TSC rant

[Beccazon]

OK! Seriously now! I have completely lost faith in TSC for chicks. Now, I LOVE Tractor Supply. But no longer for chicks. I know some people swear by them and others don't trust them at all. I am beginning to think that the company needs to stop using different hatcheries at each of their stores. I understand that they like to source locally which is commendable! But it is no good and going to cost them business if they don't have REPUTABLE hatchery sources! But that statement puts the blame on the hatcheries. Is it that TSC is deceptive and mislabels for sales? Or are they duped by hatcheries passing their mutts off as purebreds? Or heck, are todays chickens so inbred and overbred that they simply are no longer true breeds?

Let me explain my irritation...
I have 12 chickens and 9 ducks of which 10 chickens and 4 ducks were purchased at TSC. I bought 4 RIR...they appear to be true. 3 orps that turned up mislabeled (and I at the time did not know one chick from any other chick) and are a leghorn (cockerel) and 2 brahmas. 3 BSL who are mutts...one gorgeous cockerel, another looking quite similar with less rooiness lol and one black with the green sheen, black legs, black eyes and black/grey comb. The leghorn is interesting...creamy white with 4 barred rock feathers at his cape and 2 random orangish feathers...one on each shoulder. Like...wth?! The brahmas are...brahmas. No clue what my beautiful black things are. The ducks are Pekin. They appear to be Pekin lol. No funkiness haha.
But seriously now! Out of 10 chickens I have 4 that are what they were intended to be. 6 are mutts or not as labeled. Who wants to vent about TSC and make me feel I am not alone?? My others are from Family Farm and Home. All as expected. Guess where I am shopping again if not hatchery direct! Not TSC

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I feel your pain. My TSC this year had all of their chicks miss-labeled.

That said, your BSL... well, those are cross breeds. They are mutts. They're supposed to be.
Anything with black... is supposed to sheen. That's the nature of black feathers. Check out the foot bottoms. Yellow means black jersey giant, pinkish gray means austrolorp. Your leghorn sounds interesting. Can we see pics?

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I will not shop in our nearby TSC. I did once and the price listed on the bins did not match what they charged me. I didn't realize this until I got home and took a good look at the receipt. If they try to dupe their customers on supplies, why on earth would I trust them with labeling their chicks correctly. Never again.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

My daughter works for TSC, I can tell you at her store it is hatcheries to blame. She is very chick knowledge and usually the one that works with them (others refuse clean bins etc). That being said, we ordered 7 chicks from Meyer Hatchery (mail order) my daughter ordered 2 buff Brahma's and received one larger one, one tiny one. The larger one is absolutely featherless on her legs, while the tiny one came with little feathers all down hers. Enough said! LOL

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I will not shop in our nearby TSC. I did once and the price listed on the bins did not match what they charged me. I didn't realize this until I got home and took a good look at the receipt. If they try to dupe their customers on supplies, why on earth would I trust them with labeling their chicks correctly. Never again.

Not sure about price hiding, but my daughter (works for TSC) says FFH is usually cheaper than them, quite a bit cheaper.

 

[Trux]

So many people this spring, were posting here, wondering what they had because of TSC's inability to identify chicken breeds. And instead of labeling straight run chicks just that, people end up thinking they are getting pullets, then end up with cockerels they can't keep. Example...one person posted about how large some of their leghorns were compared to the others...pic revealed cornish crosses. I don't even shop there unless I need something no one else carries

 

[Frazzemrat1]

So many people this spring, were posting here, wondering what they had because of TSC's inability to identify chicken breeds. And instead of labeling straight run chicks just that, people end up thinking they are getting pullets, then end up with cockerels they can't keep. Example...one person posted about how large some of their leghorns were compared to the others...pic revealed cornish crosses. I don't even shop there unless I need something no one else carries

I was one who mentioned it. Problem is, TSC labels their bins by what the hatchery sends. They have a box, and the hatchery says XYZ is in the box... they label the bin XYZ... So if the hatchery screws up, so does TSC. They're just at the consumer end and get the flak for it. If TSC trained their people better, they'd be able to tell some of the chicks apart and label them correctly... or would know that putting certain chicks together is a disaster... like Buff Orps and RSLs... cause the average person can't tell them apart as chicks.

 

[Beccazon]

My daughter works for TSC, I can tell you at her store it is hatcheries to blame. She is very chick knowledge and usually the one that works with them (others refuse clean bins etc). That being said, we ordered 7 chicks from Meyer Hatchery (mail order) my daughter ordered 2 buff Brahma's and received one larger one, one tiny one. The larger one is absolutely featherless on her legs, while the tiny one came with little feathers all down hers. Enough said! LOL

Crazy! First off, if I refused to do a task at work I'd get fired! 2nd, glad ur daughter is employed there! Ours has a young man who obviously THINKS he is "country" by his clothes/attitude but completely miseducated 2 customers while I watched (then clarified quietly afterward). You really should have knowledge working there or get someone who does. Ridiculous!

 

[Beccazon]

I was one who mentioned it. Problem is, TSC labels their bins by what the hatchery sends. They have a box, and the hatchery says XYZ is in the box... they label the bin XYZ... So if the hatchery screws up, so does TSC. They're just at the consumer end and get the flak for it. If TSC trained their people better, they'd be able to tell some of the chicks apart and label them correctly... or would know that putting certain chicks together is a disaster... like Buff Orps and RSLs... cause the average person can't tell them apart as chicks.

Agreed. Sadly. A "specialty" store should employ people with skills/experience in that specialty or train them in their dept! And when they recieve random or mislabeled product it should quit using that distributor. (I get that sexing is more an art than science but breed should not be as difficult at hatcheries nor should bizarre "mutts" be acceptable). For that reason, I blame the store. Not just the hatchery. Especially when other stores in the immediate area don't have those problems ya know?

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Crazy! First off, if I refused to do a task at work I'd get fired! 2nd, glad ur daughter is employed there! Ours has a young man who obviously THINKS he is "country" by his clothes/attitude but completely miseducated 2 customers while I watched (then clarified quietly afterward). You really should have knowledge working there or get someone who does. Ridiculous!

I picked up chicks from FFH because they were specialty breeds and supposed to be pullets. The man helping us was a supervisor, he asked if I would like to pick out my own and I said yes I prefer to. He said go ahead I'm (he) wasn't a chicken person and didn't like dealing with them!!!!