Mislabeled Tractor Supply/Feed Store Chicks

[Killer Tomato]

We thought we were buying a Black Copper Marans chick, and I waited forever to get that first egg (almost 8 months!). It was a small, pale rose color, from my most enormous chicken. Huh?

Googling madly, Australorp or Jersey Giant? I rush back outside and look at the bottom of her feet. They're yellow.

We have ourselves a big ol' Jersey Girl! We loved her anyway.

 

[Nats Chickens]

Hatched them! I'm in the US.

Haha, don't give me an excuse to show you emu pictures

Yeah, but where did you get them from?????

 

[Nats Chickens]

PS: Please send me some, I love Emus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pyxis]

Yeah, but where did you get them from?????

Oh, there are a lot of emus in the US People farm them for their meat and oil. I bought eggs. These two in particular I had shipped to me from Maryland. Different breeders, they just both happened to be in Maryland.

 

[dotporter]

We all know Tractor Supply is notorious for mislabeling their chicks. However, I got the idea for this thread today when I encountered perhaps the worst case of mislabeling I have ever seen.

I stopped in to grab some feed and peeked in the chick bins, and immediately some of the birds caught my eye. So I asked to buy a couple of the "leghorns" they had.

This is what I bought:

View attachment 1483891

Broad breasted white turkey poults. Not only was the breed wrong, but the species too! In the past I've bought some chicks from them that were labeled pretty wrong, such as red sex links labeled as silver laced wyandottes, but this takes the cake.

Oh, and as a bonus, since they require you to buy at least six birds, I picked out four dominiques to fill out the purchase. Except when I got home and looked at them closely, I realized they had single combs. So they're not dominiques. 0 for 2, Tractor Supply. The moral of this story is, when you're buying chicks from Tractor Supply, be careful that you're getting what they say you're getting.

Who else has bought chicks that were mislabeled? What were they labeled as, and what did they end up being?

You are SO lucky!!! I went in this spring and told the girl "I want any chicken that isn't a barred rock." She went to a bin with pictures of these gorgeous black chickens. I think they were labeled maran or something. But the little chicks were all fluffy and cute and black.

A month later, I've got twelve lovely barred rock hens.

 

[Nats Chickens]

Oh the poor emus!! Lucky they are protected in Australia. But it means I can't have a pet one.

 

[Better Than Rubies]

We all know Tractor Supply is notorious for mislabeling their chicks. However, I got the idea for this thread today when I encountered perhaps the worst case of mislabeling I have ever seen.

I stopped in to grab some feed and peeked in the chick bins, and immediately some of the birds caught my eye. So I asked to buy a couple of the "leghorns" they had.

This is what I bought:

View attachment 1483891

Broad breasted white turkey poults. Not only was the breed wrong, but the species too! In the past I've bought some chicks from them that were labeled pretty wrong, such as red sex links labeled as silver laced wyandottes, but this takes the cake.

Oh, and as a bonus, since they require you to buy at least six birds, I picked out four dominiques to fill out the purchase. Except when I got home and looked at them closely, I realized they had single combs. So they're not dominiques. 0 for 2, Tractor Supply. The moral of this story is, when you're buying chicks from Tractor Supply, be careful that you're getting what they say you're getting.

Who else has bought chicks that were mislabeled? What were they labeled as, and what did they end up being?

Precious little turkey poults! That's a good one. But you know what? It might not always be a case of them mislabeling their birds; you guys shouldn't be so judgmental...Because most times it's probably a case of customers picked up the chicks to hold them, and when they put them back, didn't realize they go in their own bin, or just didn't care, so they just put them wherever.

 

[Trux]

How do they do that? Sex link males and females hatch different colors, and some barred breeds and duckwing breeds you can make a good guess on based on color pattern, but the rest would have to be vent sexed. I'm not sure I would trust that they can actually tell the difference.

When I lived in MN I had a friend that sexed birds for Jennio. They are quite proficient at it to the tune of 99%. They have to be otherwise they either get fired or demoted. I asked her how they can tell and although she couldnt show me cause she didn't have a chick to demonstrate with it has something to do with bumps and valleys.

 

[casportpony]

I am so jealous, congrats!

 

[Trux]

Hatched them! I'm in the US.

Haha, don't give me an excuse to show you emu pictures

So since you hatched them are they easier to deal with?Are they tame? I learned the hard way not to try and hand feed one of those birds lol, had a bruise in the middle of my hand that hurt for a week