So, I walk in Tractor Supply Company and....

[ArkieGirl72638]

they had a sign above some beautiful chicks....Black Jersey Giant Pullets, $3.89 each. Perfect. This is a breed I have been wanting to try. I get an even dozen. This was the middle of March. Into the brooder they go, all growing well, not extremely fast. Hit the gawky stage at about 9 weeks, they looked just plain ol' ugly!! But with a little more time they out grow ugly and are just plain beautiful. So now it is August and I am the proud owner of 12...that's right, count them, 12 Black Jersey Giant ROOSTERS. Of course I am assuming the chicken sexer either needed glasses or was having an off day or someone at TSC dropped the ball. They are quite large and it is hard to believe but all 12 get along with each other, not a whole lot of fighting going on amongst themselves. Every once in a while they get their dander up and try to muscle the Blue Slate Tom I have off of his throne, but he out weighs them and is twice as tall, so they give up pretty quickly. Some times they will chase one of the little bantam roosters around, but the banties are friends with my Pot bellied pig and they will hide behind her. She lets the Jersey Boyz know they are not welcome in her pen. So, I am NOT going to be feeding 12 useless roosters forever and have made up my mind, except for the largest and handsomest of the bunch, the rest will be going into the freezer in a couple of weeks.
I think the part that upset me is that TSC didn't care at all about the mistake. Pretty much said tough luck. Didn't even offer me some of my money back as cockerels are usually way cheaper than pullets.

I will be doing all of my chick buying from Cackle Hatchery. Great people, great service and a wonderful selection of chicks. I got my Blue Slate turkeys from them and next year I will be adding some Royal Palms to the mix. I also recently received an order of Guinea Fowl. I order 15 and got 20. 5 of each color variety. Beautiful birds. This is the Blue Slates at 14 weeks old.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do you have any idea which hatchery they got the supposed pullets from? I would dearly love to know what the hatchery supposedly shipped them because that would have been one really bad sexing job, or if it was all T&S making things up as they went along again. There are a lot of stories on BYC of people buying chicks from T&S and getting something totally different than what they thought they were getting.

 

[ArkieGirl72638]

When I spoke with the manager, he blamed it on the help, saying they probably just put the chicks into the brooder and grabbed a sign and stuck in the the top....like that makes it OK that I did not get what I paid for. No apology, no offer of a bag of feed at least for having to feed 12 roosters until they get large enough to process. Of course, it is well know that Jersey Giants grow slowly, so I am still feeding them to get them large enough to make a worthwhile meal. He claimed he didn't even know where the chicks came from. NEVER AGAIN! I will stick with Cackle Hatchery out of Lebannon Missouri. They cannot be beat for quality and customer service. You are going to get what you ordered. I sent a question concerning an order about 7 pm one night, figuring the staff would get it in the morning. The owner of Cackle Hatchery addressed my concerns about a half an hour later. Who does that now a days?? The owner answering the e-mails regarding an order. Now that is where I am going to continue spending my money.I would highly recommend them. Staff goes out of their way to answer any questions you may have and are very knowledgeable. YEP...I will be keeping my business with Cackle. Heck, I am already planning next springs order. Royal Palm, Red Bourbon, Spanish and of course more Blue Slate Turkeys. Hardest decision. What breed of chicken I want to try, with the many breeds they have to chose from. Researching is half the fun!! What a great problem to have!!!

 

[varidgerunner]

Don't bother picking a breed, just get a Cackle surprise. Of course there will be roosters, and you will have to research to figure out what you have. I'll bet that if you pick a breed and mention that you like them in the comment section, if at all possible you will get a couple of that breed.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Sounds like that was one manager good at making up excuses. Like they just happened to have a sign saying BJG pullets for sale laying around? How convenient. You sound annoyed enough to write a letter to head quarters and anyone else you can think of, might as well make it inconvenient for them. Be sure to mention the manager by name, since he seems to know so little of what is going on in his store.
Cackle is a good company with good customer service, that late night answering is impressive. I usually use McMurray but have no complaints about Cackle.
Agree with varidgerunner about getting an assortment or something with your order. I have done that a couple of times and have been surprised at how well I liked some breeds I would not have ordered on my own.

 

[ArkieGirl72638]

My last order, from 2 - 3 weeks ago was a Cackle Surprise, 15 Heavy Pullets and 15 Guinea hens. I am having a ball with the Cackle surprise...on average I paid about a dollar a chick, got 44 of them. So far I have identified a couple of Turkens, I know I have some Cinnamon queens and Golden Comets. There are various colors of Cochins, some Bramhas, Wyandottes, Cukoo Marans or Dominiques and there are definitely some Old English Game Birds in the mix. I was really surprised to identify a couple of Silkies in the mix. This has been great fun ID'ing everyone. I am with you Kelsie2290, it gives you a chance to try out some breeds you may not have considered before.

 

[DaveMorey]

I bought chicks this year from TSC as well. The first batch I bought were just "red pullets" and those turned out fine. I ended up with mostly Red Stars and a couple New Hamshires. The second batch I got was supposed to be "Production Reds" straight run. This batch is almost evenly split in half. All but two hens are Red Stars. The other half are all roos and are so dark they look like RIRs. The lady picking them out had picked out half of the chicks for another woman in front of me. That lady changed her mind and decided to get only pullets. So I told the employee not to put them back but just add more to them and make up my order with them. Well the employee "picked out the cutest ones" for the other customer and I ended up with them. Those cute ones all turned out to be roosters. I think they mixed the pro reds with the red pullets and nobody had a clue. Fortunately I bought straight run with the intent of processing all of the roosters anyway. I think next time I need chicks I will go with Murray or Purely Poultry instead of TSC. At least the roos I ended up with are huge and will process at a good weight in a few weeks.

 

[ArkieGirl72638]

How hard is it to look at the box the chicks arrive in, match it to the invoice and put up the correct sign for heaven's sake??? I am no longer doing business with TSC after this and I was purchasing a lot of necessary supplies every month. In addition to my flock, I have 2 horses, 1 pot bellied pig, a rabbit, 6 barn cats (all fixed) and 8 dogs. All the animals, with the exception of the chickens, have been rescues. I worked with a local rescue for 4 years, ended up with the dogs that weren't "perfect" but still happy to have a chance at life. Makes me happy to give them a chance at a good life, soft bed to sleep in, good food, fresh water and lots of snuggles and scritches.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I had a friend who bought 6 mallard ducklings this spring, she has 1 mallard and 5 rouen, close but not quite. My favorite is when I have seen them sell straight run sex links, after people who know what they are looking at have picked out all the colored females.
You should really consider writing a letter to TSC about your chick experience. And detail all the business they have lost because of the way it was handled.

 

[Penny Hen]

Do you have any idea which hatchery they got the supposed pullets from? I would dearly love to know what the hatchery supposedly shipped them because that would have been one really bad sexing job, or if it was all T&S making things up as they went along again. There are a lot of stories on BYC of people buying chicks from T&S and getting something totally different than what they thought they were getting.

I had a brochure that had the name on it and I have tossed it. Next spring drop in there and on a rack near the chicks will be brochures about care and feeding but also one from the hatchery because you can special order a set of chicks/guineas/turkeys. That will give you the name. Someone needs to retrain the manager on customer service. Fortunately my TSC does have better Customer Service though I have not bought chicks from them. They are always out of what I want at the time I have money.