TSC rant

[Ra_]

The TSC in Dunnellon, Florida is fantastic.
I told the girl which chicks to pick from the straight run and I got 5 pullets and 1 roo.
Exactly what I was hoping for.
He was magnificent.
My Dixie Rainbow pullets from TSC now weigh 11 and 12 pounds apiece.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Family Farm and Home

Thanks!

 

[Beccazon]

Well, depending on the breed, that IS TRUE. Straight run will (should, in my opinion) get a protective rooster or two who will watch out for their "girls" (the whole flock). Most Bantam breeds are specifically bred for cage/smaller pen/containment raising AND don't all do well in free range situations AND since smaller are easier to "pluck up" and run with by a multitude of predators.

Some breeds, both LF and Bantam do better than others in contained situations and others will benefit from free ranging.

So the employee is not entirely wrong. It was a broad statement. And sometimes, it just behooves the questioner to follow up with more questions and research.

SORRY, I seem to be on a rant on the employees side today, LOL.

Lol no worries. It is the broad statement that irritated me. A customer with clearly no knowledge of chickens asked a specific question and got a broad and misleading answer...thus taining her knowledge for future decisions. I feel it is an employee's (and employER's) duty to be aware of what they are saying/informing. Or else to say nothing or ask more questions to provide clear info.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Thanks!

No problem

 

[Beccazon]

Check out the foot bottoms. Yellow means black jersey giant, pinkish gray means austrolorp. Your leghorn sounds interesting. Can we see pics?

Feet are black lol...on bottom. Go figure right? Lil Bit is being a lil s*** at the moment so best pics I have for right now lol.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I just received 3 Delawares from a family who had raised them as chicks, but didn't have space to keep them as adults. The family had purchased them from Tractor Supply. The family never heard what breed they were, and had bought 3 pullets, but got 1 roo and 2 pullets instead. These birds had been fed the same type of quality food that I feed my chicks while living with the family, but the 3 Delawares from TSC look way different from my same-age Delaware that came from Murray McMurray. I just think TSC buys the cheapest possible chicks from low-quality hatcheries, and on top of that, maybe not all the employees really care about the chicks. I'm sure some really do, but all lot of them have probably never raised a chicken in their life. I have had the same experience at Murdochs, where the employees don't even know that there are separate breeds, sizes, and colors of chickens. I would ask an employee to give me a certain breed out of the tub, and they would get this confused look, and I'd have to point out which breeds were which.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Like all the big box stores, I believe it falls on the specific store manager for what happens in their store. Just like my own experiences with different HD stores. Some are poorly managed and staffed with people who don't know which end of the hammer to hold then to the next store whose staff is well trained to at least say "they don't know, but will find out." I am lucky to have a locally owned and operated farm supply store that is staffed with people who actually farm or at least grew up on one. If I have a bad experience in a store, I ask myself, Do I really need to shop there? If you like the store and you want to continue shopping there, speak to the manager and if they really want you to spend money there they may listen.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Mmm.... TSC has a contract. In most stores they buy from Hoover, I believe. If you order from TSC online, you're ordering from Hoover.

 

[Beccazon]

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?

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Our Tractor Supply had never even heard of ducks requiring niacin/B supplement. They couldn't even tell me where the product was when I returned with a specific product name.

The chicks are always half dead in the bins. I wouldn't ever buy chicks from our stores.