Tractor Supply - dissatisfied with chickens

[Cyprus]

Brown Leghorns are heritage Birds. Not hybrid.

Excuse me.
Leghorns are not hybrids at all, regardless of color.
Brown Leghorns are not a 'heritage' breed neither. Leghorns are not heritage.

Leghorn is the breed. White, Brown, Dark Brown, Black, etc are all just plumage colors. Superficial.

A 'hybrid' is a cross of two or more different breeds.

 

[Cyprus]

Brown Leghorns are heritage and not hybrid layers.

I believe you are confusing the words "heritage" and "Production"

 

[julieandwade]

Nice hijack guys. Just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar issue. We can be grown ups.

 

[chickens really]

Nice hijack guys. Just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar issue. We can be grown ups.

Apologies. I deleted my replies.

 

[Cyprus]

Nice hijack guys. Just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar issue. We can be grown ups.

I was going to post about the original question, just wanted to address the other thing first.

My first batch of chicks from TSC stopped laying at 2 years.
My EE from TSC are still going good at almost 3.

They all started on time.

 

[milogirly]

Nice hijack guys. Just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar issue. We can be grown ups.

I got 8 sex-links from TSC (2 Black sex-link, 2 Red Stars and 4 Golden Comets). They are about 19 months old now. They all started laying around 16 weeks and are excellent layers. I just wish I knew more about chicken breeds before I bought them, because they have such a short life-span.

I got 3 new pullets this spring, an EE and 2 White Rocks. They still lay better then the 3 new girls. My EE and one of the White Rocks have stopped laying, but I still get between 5-6 eggs a day from my sex-links, some are molting right now. They are really wonderful girls, super friendly and have always been healthy (knock on wood).

 

[FnWeirdo]

i got all my chickens from tsc. so far. first we bought 5 new hampshire reds early this year, i believe all my reds are laying i was getting 4 or 5 a day for a while. now that its getting cold and some are molting. i should also mention i recently introduced 7 new chickens as well, which is stress on birds, with all that i still get 1 or 2 a day.

about 2 months ago i bought what i thought was 3 barred rocks, (should of done my research) i ended up with 3 australorps they should be laying around december. 1 is a rooster.
about 2 weeks after i picked up the australorps i picked up 4 cochin standards which were all suppose to be hens but ended up with 2 white hens 1 gold laced hen and 1 what i think is a partridge roo.

all in all I'm happy but irritated as well. they suck at chickens. not every tsc use the same hatcheries. from my understanding there is a few big ones that supply there online poultry orders. then local operations supplement the " chick days" when they sell in store. before you buy i would suggest asking them where the chicks came from and trying to dig up a little info. i sadly did not with any of my purchases " buyer beware" but luckily the mishaps of my experience gave me 12 awesome birds although not what i was expecting lol

 

[FnWeirdo]

@Cyprus waukesha i was born and raised in waukesha , i need to make that drive to grab some jimmies grotto some time soon, i need a ponza XD sorry didn't mean to hijack,

i forgot to mention i also bought 3 "cornish" chickens that were advertised as the dual purpose variety but ended up being the cornish cross meat birds. that had me very mad as i only want dual purpose birds. other then my "pet" cochins . so lesson is do your research on the chicks bring your cell phone compare pics and such before walking out of tractor supply with chicks

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good morning all

Has anyone had past experience with Tractor Supply chickens not laying upon maturity up to you expectations? We got 3 Black Sex Links and 4 Golden Comets that hatched the beginning of March 18. We are getting 1 to 2 daily. This seems low to me compared to our experience with Southern States chickens. Just looking for input. Feeding Purina Layena Crumble.

My experience with chickens from breeders, different hatcheries, and the ones I hatch from my flock is that some birds of the same breed or mix may lay early or late, may lay a lot or intermittent. I've never gotten pullets from Tractor Supply or any other feed store but Tractor Supply gets their chicks from the same hatcheries we use. A couple of years ago they used Hoover, Privett, and a third I can't remember. I don't know which hatcheries they used this year.

Red, black, or golden sex links from hatcheries can be of two different types. One are the hybrid egg layers commercial operations use. These are generally relatively small-bodied and lay fairly large eggs for their body size. They are usually egg-laying machines. The other type are sex links are made by crossing two breeds of birds, practically always dual purpose birds. Thee tend to be more the size of the dual purpose birds and while they typically lay a lot of eggs these eggs tend to be a bit smaller than their commercial cousins. Both types tend to lay a lot of eggs once they get rolling.

Another factor in this is that certain breeds or crosses tend to lay a lot of eggs but it can vary quite a bit by individual. Even some of the sex linked hens do not lay all that well even if their sisters do. You have to have enough for the averages to mean much. You have seven, that's not a lot. Just a couple of duds could skew the averages. But I would expect you to be doing a lot better than you mention unless your luck is horribly bad.

Others have mentioned several things that might cause them to lay less this time of the year. i think that's most likely, the time of the year. But a common reason you think hens are not laying is that they are hiding a nest on you. They can be really creative when hiding those nests. I now it is not Easter but a serious egg hunt may be called for, even in a fairly small coop and run.

Another reason might be that something is getting the eggs. Most things will leave clues behind, egg shells or a soggy mess. It's possible the chickens could clean up the egg shells but they usually don't. The critters that typically take eggs without leaving a clue are snakes, canines, and humans.

If it is an everyday thing it is not likely a snake, I've had too much experience with them. Snakes tend to eat a few eggs and then disappear for a few days while they digest them. Then they come back for more. There would be a pattern with snakes and you are not describing that.

Most canines like fox or coyote would be more interested in your chickens than the eggs so it is probably not them. Dogs however can eat eggs and not bother the hens. Does your dog have access to the nests?

A human would be pretty creepy, I'll let you think if that is possible.

If your chickens have access to an outside area you might try locking them in the coop or coop/run to see if any surprise eggs show up. That could mean a hidden nest or you locked out an egg eater. Or you can mark an egg and leave it down there to see if it disappears.

I really think it's just the time of the year. But I'll mention a few other things to think about.

 

[cmom]

Excuse me.
Leghorns are not hybrids at all, regardless of color.
Brown Leghorns are not a 'heritage' breed neither. Leghorns are not heritage.

Leghorn is the breed. White, Brown, Dark Brown, Black, etc are all just plumage colors. Superficial.

A 'hybrid' is a cross of two or more different breeds.

My birds are originally from a breeder that I met at a poultry show. I made arrangements to get some from him and started my flock with those. There are many different Leghorns. My Dark Brown Leghorns are Rose Comb. I show them at poultry shows. My male here was Reserve Champion at a show. Sorry about the blurry picture.