanks for the support and the info!

 

[zerowland10]

Update: I went back last night and things were not better. Maybe worse. I took pictures and then found a manager and we had a really good, long talk. She was truly upset about the situation after looking at the chicks with me (admitted she doesn’t know much about them so doesn’t normally look very closely). She promised to take care of it immediately and put a plan in place to fix the situation. My husband stopped by there this afternoon and they had 3 employees working in that area cleaning coops, taking care of the chicks and helping customers. We’ll probably make it a habit to stop in occasionally!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Update: I went back last night and things were not better. Maybe worse. I took pictures and then found a manager and we had a really good, long talk. She was truly upset about the situation after looking at the chicks with me (admitted she doesn’t know much about them so doesn’t normally look very closely). She promised to take care of it immediately and put a plan in place to fix the situation. My husband stopped by there this afternoon and they had 3 employees working in that area cleaning coops, taking care of the chicks and helping customers. We’ll probably make it a habit to stop in occasionally!

Thanks for all the help!

That's great news. Good for you for sticking with it

 

[Kiki]

Update: I went back last night and things were not better. Maybe worse. I took pictures and then found a manager and we had a really good, long talk. She was truly upset about the situation after looking at the chicks with me (admitted she doesn’t know much about them so doesn’t normally look very closely). She promised to take care of it immediately and put a plan in place to fix the situation. My husband stopped by there this afternoon and they had 3 employees working in that area cleaning coops, taking care of the chicks and helping customers. We’ll probably make it a habit to stop in occasionally!

Thanks for all the help!

Great news. I'm glad you talked to them again.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Just read through this thread. I felt... angry, and horrified. I'm so glad it's been resolved. I really wish that all chicks would be happy, healthy, and with no pasty-butt. But, I guess we can't have everything.

 

[CHlCKEN]

This was really disturbing snd upsetting to hear about. I would’ve had a fit too. I’m glad everything’s taken care of Now, but I’m sorry this happened.