Tractor Supply Co Sexing - Accurate?

[DesertBird]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't end up getting what you wanted! Hopefully they are still nice birds!

Thanks. It's not too big of a deal for me; I'm sure I'll love 'em all, anyways! And I'll probably end up with a "few" nice EE's later in life anyways. As long as they're not cockerel's, I'm okay with their breeds.

 

[Marion smith]

Hello! Yet another question from me.
I'm going to be picking up some chicks from TSC tomorrow morning, and was just wondering how your experiences were with their chicks. I bought 8 RIR's a while back, told they were all pullets, and ended up with 3 cockerel's (hence the reason for trying to get some more pullets).
Is this a regular occurrence, or have you all had better luck? Would love to hear some other people's experiences!

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum section - was not 100% sure where was best to ask this!)

I have noticed that their straight run chicks are almost always cockerels! I bought 24 chicks of one breed and I only got four pullets! A friend of mine got some barred rocks and out of 6 2 of them were cockerels.

Milk And Honey Acreage on Instagram!

 

[DesertBird]

I have noticed that their straight run chicks are almost always cockerels! I bought 24 chicks of one breed and I only got four pullets! A friend of mine got some barred rocks and out of 6 2 of them were cockerels.

Milk And Honey Acreage on Instagram!

Jeez! They must put all of the pullets they can in the pullet bin for the extra dollar or so that they are. Out of my 8, I got 3 cockerel's.. almost half! They've crowed their way into my heart, though, so they're staying. As long as they don't attack any of my family or my other chickens.

 

[keesmom]

That's so sad. I hope they're not those two, then, but they probably are.


As a follow up question, what are the "chipmunk" backed ones? EE's? They look so similar to EE's, to me, and even the girl wasn't sure. She assumed Barnevelder's since those didn't have images of chicks on the picture thing, and when I looked it up, they do seem similar to Barnevelder's except a bit lighter.

View attachment 1101464

There are a lot of breeds with chipmunk chicks - EEs, speckled Sussex, brown Leghorns, laced Wyandottes to name a few.

 

[DesertBird]

Also, sorry to ask this here instead of another thread - do 4 day old chicks sleep constantly? Or are they very active? The chicks I got from TSC last time were a week or two old.. I'm not sure how to tell if these are doing well or not. They're currently sleeping.

 

[DesertBird]

There are a lot of breeds with chipmunk chicks - EEs, speckled Sussex, brown Leghorns, laced Wyandottes to name a few.

Are Barnevelder's, White Leghorn's, or Russian Orloff's any of the Chipmunk chicks? That's what was apparently in the bin.

 

[SpaghettiJo]

Also, sorry to ask this here instead of another thread - do 4 day old chicks sleep constantly? Or are they very active? The chicks I got from TSC last time were a week or two old.. I'm not sure how to tell if these are doing well or not. They're currently sleeping.

my girls slept quite a bit, but they would wake up and run around if i stuck my hand in their area

 

[apryl29]

Was (as a chick)/is she pretty spunky? The ones I got all run at my hand and peck me already. I know it's probably because they think I'm a predator, but my BR's and RIR's didn't automatically start out pecking me. lol

She was the only australorp we had. She didn't seem any different than the others we got at the same time. None of them really wanted to be held a lot, and she was always hard to catch when she was little.

 

[The Moonshiner]

If you don't purchase straight run then your chicks were most likely subjected to this...

That is a lot for a new born anything.
We hatch our own but when we buy a new breed, we buy straight run chicks. If we get a roo, we just re home him. It is what it is. It's a craps shoot.
Forest Gump's Mama always use to tell him.. "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.". I don't like my chocolate squeezed to drain the excrement.

That sure isn't someone working at one of the big hatcheries. I've been to a couple in Missouri and it was nothing like that. They sex 1,000s a day and it is so fast idk how they get the accuracy they do.
Years ago they also had it on an episode of "dirty jobs" maybe theirs a clip from that show still out there.

 

[DesertBird]

my girls slept quite a bit, but they would wake up and run around if i stuck my hand in their area

Thanks, good to know mine aren't sick or too hot or anything. A few of them wake up and run at my hand, mainly 2 of the Australorp's.

She was the only australorp we had. She didn't seem any different than the others we got at the same time. None of them really wanted to be held a lot, and she was always hard to catch when she was little.

Mine definitely do not want to be held either. The brownish/redish ones seem more skittish than my Australorp's.