Thoughts on TSC Chicks?

[jeepguy982001]

i got six about a week ago. They are all doing great and it seems like there more energetic then the chicks i ordered last year.

 

[7961]

You walk into the store and get to pick what you want. From what I have seen the chicks are nice and healthy. You can't really go wrong. The breed selection may not be there, but if what you want is hatchery type chicks, typical breeds, then I would recommend it.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I'm just worried about getting a bunch of males.

 

[Tikkijane]

I'm just worried about getting a bunch of males.

If it's straight run, you are going to get boys. Many breeds can be feather sexed; some cannot. Some breeds have certain characteristics (like color) that determine sexing as chicks.

Even if you order a specific breed from a hatchery and order all pullets, be aware that you might well get "shipping peanuts" which are usually cockerels.........

My suggestion is to be prepared to deal with them because even if you go with all pullets, you might end up with a boy.........

 

[RadicalHick]

We've bought TSC chicks for a couple of years. In our area, they get sex-linked pullets, one straight-run "breed of the week", straight-run mxed bantams and silkies.

The 4 straight run chickens we got turned out to be 3 hens and a roo. The sex-linked pullets have always been pullets

Last year, they had terrible luck with the banties in all of the stores in this area. We had a hard winter and a cold spring, and it seems like the banty chicks were just too stressed from the transport. The stores lost a lot of the chicks. Not knowing that, we bought 6 banties and 5 of them died within a few days. I didn't replace them because by the time the weather was more stable, they weren't getting bantams in.

The store replaced them for free this year (and they were very nice about it) and even added an extra chick to make the 6-chick legal minimum in our state. We have had them a little over a week and they are active and robust. This year we got silkies and these are the biggest silkie chicks I have ever seen! The silkies were only a little smaller than the sex-links in the next pen, and they were the same age and from the same delivery date. They must be banties, though, since there is no large fowl version of the silkie.

If you want specific breeds of banty, use a hatchery. I think it's very hard to determine what breed you're looking at from mixed batches.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

We've bought TSC chicks for a couple of years. In our area, they get sex-linked pullets, one straight-run "breed of the week", straight-run mxed bantams and silkies.

The 4 straight run chickens we got turned out to be 3 hens and a roo. The sex-linked pullets have always been pullets

Last year, they had terrible luck with the banties in all of the stores in this area. We had a hard winter and a cold spring, and it seems like the banty chicks were just too stressed from the transport. The stores lost a lot of the chicks. Not knowing that, we bought 6 banties and 5 of them died within a few days. I didn't replace them because by the time the weather was more stable, they weren't getting bantams in.

The store replaced them for free this year (and they were very nice about it) and even added an extra chick to make the 6-chick legal minimum in our state. We have had them a little over a week and they are active and robust. This year we got silkies and these are the biggest silkie chicks I have ever seen! The silkies were only a little smaller than the sex-links in the next pen, and they were the same age and from the same delivery date. They must be banties, though, since there is no large fowl version of the silkie.

If you want specific breeds of banty, use a hatchery. I think it's very hard to determine what breed you're looking at from mixed batches.

Actually, I have heard that there ARE large fowl silkies, but I think there only seen in Europe and stuff. I might just order bantams from MPC because they are sexed there. I don't have that much room for a bunch of large fowl, but I can keep a few bantams.

 

[Tikkijane]

Actually, I have heard that there ARE large fowl silkies, but I think there only seen in Europe and stuff. I might just order bantams from MPC because they are sexed there. I don't have that much room for a bunch of large fowl, but I can keep a few bantams.

"WEIGHTS
LARGE FOWL: Male 1.8 1kg (4lbs) Female 1.36kg (3lbs)
BANTAM SILKIES: Male 600g (22ozs) Female 500g (l8ozs)"


http://www.thesilkieclubofgreatbritain.co.uk/index.php?section=15

"Feather Legged Bantams -
Weights: Cock 36 oz. Cockerel 32 oz.
Hen 32 oz. Pullet 28 oz."

http://www.americansilkiebantamclub.org/standard.asp

I'd LOVE to find someone in the US with big silkies.....

 

[Dwight1Moore]

Went to the local TSC this past weekend to see what they had going on. They use the big cattle water troughs to keep them in which is cool, im gonna get me one soon. But what i didnt like is how they had 3 breeds to each one. Im no breed expert so i would have not known what breed i was getting or if it was male or female. I also didnt like they didnt have a thermometer in their to keep track with the temperture. They wasnt huddled or trying to get away from the heat lamp so i suppose they were ok. They looked healthy and happy so that was good.

 

[BlazeJester]

I was very worried that my TSC "straight run" of barred rocks was a load of "mislabeled" male chicks, but at 3 weeks it appears that I have 4 or 5 females out of 7 and one male I plan to keep. I did know what I was looking for going into it and barred rocks can be sexed as young chick, but my store gets lots of straight runs and I wouldn't risk it with others (no space for lots of extras).

 

[blitz1027]

My first chickens came from TSC. We got seven straight run and ended up with seven hens. That was 2 years ago. Unfortunately I only have one left because a dog got all the rest. I can vouch for TSC they have good chicks. I was at mine the other day and had to fight hard not to get any because they had barred, buff and white Cochins.