Tractor supply or hatchery?

[NatJ]

in some cases with TSC you will hear about straight run chicks being mislabeled regarding breed or sex. Unless you buy sexlinks, that is.

Even buying sexlinks will not help if the bins are labeled wrong.

Black Sexlink pullets look remarkably similar to Black Australorps (either gender) or Black Jersey Giants (either gender.)

And Red Sexlink pullets look remarkably similar to Rhode Island Reds (either gender) and the various other red breeds. They look a bit different once they start feathering out with some white instead of black in the wings, but there are some other breeds that will also feather out with red and white.

 

[CrspyChkn]

I happen to know someone who was not accepted to work at Tractor Supply because they had background knowledge.

The bins being mixed up can be really bad where I go. So bad that I personally think it is obvious when it is wrong. For example, the Austrolorps in the Americauna bin. Rhode island red(or Red sex link) in Black sex link bin. Brahma in white leghorn bin. Silkies in turkey bin. Etc. It is quite sad. Oh, I think I have seen a bin where they mixed Austrolorps and Jersey Giants together(wont buy either if they had both at the same time)

 

[3KillerBs]

I did buy my first chicks for this property from a local, independent farm store that ordered from multiple hatcheries and got my first Blue Australorps that way when the hatchery they ordered from didn't send any Delawares.

I would not buy from TSC because they order from Hoover and Hoover's chickens, though undoubtedly healthy and eventually good layers, are known to have only a vague and passing resemblance to the SOP for their supposed breed.

I *would* buy from that same independent farm store again -- armed with reference photos of what the chicks of the breeds I want look like.

I *prefer* to order from a hatchery. I buy/order at least twice as many as I want to keep and sell the extras. My favorite hatchery is Ideal -- which has quite favorable rates for small orders.

Note on chick mixing: I have personally seen, in a different local farm store, chicks mixing themselves by jumping up onto the sides of their bins and jumping down into a different bin.

 

[Ozarkoak]

All I care about is weight on processing day and how many eggs they lay per week/month/year. I could care less if my chicken has a 3rd leg as long as she pulls her weight in eggs.

 

[CrspyChkn]

All I care about is weight on processing day and how many eggs they lay per week/month/year. I could care less if my chicken has a 3rd leg as long as she pulls her weight in eggs.

In my experience, tractor supply birds tend to be smaller, but also lay more eggs. It does make sense since they will get more chicks that way and they can sell more.

 

[Iluveggers]

Meyers if you buy less than 15 chicks, shipping is $50. But buy more than 15, and it drops to $15. So, they pay less money for shipping more birds? I doubt that.

This irks me,too. McMurray is free 15+, but $35 under 15. Mt Healthy $30 for 3-9, $15 for 10-24, free for 25. It limits us small-time owners. Ideal raised their minimum, small order & processing fees for 2023, sadly enough.

 

[3KillerBs]

Ideal raised their minimum, small order & processing fees for 2023, sadly enough.

I'm sure it was necessary because of increasing costs.

I've seen the store I work for have to raise prices on some items nearly 50% since the start of 2020.

 

[NatJ]

Meyers if you buy less than 15 chicks, shipping is $50. But buy more than 15, and it drops to $15. So, they pay less money for shipping more birds? I doubt that.

They pay more money for PACKING the small orders. With 15 chicks or more, they can usually put them in a special cardboard box, and the chicks keep each other warm. With a small order, they need to add extra insulation or packing material, and sometimes heat packs. They also need to pay a person to spend time putting that package together, whcih takes longer because it is not the same as all the other packages.

I also hear more stories of small orders arriving dead, while larger orders (15+) seem more likely to arrive alive. So they may be charging extra to cover extra work for customer service and a higher rate of refunds.

And if the higher charge causes the customers to order a larger number of chicks, the hatchery saves time and materials for packing them, the chicks are more likely to arrive alive, the customer is more likely to be happy-- so the yes, the hatchery might be trying to push people in the direction of larger orders because it is actually better for everyone (hatchery, customer, and the chicks themselves.)

This irks me,too. McMurray is free 15+, but $35 under 15. Mt Healthy $30 for 3-9, $15 for 10-24, free for 25. It limits us small-time owners. Ideal raised their minimum, small order & processing fees for 2023, sadly enough.

Yes, it is limiting, if you cannot deal with extra chicks.

Some people get around it by ordering more, and then selling the extras as started pullets, or butchering the extras.

If you're hardhearted enough, you can order extras of a breed that is easy to recognize (and preferably cheap), and dispatch them as soon as the box arrives, rather than raising them.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I only ordered two Mallard Ducklings from Metzer two years ago. They arrived just fine but ducks may be more heartier than chicks. They had the jel to drink and the heat pack. I still have them and one of them is who is still giving me one of my daily eggs. They have been very healthy and I did not mind paying extra for shipping because if I had to do a large order I would be paying more for feed. I did end up with 14 ducks though and I still am not sure how in the world that happened. LOL

 

[BeetaLiK]

Hi! we got are chicks from tractor supply and they all made it, there great layers and healthy, the only concern is two of them got pasty butt so you will have to watch out for that.