Tractor Supply Employee Knowledge About Chicks

[greenpeeps]

Wow, I guess I must live in a great area. There's cutomer serivice like you wouldn't beleive at the TS in Salem, Ohio. The staff is up on everything. I bought my first chicks there last year and I was overwelmed with the information that the sales clerk gave me. They are a wonderful group. If you ask a question and someone doesn't know, they find someone who does. To bad yall don't live closer.

 

[bigstack]

I have 2 TSC in 25 miles. I have only found 1 employee that knew anything about chickens. He didn't know much! He told me that TSC asks the employees to read up on the care of the chicks but never checks to see that they have. He only knew what he rememberd as a kid. I have over heard all kinds of wrong info being given out by employees. I would wait until the customer walked away then correct the employee. Then locate the costumer and inform them of the correction. I would never interupt. But I would make sure to inform both of the correct instructions. Some appreciate the correction. Some could careless! They are just there to put in there time till payday. That is the Dollar driven world we live in. NO one actually cares about anything except payday!

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[Celtic Hill]

I have to disagree to this to some extent. When my mom applied for the job they hired her because she was so diverse in knoledge of the products they carry in their store. And they continue to hire people who know about diffrent items in the store. Acutally now that i think about it everyone has experience with farming, or mechanics, or animals. They also get extra money in their salary if the store does really good that month and goes over there "goal"

 

[Uzuri]

Quote:
OMG... we've found the lost boys!

Our TSC has one guy who does absolutely all the work. He went on vacation once and all the shelves went bare.

I've just started going to the "feed store" at the end of the road. Meaning a place owned by the same guy that's behind the counter half the time.

 

[ranchhand]

I agree that people at TSC may have been hired for retail background rather than their agricultural knowledge. And low wages don't offer much motivation.

But chicks and ducklings are but a tiny part of their business.

The TSC in Ravenel, SC deserves kudos for their great customer service and their chick setup- it is very clean and well maintained, all the tubs have working heat lamps at the right height, clean waterers and feeders, no over-crowding. There are printed care sheets right there, all the stock tanks are properly labeled and they encourage the use of hand sanitizer they provide.

There's only one person who really knows a lot about chicks and ducklings, but several others are able to get someone started with birds. I was really impressed by the fact that there is always someone right there, to talk with potential buyers and supervise the kids who handle the chicks and ducklings.

So hat's off to the TSC in Ravenel, SC!

 

[MissAnnieFrannie]

I guess I am just lucky! There is a lady that works at my TSC that is very knowledgeable and helpful about chickens, and raises many herself. Don't know what I would have done without her when I made my first supply trip and couldn't tell the difference between grower starter and grower finisher! I thought, "well, grower is grower".

sheesh.

 

[HEChicken]

The employees at my TSC are pretty clueless too. I stopped in one day while they were setting up but didn't have chicks yet. Neither the employee nor the manager knew what hatchery they use, and couldn't say what breeds of chicks they were getting. Skip forward a week or so and now the chicks are in. Like yours, the bins were just marked "straight run" or "assorted pullets". I could identify some but not others, and the employees were no help. I did eventually learn that the little card that is attached to the bin with magnets (the one that says "assorted pullets") has the breeds listed on the back. The only problem with that is that they don't always change the cards when they mix up the bins. I was in last week and they had got a new batch of chicks in so had moved the older ones into one bin and the card still said "black sex link" even though there were clearly some red sex links in the bin.....) Anyway, DD talked me into getting a couple and I figured if the price is the same we may as well get the older ones since they're a week and a half older (saves me a week and a half of food and I'm a week and a half closer to eggs). So while DD is choosing chicks, the helpful TSC employee tells me she always thinks the bigger ones must be roosters "because they're bigger". Huh? The bigger ones are bigger because......they're OLDER, you nitwit! (No, I didn't really say that - but I thought it). Apparently she couldn't really tell the difference in the fact the new batch had only chick fuzz while the older ones had wing feathers...size was all she was looking at. Dolt!

 

[bigstack]

Thats almost as bad as the stock guy telling the customer that Pullet was the breed of the chicks!!! LOL
Actually, I think that yours is worse! LOL

 

[michickenwrangler]

A few of our TSC employees have chickens and know about sex-links and can pick out different breeds in assorted pullets.

A heart-breaking moment I witnessed last winter: one of the knowledgeable employees (female) was talking to a customer, a middle-aged woman. The customer said that there was something wrong with the chickens she bought there, they were just laying around, had gotten fat and weren't doing much. The employee asked how old they were.

"About 3 months."
What do they look like?
"Big, white."
Honey, I think you bought broilers.
"MY kids just picked out 6 big yellow ones."
Yes, they start off as big yellow chicks.
"What can I do to make them more active?"
Nothing. At 3 months old you have to slaughter them, they aren't built to live past that.
"So I have to kill and eat my kids' pet chickens?"
Yes, they'll start to have heart attacks and go lame. If you don't want to do the killing yourself, I know of slaughterhouse _______ that will do it. Next year, if you want chicks, ask for me or K---- and we'll be able to help you pick out some nice bantams or pullets, but in the meantime, the nicest thing you can do for your chickens is to slaughter them. We have some books on chickens right over here if you want to read about them first ...

It always amazes me that people get animals without educating themselves first. Hopefully this year, the family will be able to get some nice red-sex-link pullets as the start of a nice pet/laying flock.

Maybe I should go hang out at TSC as the "chicken-lady". It's already my nickname at work.

 

[NellaBean]

Well, I'm not gonna lie.....i was in there last night looking at chicks and the girl wanted to show me how to sex chicks........the whole put them on their back and if their feet go up they are a boy, if they lay back they are a girl. Too bad she was doing it on a female red sexlink........who put her feet up? Whoops LOL.

I just go in and get my chicks and chat and go about my merry way. They aren't crazy poultry people and only have baby chicks a few weeks out of the year, so you can't expect them to be experts. They also called my buttercup chick an easter egger/ameracauna. I know better but no sense in arguing. Just thank them and go on my merry way.