Please sign this petition against TSCs new brooders

[Annalyse]

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.

I want to add that I just found this thread and was thinking the same thing. My TSC, the chicks looked sick to me and didn't look very healthy. My TSC has now switched back to the oval tins on the floor and they look healthy now.

 

[black_cat]

One thing that I am wondering if they chicks look healthier in the stock tanks because they have more space and one can't see each individual chick as easily as you can in the towers, and the actual health of the chicks is the same.

 

[Weeg]

Though the new brooders have no bedding, it is actually healthier for them. Even though the flooring in the new brooders are rather stark in appearance, they do have a rubber coating that is more comfortable than regular hardware cloth. And the chicks are so light they are not injured by the wire. Remember, bedding, if not cleaned properly (and they never are at TSC-I've seen some really nasty bins) it is a bacteria/fungi factory that can cause respiratory issues for chicks. How many times have you walked in a TSC to look at the chicks in the bin and smelled that sour smell? Imagine what the odor is like to the chick sitting on the wet, poop infested pine shavings? And, yes, the new brooders will stink if not cleaned like they are supposed to be.

I think the new brooders would have more customer appeal if a stuffed animal were put inside for the chicks to cuddle up to. But that, too, would have to be cleaned on a regular basis because no matter what the chicks are put in it will have to be cleaned. Last week, I went in a TSC, I don't remember where, I was on vacation-somewhere in SC-and let me tell you that brooder was clean, the chicks were active but a few were napping, and people were buying them like crazy. The 'Chick Captain' was answering everybody's questions about the new brooder. She did a good job and the customers were happy. They were buying chicks and all kind of chick related supplies. I bet that store made a good profit that day!

Your very right, but, in addition to no bedding, the brooders are cold and a serious crushing hazard.
Its compltlty natural for chicks to pile up on each other while sleeping, it means they are getting warm and comfortable. That is natural with the common clutch of 3-12 chicks under a mother then, these brooders have up to 50 chicks. When 50 chicks are piling on top of each other, its a serious crush gin hazard, and many people have seen the consequences, which is crushed dead chicks.
Plus, I'm sure the brooders worked find in the test site, but when you put them all over the world, different climates have different weather. Drafts, temp drops, etc, etc.
Its gonna take modifications to make the brooders work in each different climate, which they aren't making.
I am copying information from another person who explained these risks in a video, but thought I would recite them here if others haven't heard them yet.
I'm sure that certain TSC's are doign great with thee brooders, because the climate is correct to keep the temp at the correct temperature.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Your very right, but, in addition to no bedding, the brooders are cold and a serious crushing hazard.
Its compltlty natural for chicks to pile up on each other while sleeping, it means they are getting warm and comfortable. That is natural with the common clutch of 3-12 chicks under a mother then, these brooders have up to 50 chicks. When 50 chicks are piling on top of each other, its a serious crush gin hazard, and many people have seen the consequences, which is crushed dead chicks.
Plus, I'm sure the brooders worked find in the test site, but when you put them all over the world, different climates have different weather. Drafts, temp drops, etc, etc.
Its gonna take modifications to make the brooders work in each different climate, which they aren't making.
I am copying information from another person who explained these risks in a video, but thought I would recite them here if others haven't heard them yet.
I'm sure that certain TSC's are doign great with thee brooders, because the climate is correct to keep the temp at the correct temperature.

No evidence that 50 birds in a layer of a brooder box are in more danger of being crushed than 50 birds in a stock tank (or more - if the example of my closest TSC - putting more birds in a stock tank, instead of bringing out a fourth stock tank, or a fifth - is typical). Indeed, the brooder boxes allow TSC to sort birds by breed if desired (one per layer of boxes), rather than throwing multiple breeds, of whatever quantity, into a single tank. As the crowd knows, TSC' employees inability to discern breed in a mixed stock tank is near legendary. The boxes can help mitigate that.

Moreover, to the extent that these brooder boxes are placed near the rear of a climate conditioned store, they experience far less climate variation than does the typical small scale hatching (and much less than a person using heat lamps in a shed, barn, or other non climate-controlled structure unless they adjust multiple times daily. And again, no evidence that the brooder boxes are more prone to those changes than the prior stock tanks.


...


Its like people are just looking for reasons to hate on these things, and have stopped even considering that the reasons offered in opposition apply with equal force to the prior set up.

 

[black_cat]

As the crowd knows, TSC' employees inability to discern breed in a mixed stock tank is near legendary.

 

[ChickCrazyWorryWort]

I saw this on Facebook! It was removed moments later, but many comments from customers and employees saying they deal with the same stuff everyday! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again TSC SHOULD BE BANNED FROM SELLING LIVE ANIMALS! Everyone saying they need to hire people that care and do training, they do have training and lots of it! They do have people that care just not enough! People will say anything in an interview just to get a job especially in retail! Instead of letting more chicks and ducklings suffer to death, let’s put an end to this and ban tsc from selling live animals!

 

[Folly's place]

There's a reason some of us don't do Facebook!
Mary

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I saw this on Facebook! It was removed moments later, but many comments from customers and employees saying they deal with the same stuff everyday! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again TSC SHOULD BE BANNED FROM SELLING LIVE ANIMALS! Everyone saying they need to hire people that care and do training, they do have training and lots of it! They do have people that care just not enough! People will say anything in an interview just to get a job especially in retail! Instead of letting more chicks and ducklings suffer to death, let’s put an end to this and ban tsc from selling live animals!

If tsc doesn't sell chicls, where are backyard people supposed to get chicks If they can't have large orders?

 

[NNYchick]

I’ve been to all 4 of my TSC and they have these new brooders. I think the chicks look much better, they have always been clean and they chicks seem happier without people lurking over them. They come right over to the side I was standing and watched me. I didn’t see any pasty butt either. In years past I always saw bunch of them with pasty butt.

 

[ChickCrazyWorryWort]

If tsc doesn't sell chicls, where are backyard people supposed to get chicks If they can't have large orders?

You don’t have locals that breed and sell chicks? Amish? Hatcheries? You have to buy at least 4 chicks at tsc that’s a lot for small time farmers! Especially if you already purchased some and something happens to one or two or three are roosters and you can’t have roosters in your area (this happened to me and I made sure to pick from a “pullet only” area and they don’t care because they are not guaranteed. All the place I mentioned let you take however many you’d like no minimum in my area at least! There are so many people on here that also mention where they get their chicks. Literally everyone I talk to that has chickens and have had chicks in the past say to never purchase chicks from tsc. Even when I worked there people would tell me they would never purchase chicks from any tsc.