Tractor Supply Employee Knowledge About Chicks

[dretd]

I just realized how old this thread is.... I guess things never change

 

[OrganicEggs75]

I went the a few years ago and asked where the ducklings were and the lady showed me some chicks... Then I went there last year to ask were the pullet bins were, and A lady took me to a bin of straight runs. I asked her where the pullet bins were again and she said "These are the pullet bins, Straight run means unsexed hens." I left the store with an empty box. But a good laugh. Then Today I went to ask a man what breed of bantams they had, and he said "Turkeys."
Also contacted a lady who said she had free chickens. I went over there to find turkeys....

 

[SassyKat6181]

I am new to chickens and thanks to TSC now ducks. I read this entire thread and got some laughs, but in the end......for everyone that complained about the lack of knowledge in the employees, did any of you actually take 5 minutes to explain anything to the them? If you walked out laughing and thinking "what an idiot s/he was, you are just as ignorant!

I bought ducks last week, impulse buy,and don't know anything about them. Was told to feed medicated chick starter or to put duramycin in the water (which they had done in the store). Came home, researched for hours, found out meds are a no-no for ducks and returned to my nearest TSC the next morning. The manager freaked out when I told her about the meds. She immediately got on the phone with the other store and basically told them the woman in the back was going to kill all of the ducks and they needed to correct her right away. I was angry about the bad advice I was given, but I am also to blame for my impulse buy and not knowing more about the ducks. Before I ordered my chicks last fall, I researched like crazy to make sure I did everything right. I figured ducks would be like chickens.....not at all.

Needless to say, my 4 little mallard ducklings (she knew what they were) are doing well and I have 7 Campbells and 3 Pekins on order from Ideal next week. Had I not gone into TSC I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with those cuties and jumped into ducks.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Couldn't agree with you more. On occasion, I've tried to help feed store employees out by tactfully pointing out some facts, but so far, none have cared to listen. Still, they'll offer up all kinds of advice, 99% of it wrong.

Yup, it's an older thread, but some things just don't change. And chick season is here once again.

 

[PepsNick]

I got my feed store to change from Ameraucanas to EE's. I work with these people sometimes, they are great folks. It's an organic garden store/organic car wash. I love it.

Just had to brag about my awesome feed store friends.

 

[ih66series]

The other day I had a TSC employee tell me that pullets are either male or female. I didn't say anything to him but it was funny.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:

On that note, good night. Too funny!!!!!! That is my laugh for the night.

After catching 10 muscovy ducks tonight for a buyer, I needed a good laugh. Thank you!!!! Good night.

 

[FMAFarms]

Quote:

 

[FMAFarms]

I'm glad to see that the limited knowledge at our TSC is pretty much across the board. After reading this thread, I see that our store's lumping Buff Orpingtons in with RIRs and Red Stars and Ida Reds is relatively minor to everything else!

The people that work there for the most part are older folks in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, most of whom have farms or had farms and are somewhat knowledgeable, although their practices aren't all that great. I still shudder about the employee with 200 free-range chickens on some acreage just north of ours. He told us he lets his hens forage, and gets maybe five dozen eggs a day. From 200 hens? He was proud of that number, and added that he doesn't really have a predator problem. Sometimes he'll walk his property, come across a raccoon and whap it across the nose to get it away, or sometimes a possum will run across his shoes. Heck yeah! Think of all the eggs the hens are laying that go to the predators if he's only getting 60 eggs a day from 200 hens!

There's one young girl amongst the group of older employees, and she is friendly but quite clueless. She didn't know which copy of a receipt to give to me. I had to point out that the receipt with "Customer Copy" would go to me, while "Store Copy" would stay in her till.

We have three locally run and owned feed stores near us, closer than TSC is. We've become quite friendly with the owner of one, and our children are schoolmates and friends. But unfortunately small feed stores just don't carry the variety that TSC does, and TSC's prices are much, much lower than those at the feed stores. Only 99 cents for a suet block? Wow! $14 for a 50-lb bag of chick starter? You bet we'll be there.

We just wish that the chicks were sorted out a little better and that the labels were clearer. One employee, a very nice lady with no experience in poultry, thought the ducks were actually called Khaki Camps.

 

[NYRIR]

Here's my TSC experience this year...
The GLW's were broadly marked as either...1.Golden Comets
2.Amberlinks
3.White Leghorns
4.Red sexlinks
5.PULLETS (Boy,I hope so

)
They were GLW's.Umm....straight run.
The "Buff Brahmas"? They are actually LIGHT Brahmas.To me it was annoying to get there and think they were Dark Brahmas(from the info over the phone)..then the sign for Buff Brahmas...to find Light Brahmas in the bin..

But they're cute anyway!
The "Buff Orps" ? One has whitish wing tips growing in so I'm not sure about that one.

It is a bit disappointing to not have knowledgeable staff there....when I was trying to get a thermometer/hygrometer for the bator...the lady politely showed me a horses rectal thermometer!