Tractor Supply - dissatisfied with chickens

[cmom]

Apparently they don't care. The store manager here was very nice when I spoke to him and he knew the conditions of how the chicks were kept would affect their sales.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

 

[aart]

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

It seems that every thread turns into a debate and/or a chat session.
Drives me nuts, terrible forum etiquette, kudos for calling it out....
....and glad you got some answers/suggestions.

 

[julieandwade]

Wanted to report to you all my turnaround. I changed the girls over to an all flock 18 percent protein feed from Rural King. We are making progress. I eat 2 eggs every morning. We are up to 3 eggs average, and a couple days recently with 4 daily. Some huge ones also. This with the days ever shortening at this point. A little oyster shell also. Thanks for the tips to those who suggested higher protein. It helped!

 

[julieandwade]

 

[Farmgirl1878]

View attachment 1599494 View attachment 1599495
Wanted to report to you all my turnaround. I changed the girls over to an all flock 18 percent protein feed from Rural King. We are making progress. I eat 2 eggs every morning. We are up to 3 eggs average, and a couple days recently with 4 daily. Some huge ones also. This with the days ever shortening at this point. A little oyster shell also. Thanks for the tips to those who suggested higher protein. It helped!

Hi Julie, I switched my girls over to that same feed earlier this month when the Littles' voices started changing. Everyone seems to like it and I haven't noticed a difference in how much oyster shell is consumed. Seven pullets are laying and seven are still growing. Our average egg count before the time change was five or six (out of seven pullets). Since the days are shorter, the average is down to three or four, so still pretty impressive!

I decided on this brand of feed because of the percentage of protein, the fact that I have a young cockerel in the flock, the cost, and I wanted to switch from crumbles to pellets to minimize waste. So far, I'm pleased and, more importantly, the flock is too!

 

[cmom]

I feed my birds pellets too. Much less waste for me. I also give them Game Bird pellet feed right now while they are molting which is 20% protein.

 

[cmom]

I feed my males the same feed as the females.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm curious about this. I ordered my SLW from TSC; they're 4 weeks old now. I know that our TSC gets their chicks (at least the online orders) from Hoovers Hatchery, I think the in store purchases vary by regional location. I haven't heard about Hoovers chicks growing up to have any laying issues, but it would be interesting to know if this is an issue with the chicks themselves (random genetic anomaly), or if the hatchery they came from might have some laying stock that isn't passing along good laying ability.

When you order or buy chicks from "so called chicken BREEDERS" it is a crap shoot about what kind of chickens you will end up with. Most chicken breeders are not breeders of anything but they are chicken raisers of differing abilities.

Like everything else in life these chicken "breeders" have differing abilities and strengths when it comes to "raising" chickens. If eggs are important to you then only patronize the hatcheries because a hatchery has a reputation to maintain or up hold and they tend to breed chickens that preform up to snuff. Besides hatcheries have a larger and deeper gene pool from which to select brood hens and brood cocks.

 

[julieandwade]

Hi Julie, I switched my girls over to that same feed earlier this month when the Littles' voices started changing. Everyone seems to like it and I haven't noticed a difference in how much oyster shell is consumed. Seven pullets are laying and seven are still growing. Our average egg count before the time change was five or six (out of seven pullets). Since the days are shorter, the average is down to three or four, so still pretty impressive!

I decided on this brand of feed because of the percentage of protein, the fact that I have a young cockerel in the flock, the cost, and I wanted to switch from crumbles to pellets to minimize waste. So far, I'm pleased and, more importantly, the flock is too!

I'm very happy with the cost of this feed compared to Purina Layena. About $5 cheaper per bag.