Percentage of incorrectly sexed chicks

[Cyprus]

Good to know. We won’t be going that route next year. Are the chicks at Tractor Supply, Rural King, or other supply stores sex linked? Do you prefer mail order chicks vs feed store chicks health wise?

Most sold there are not sex linked but are usually sold sexed. However, they often do not sell all pullets so beware. And they are notorious for mislabeling breeds.
Feed store chicks are shipped in but I still prefer to buy from there or pickup at a hatchery rather than ship.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I agree with everything already mentioned, 100%. Getting accurately sexed chicks isn't a 100% proposition!
Personally I've had the best success in ordering chicks from good hatcheries, who employ vent sexing experts. My experiences at the farm stores around here has been less than ideal often. Those chicks at the farm store may be mislabeled, moved to a different bin, or not accurately sexed in the first place at the hatchery. They are often less expensive, never vaccinated against Marek's disease, and of a limited breed selection.
On the other hand, I do buy farm store chicks sometimes, because they can be irresistible!
Part of chicken keeping is having a plan for birds that don't work out in your flock, and that will include some or all of those cockerels. They can be sold, given away, or put in your own freezer. They will be delicious!
Mary

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Good to know. We won’t be going that route next year. Are the chicks at Tractor Supply, Rural King, or other supply stores sex linked? Do you prefer mail order chicks vs feed store chicks health wise?

Feed store chicks ARE mail order chicks... the feed stores deal with the shipping stress and losses usually before the public get the birds. Different stores use different hatcheries and yes some hatcheries (or drop shippers) are preferred to others. I would choose Meyer's over Purely Poultry all day long and their shipping price is reasonable. Their birds were higher quality in my experience.

Tractor Supply is notorious for incorrect breed labeling on their chicks, sometimes even the wrong species (like turkey sold as white leghorn). They usually do have sex links at some point during the season. Most the chicks will be vent sexed. Bantams will (almost) ALWAYS be straight run. Many feed stores will add the breed you want to their order if they don't have it coming in. And most know what breeds they are expecting and when far ahead of time so you can plan your selection accordingly.

One nice thing about the feed store... you get to look at and pick the chicks. Also you can buy as many as are available or as few as you want (in Ca) where as mail order, you get what you get and they often have minimums. If the minimum is too many than you might plan ahead and split an order with someone. The amount of shipping stress will partly depend on your postal route and which hatchery... mine is brutal regardless. One draw back... having to go with what they have in stock at the feed stores.

If getting any males is not acceptable, then feed store or mail order or even sex link is the way to go. Beware that even males sexlinks will be labeled sex link, yes people do buy them for the supper table. I personally hatch and raise birds that will blow the quality of ANY of those away and people KNOW what they are getting and willing to even pay the higher price for it AND have had people drive 7 + hours each way to get them. I felt bad that I charge at LEAST double but close to triple the price for day old straight run chicks. I sell as fast as I can hatch... AND after getting some hatchery Silkies... WOW the difference is phenomenal! And my price and effort are justified... but not all breeders are created equal... I have a hint of OCD (is that like being a little pregnant) and my word and quality matters to me. Even then, sometimes I still recommend feed store chicks for people. After all I don't have all the breeds, just the ones I am passionate about. But I also network and will try to help people find what they are looking for.

My LFS said they can't get Marans and would take mine... but they sell too cheap for me to be interested... That's how I got my quality Silkies... a local show breeder drops some off on RARE occasion. But you have to know what you are looking at... can't remember what they tried to tell me they were when I saw them but I knew better. NEVER trust an employee without deeper questioning of their REAL knowledge. In other words... enjoy your time here on BYC and get familiar with the breeds you are considering AND what the chicks should look like. Mix ups can happen but my LFS doesn't mess up nearly as often as those large stores do.

First note everyone learns... Ameraucana at feed stores (no matter how they spell it) are Easter Eggers... meant to represent the breed. Unless you pay close to $18, it isn't a true Ameraucana unless they messed up. The EE are around $3-4. Don't get me wrong, I love Easter Eggers, just not the deception perpetuated by the industry. Feed stores label what they are told they are getting they aren't experts and most don't know the difference.

Here are a couple of breed comparison charts to see if there might be some you are interested in... It's a lot of fun to have a variety... in the egg basket and on pasture.
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf

Were you able to make plans for all your extra boys yet?

One final note... I personally would NOT choose sex link chicks... as they grow too many reproductive issues leading to much earlier death than many other breeds.

 

[chickendreams24]

I would recommend asking and/or waiting/ observing their pratices as far as deciding if you want to order from certain stores. Our local stores keep chicks behind pet kennels or in walled off aisles.

Some feed stores are amazing others are not. Some allow you to order and ship to the store or add on to their order some do not. Some stores will help you order from a hatchery through them but beware of up charges it may it may not be worth it.

Some stores like tractor supply do a great job some do not. Personally I prefer heritage breeds even if they are hatchery stock as they're less prone to laying problems.

If you choose to order cackle hatchery has amazing chicks and great prices. I've also heard great things about many other big name companies but some of the smaller name companies are great too!

 

[llombardo]

TSC--I bought 4 sexed females and 2 turned out to be boys. So I'm at 50% with sexed chickens...

 

[chickendreams24]

I've bought 20+ birds at tractor supply over the years and each chick has been the gender it was labeled as.

Currently we have red rangers from them and although still too young to be sure I'm seeing a great mix of male and female of course they're straight run. We've also had three bantams from them two males and a female, also sold straight run. Its hit or miss some stores don't care and have no real knowledge of chickens some are great.

 

[bobbi-j]

Part of chicken keeping is having a plan for birds that don't work out in your flock, and that will include some or all of those cockerels. They can be sold, given away, or put in your own freezer. They will be delicious!
Mary

This. Everyone who has chickens needs to think about this. From extra cockerels to aging hens.

 

[Rysktal]

Some how 100% of my Barred Plymouth rock pullets are indeed female, even though the place where we got them could only guarantee 80% of them would be. I ordered 12 and they gave me 17 to make up for any males and no males have developed. Pretty crazy!!!!

 

[subbie80]

We’ve decided on culling the extra roosters after another month for the freezer. We have a friend that’ll walk us through the process. I’m so not looking forward to it. We want to wait to decide which ones to cull until after they develop a little more. We plan on picking up a few new chicks next spring.

 

[Smiling Angel]

We live in New Jersey and have been buying our chicks at our local Agway store. Either they are excellent at sexing (wherever they get them from) or we are just EXTREMELY LUCKY, but since 2013, we have purchased a total of 20 chicks (only 2 were sex-links) we have ever only gotten ONE rooster, in our very first batch of six. We kept him for awhile once he matured, but the neighbors (don't know who) called animal control and, anyway, he seemed to be an attack rooster! When we let them free range in our large yard, he would come running at me full on. Got so bad I carried a rake or something when I went outside. Eventually, we sent Mikey to live on a friend's father's farm, problem solved!