Am I the only one who gets their hackles up sometimes at feed stores.
I know they try to do their best with the animals that sell in the spring but something I just get a little bothered.
A couple weeks ago I went to Buchheits. The local supply store. They have 8-10 week old pullets in various breeds. That they said they just got in today. They were $10. Which I found amusing. Because I just went to a huge swap and couldn't sell my 4 month old pullets of the same breeds for $5. They also always have roosters for sell for $20. Hatchery ones. Haha. You can barely give them away. I wish I was the lucky one to sell the roosters to them.
Anyway. As I looked over the new pullets. They had about 15 of them crammed into a rubber 50 gallon water tub. Which usually only holds about 20 day old chicks. Then I noticed their food bowls were completely filled up with corn. Thats it. No grit, no crumbles. Just corn.
This bothered me quite abit as they were still very young chicks and needed the vitimins and proteins from crumbles. I tracked down several workers and talked to them. I explained that they weren't old enough to eat corn yet. And even if they were it's only a treat. Not a complete food. They also needed some grit. They just laughed. And blew me off. Then went right back to what they were doing. Or they said sorry I don't mess with the chickens I just clean their cages and feed them. Blah blah. I even offered to fill it up for them. But they just went onto saying 'Corn is what chickens eat'. I left feeling very fustrated. I wanted to call and complain or tell the manager or something. But my family who was with me at the time told me it wasn't a big deal and to just forget about it. It bothered me all day. Worrying about the birds not getting the right diet, or not being able to digest it. I know it don't trouble some people. But it did me.
They also had three banty hens in there. With only corn, no oyster shell. That had about 10 eggs sitting in there cage. Which tells me it hadn't been cleaned in a while. And no one cared to remove them. How long would it of taken to reach in there and get them out. A few had been stepped on and broken and it was just a mess.
There was also a little kid picking up chicks and squeezing them until they were screaming. Then he would get scared and drop them several feet. His mother was right there smiling. 'Oh how cute.' I asked him very kindly to put the chicks down and not touch them again. His mother didn't seem to happy about that.
Ugh.
How can people so easily buy from them. Such as a rooster for $20. But I can't practicly give away happy healthy hens from breeder flocks.
Or why will they not give educated farm people the jobs instead of just the random person from the city. I haven't met one person in there that knows anything about animals.
I once called to see what breeds of chicks they got in that day. She told me. 'Chicks. You know the little baby ones.' I asked for the kind. She said 'Oh I think we have some red ones and maybe some black.'
Oh well. I just don't understand sometimes. haha. If I had the time I would open up a little supply store. At least I would be able to answer questions, or give advice. Cause truely. Especially in my area. It's mostly old farmers. The know nothing about animals. Except what they learned back in the day. Tons of old rough looking horses and other critters around here, that are just left out in scraggly pastures with junk everywhere, and no shelter, no care for months. Honestly there no breeders or serious animal people around here for miles, for any type of animals. Which is funny. Seeing that I live in prime farm country, out in the middle of no where.
I know they try to do their best with the animals that sell in the spring but something I just get a little bothered.
A couple weeks ago I went to Buchheits. The local supply store. They have 8-10 week old pullets in various breeds. That they said they just got in today. They were $10. Which I found amusing. Because I just went to a huge swap and couldn't sell my 4 month old pullets of the same breeds for $5. They also always have roosters for sell for $20. Hatchery ones. Haha. You can barely give them away. I wish I was the lucky one to sell the roosters to them.
Anyway. As I looked over the new pullets. They had about 15 of them crammed into a rubber 50 gallon water tub. Which usually only holds about 20 day old chicks. Then I noticed their food bowls were completely filled up with corn. Thats it. No grit, no crumbles. Just corn.

They also had three banty hens in there. With only corn, no oyster shell. That had about 10 eggs sitting in there cage. Which tells me it hadn't been cleaned in a while. And no one cared to remove them. How long would it of taken to reach in there and get them out. A few had been stepped on and broken and it was just a mess.
There was also a little kid picking up chicks and squeezing them until they were screaming. Then he would get scared and drop them several feet. His mother was right there smiling. 'Oh how cute.' I asked him very kindly to put the chicks down and not touch them again. His mother didn't seem to happy about that.
Ugh.

Or why will they not give educated farm people the jobs instead of just the random person from the city. I haven't met one person in there that knows anything about animals.
I once called to see what breeds of chicks they got in that day. She told me. 'Chicks. You know the little baby ones.' I asked for the kind. She said 'Oh I think we have some red ones and maybe some black.'
Oh well. I just don't understand sometimes. haha. If I had the time I would open up a little supply store. At least I would be able to answer questions, or give advice. Cause truely. Especially in my area. It's mostly old farmers. The know nothing about animals. Except what they learned back in the day. Tons of old rough looking horses and other critters around here, that are just left out in scraggly pastures with junk everywhere, and no shelter, no care for months. Honestly there no breeders or serious animal people around here for miles, for any type of animals. Which is funny. Seeing that I live in prime farm country, out in the middle of no where.