tractor supply

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Actually it depends on the individual TSC, ours orders from Mt. Healthy. We are also in MI.

Also wanted to note, ours doesn't have a minimum or take personal info, so who knows why some are different???

I think it really depends on the hatchery. I think that if the hatchery pursues certain stores in their area or within shipping zones 1-2 they may get each others business or at least compete for it. It comes down to price really, because there is about a dozen hatcheries in our region (michigan, indiana, illinois, kentucky, ohio, PA, WV, Virginia... you get my point. But I think it comes down to the best price which would include shipping cost as well. Only a handful of hatcheries can take on those big orders in multiple states. Ideal, Privett, McMurray, Mt.Healthy, and a few others but that pretty much has the whole nation covered.

But I believe Mt. Healthy has had the Northeast for the past few years.... I'm sure a lot of local hatcheries in certain states pick up a few stores here and there...

 

[J3172]

I also live in michigan and our family farm and home get them from townline, but our TSC get them from somewhere else.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different TSC's get their chicks from different hatcheries. I don't remember who my local TSC used last year. I blame my memory loss on old age. The one thing I do remember though is that they would order for you, but the chicks would be mailed directly to your house. The hatchery minimums would still apply. I don't why anyone would pay them a commission to be a middleman, but I guess some people do. The selections they offered from their brooder was not that great and, no, I was not comfortable most of them knew which breed was which.

They do have the six minimum required if you buy some. I don't know if they try to get the personal information or not. I did not get that far. I'd suspect that the request for personal information may be due to State requirements, not Federal. The US Department of Agriculture and the US Congress make general rules and regulations but leave most of the details to the individual States.

Some of the people at the TSC are fairly knowledgable but some are not. It is like about anywhere else. I've learned to not bother talking to some of them and some I seek out, both from knowledge and personality.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
Many of them will let you attach your order onto theirs. The hatchery them marks or separates them in the box. Then you pick them up at the store. That way you don't have to take off work to pick them up at the post office.

 

[Mattemma]

I got 6 hens last year from TSC in Niles Ohio.3 red sex link and 3 meaties that were white leghorn types.Paid a little extra for sexed birds.Do not know where they got them from,and was not asked personal info.They did have a 6 imn. sign up,and the chicks were in the open bins. I will probably get some more from them this year.I am pretty happy with my red sex link that have laid all winter despite being locked in a rather dark metal shed most times.The leghorns were mean and I sold them.

Our local feed store Agland has a flier on chickens/turkys,but you need to pre-order now.Lots of breeds,but I don't like to pre-order and most were straight run. I can't afford to get roostes where I am living.

 

[ghulst]

Quote:
Actually it depends on the individual TSC, ours orders from Mt. Healthy. We are also in MI.

Also wanted to note, ours doesn't have a minimum or take personal info, so who knows why some are different???

I think it really depends on the hatchery. I think that if the hatchery pursues certain stores in their area or within shipping zones 1-2 they may get each others business or at least compete for it. It comes down to price really, because there is about a dozen hatcheries in our region (michigan, indiana, illinois, kentucky, ohio, PA, WV, Virginia... you get my point. But I think it comes down to the best price which would include shipping cost as well. Only a handful of hatcheries can take on those big orders in multiple states. Ideal, Privett, McMurray, Mt.Healthy, and a few others but that pretty much has the whole nation covered.

But I believe Mt. Healthy has had the Northeast for the past few years.... I'm sure a lot of local hatcheries in certain states pick up a few stores here and there...

We at Townline got the contract last Nov for all TSC stores In Michigan. Each store orders what they want. we also service Farm and Home stores. Rural King in Ind. are also serviced by townline. As far as I know we are the only hatchery that has incresed Their breeder flocks and hatchery capacity by 30% each of the last 2 years.

 

[prov31gal]

i just have to make this known...........its too funny, it wasnt then, but now i look back, its pretty funny.
at a friends house with a few other families having lunch one saturday..MY FRIEND says....hey louisa, does tracor supply have any sex links?
ME..i dont know for sure, hey does anyone here know if the TSC has sex links
OTHER FRIENDS..oh, i dont know, lets call and find out
MY FRIEND..hello tsc,do you have any sex links this year
TSC REP....um what?
MY FRIEND...sex links
TSC REP..(silence)
MY FRIEND..chickens...red sex link chickens, you had them last year, do you have them this year?
TSC REP yes we do have chickens mam, but i dont think we know what sex they are
....so this goes on and on, she speaks to a manager who says no, they dont have red sex links, but after shee is off the phone another friend who was busy now chimes in and says she is sure she saw red sex links, so we decide to call back, maybe someone else will answer the phone and they will say something different, who knows. we call back, and guess what someone else did answer the phone.
TSC REP..yes mam we have red sex links.
to make a long story short, a few days later i thought i might like to see if they had any left so we called, and they said they still had some left, so we went down and they had the open tubs, and it was yucky, the chicks all had absolutely wicked pastey butt, and there wee some dead and some dying. they didnt all look the same, so i asked if these were the sex links, and was told they dont have any of those, but i just called and you said you did, are they all gone? no we just dont have that kind.
OK.........can i talk to a manager? and she gets him and he says that those are all red sex link pullets. at this point i say....ARE YOU SURE?
HE SAYS YES BUT I AM SKEPTICAL. they dont all look the same.
ok, it ends up that i had to really take care of those chicks because the pastey butt was terrible, and i picked the least pastey butted ones. but they all recovered. we got 20 i think, i cant remember though, but anyways, several turned out to be rir roosters! oh well, thats ok.
but now im a little more scrutinizing and ready when i get a chick from tsc!

 

[chickenlover54]

Almost every state gets theres from a diff. place

 

[bargain]

I had issues with how the ducks were treated. There were 2 obviously hurt ones and 2 deceased ones in the tub when I visited, planning to buy ducks and the heat lamp was really too high, al the ducks were at the far end of the tub and the water for them was just about out. When I told the gal at the front, she was very non concerned and said that she wasn't the one responsible for them, but that they cleaned them out at the end of the day.....ugh...well, I asked to speak to the person responsible for him, waited about 20 minutes while they located him and gave him my basic and very basic knowledge (at that time, I had geese but no ducks) and he seemed appreciative, I helped him move out the deceased, etc. and relocate the tub so the ducks weren't jam packed....Hopefully I saved a few lives and educated the employee. The ducks we got were not from there, though after that experience....

 

[speckledhen]

They are building a new TSC close to me. I will not buy from them until they quit lying to their customers about taking personal information. They told me the state required it. We told them that was wrong. They argued and argued till finally they said it was a corporate decision. And no one should ever, ever ask for health information from TSC. They just lurve to sell antibiotics to everyone.

So, they don't get my business till they stop that crud about taking personal info. If I pay cash, no one gets personal info about me. IMO, they wont inform you if there is a problem at the hatchery they got their chicks from, so there's no reason to know where I live or my phone number. It's for some other purpose. Limits or minimums on chicks is not the issue for me.