Please sign this petition against TSCs new brooders

[Ninjasquirrel]

TSC has installed new brooders this year that are severely abusive to the chicks. There have been several complaints on their facebook page and at their corporate level. Chicks are dying at a much higher rate due to these tower brooders. Please sign this petition to have TSC go back to doing what is best for the birds!

https://www.change.org/p/tractor-su...ed_by_id=7f02b9a0-3d16-11e8-8272-1bc5bedbc2c3

Thank you. Feel free to post anything you have seen regarding these bad brooder set ups. We went to Rural King yesterday and they still had open air brooders so this is just TSC handing over a project to an engineer to make the ideal brooder.

 

[sdm111]

If people didn't use tractor supply to source chicks they wouldn't have them cause they wouldn't sell. I'd venture to say most maybe even including the original poster are hypocrites. If you bought from tractor then you have no say in the matter. So my question is have the people that signed it bought from them before?

What about hatcheries? Are they ok? The way they handle chicks or even brood stock for that matter? I guess thats ok.
Nice to pick and choose your battles depending on where you source yours from

 

[Aapomp831]

If people didn't use tractor supply to source chicks they wouldn't have them cause they wouldn't sell. I'd venture to say most maybe even including the original poster are hypocrites. If you bought from tractor then you have no say in the matter. So my question is have the people that signed it bought from them before?

What about hatcheries? Are they ok? The way they handle chicks or even brood stock for that matter? I guess thats ok.
Nice to pick and choose your battles depending on where you source yours from

There is no hypocrisy going on; I have bought plenty of chicks from TSC, when their brooders were normal. Now their brooders suck.... we can either change this by at least trying, which will happen way sooner than TSC changing their policy on selling chicks bc of ethical whatever. So in the meantime, I choose the former - change what you can and what is more realistic while you can. That is all.
Thank you, OP for the post. I’ll be signing for sure.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

TSC is a business. Selling Chicks from large hatcheries is low margin. They make their money on the add-ons - feeders, waterers, the feeds and treats themselves, their overpriced shoeboxes they offer as "coops", etc.

Losses this year an, anecdotally high - enough anecdotes its starting to look like data. Causes are myriad. Those who hate on hatcheries are going to blame Hoover's (who seems to be the source for most of TSC's chicks). Those who hate on TSC are going to blame Corporate and/or the employees. Those who hate on the Gov't may choose to blame USPS. No point in hating on the weather, but... All of those are seemingly a factor.

Someone at TSC Corporate spent a lot of company money on those new fixtures. A LOT of money. Investment in fixtures in a low margin environment is a high profile act - it shows TSC is serious about the bird business and plans to compete in it. The Exec who made the call has their neck on the line - but TSC isn't going to "retire" those units after investing so heavily, even if it was a mistake. That's not the Corporate world.

Chances are, "its complicated", and losses are a combination of factors. Terrible weather, USPS delays, employee training on the new units (or lack thereof), individual store management in properly setting up, heating up, and calibrating the new displays (or lack thereof), and suitability of those new fixtures for certain breeds (like banties) given their relative lack of ability to adjust the height of the heat plate. The end result of all those factors converging are apparently high losses in at least some stores.

TSC's vendors will take on some of those losses, but certainly not all of them. TSC has every incentive to get this right (the PR disaster is magnifying those losses) for the future, no Petition needed. and when it's improved, the Petition won't be the cause. $ will.

 

[wolfwalker]

It's not the equipment's fault it is operator error. That and regional Managers who refuse to pass along or train the store managers on how to properly use them. A strong statement I know, but i have a good relationship with our local TSC manager and her is aware of the problem and has had no issues due to knowing how to use these new brooders, as he and his family have used similar models for years.

The first thing he said, is they adjust so do so, then depending on teh type of poultry either use the brooder switch or heat switch which will increase the heat output for bantams not being able to get close enough to the heat source.

Second, all chicks are taken from the shipping boxes and placed in the old style troughs in the back room for 24 hours, to make sure they are eating, have gotten something to drink and are properly warmed back up.

He likes the new brooders for the simple fact he can walk by and see if he needs to pull a chick with pasty butt or maybe one is not doing well and needs to go back to the hospital tank. What he doesn't like is how many are stacked up, he thinks they should be one level shorter as they have to use a ladder to get chicks out of the top brooder.

Don't blame the equipment. I've repeated myself and will continue to do so as this style of brooder has been used for upwards of 50 years, if not longer without issue. I've walked around these brooders in my area and placed my hand near the vents and can feel the heat billowing out and the chicks content and happy

The issue IS, operator training and regional manager oversight not allowing correct ways to be used.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've been misread.

To clarify.

I believe TSC's chick losses this year are caused by more than poor mechanical design choices in the new display fixtures, which i have commented on in other threads.

I believe they will in fact make numerous changes to fix the issues in their control, which do not involve abandoning the new fixtures.

I believe TSC has strong motication to do so.

...and i believe they would do those things whether there is yet another internet petition or not.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I think there's a generation gap at play here.
The younger generation is all about change and social media etc.
You all haven't lived as long as some of us others and saw how the world worked in a different time and how some things don't change.
Some of us older members have different views about social media and probably how impactful it can be.
This change you want to make is social media driven and this petition seems like the answer to you.
The older ones that would take a different route and even the one that called so many hypocrites see this as a business and the only way to change a business or get their attention is by cutting into their dollars.
We are more prone to skip a petition and just not support or give our money to a company that we do not agree with or agree with there practices.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

TSC is a business. Selling Chicks from large hatcheries is low margin. They make their money on the add-ons - feeders, waterers, the feeds and treats themselves, their overpriced shoeboxes they offer as "coops", etc.

Losses this year an, anecdotally high - enough anecdotes its starting to look like data. Causes are myriad. Those who hate on hatcheries are going to blame Hoover's (who seems to be the source for most of TSC's chicks). Those who hate on TSC are going to blame Corporate and/or the employees. Those who hate on the Gov't may choose to blame USPS. No point in hating on the weather, but... All of those are seemingly a factor.

Someone at TSC Corporate spent a lot of company money on those new fixtures. A LOT of money. Investment in fixtures in a low margin environment is a high profile act - it shows TSC is serious about the bird business and plans to compete in it. The Exec who made the call has their neck on the line - but TSC isn't going to "retire" those units after investing so heavily, even if it was a mistake. That's not the Corporate world.

Chances are, "its complicated", and losses are a combination of factors. Terrible weather, USPS delays, employee training on the new units (or lack thereof), individual store management in properly setting up, heating up, and calibrating the new displays (or lack thereof), and suitability of those new fixtures for certain breeds (like banties) given their relative lack of ability to adjust the height of the heat plate. The end result of all those factors converging are apparently high losses in at least some stores.

TSC's vendors will take on some of those losses, but certainly not all of them. TSC has every incentive to get this right (the PR disaster is magnifying those losses) for the future, no Petition needed. and when it's improved, the Petition won't be the cause. $ will.

I understand your argument regarding corporations but corporations are held to certain standards regarding health and safety practices and when selling live animals it is moreso because of animal cruelty laws. I agree that boycotting will more than likely do more than a petition but the point is to make our voices heard. You can blame shipping, you can blame the weather, you can even blame the hatchery but when it comes right down to it the birds are not being kept in adequete heat or ventilation in those brooders. Its up to you what you choose to do whether you agree with others or not. I have my own personal thoughts on these brooders and I personally think they are cruel. I'm not trying to sway an opinion just trying to ask people of like minds to sign.

 

[lilmillefleur]

I went to TSC the other day and the birds looked fine to me. The manager said that the bantams didn't do as well for some reason, but that was it. He said the heat plate was lowered enough for them but they were still not doing well.

 

[tripletfeb]

I went to my local TSC yesterday. I saw one dead chick in the new brooder but what I also saw was lots of little kids running around trying to grab and scare the chicks but they couldn't because of the new brooders. I personally like the new system. Everything new takes practice, training, and learning. Maybe if TSC trained their employees about the new brooders before they got the chicks in, it would have helped. The chicks seemed happy to me, eating and drinking and being chicks