TSC selling wrong chicks

[Mtnmomma3]

I bought six Black Australorps and six Buff Orpingtons from my local farm store. They turned out to be mutts, the blacks ended up being grey and copper and the buffs ended up being white with occasional black spots. Strangest things!

Then I bought 10 Xs from Tractor Supply and the guy couldn't tell me if they were vaccinated or not. Hopefully they are Xs after all! I guess if they are something else we can just sell.

 

[oldrooster]

TSC is like any big box farm store there are good ones and there are bad ones, the biggest problem seems to be lack of training from the corporate level for the handling of chicks that the stores actually implement plus all big box stores use different hatcheries. I'm sure also a large part of the problem is the constant turn over in such a business you might have a very well trained staff and one bad manager all the good staff leave or a good manager can't get and keep knowledgeable help.

 

[Mayberry Anj]

Yeah when I bought mine,they couldn't tell me which hatchery they used,let alone if they were vaccinated or not.

 

[scoremaster]

I picked up 6 supposedly cornish cross chicks 3 weeks ago and as of right now i believe i have 2 crosses and 4 leg horns as the crosses are twice as big as my others

 

[yellowswirl]

I picked up 6 supposedly cornish cross chicks 3 weeks ago and as of right now i believe i have 2 crosses and 4 leg horns as the crosses are twice as big as my others

Exact same thing happened to me....

 

[tigerchick]

I wanted layers. Went to TSC and bought 7 chicks. 5 are meat birds. So now I am faced with having to process 2 cornish rocks within the next two weeks. My hubby says he will not help because we have bonded so much to these birds and does not like to clean fish. I am thinking about doing it myself. I mean why not, so many women used to do it all the time so why cant I. I have watched several videos and it looks fairly easy. I have a deep background in human anatomy and know of which parts I should be aware. I have changed my view on the meat birds and now look at them as how well they have been treated and they should be great for my family to eat. Why should I give them away and let someone else enjoy my care and love for my chicks. Anyone have advise?

 

[yellowswirl]

I wanted layers. Went to TSC and bought 7 chicks. 5 are meat birds. So now I am faced with having to process 2 cornish rocks within the next two weeks. My hubby says he will not help because we have bonded so much to these birds and does not like to clean fish. I am thinking about doing it myself. I mean why not, so many women used to do it all the time so why cant I. I have watched several videos and it looks fairly easy. I have a deep background in human anatomy and know of which parts I should be aware. I have changed my view on the meat birds and now look at them as how well they have been treated and they should be great for my family to eat. Why should I give them away and let someone else enjoy my care and love for my chicks. Anyone have advise?

Wow, 5 out of 7. That's crazy. We got 6 and 2 turned out as meat birds.

We kept ours and are raising them in a good environment. We know how they've been raised and cared for. My kids know we are going to eat them eventually.

I'm not sure if I could actually cull them. But I will be there when my husband does. This is all new to us. We've watched many YouTube videos, so I feel confident that we can do it.

Just watch lots of videos beforehand and breathe deep when the time comes. I think we are honoring these birds when we treat them well. Good luck.

 

[tigerchick]

Thanks

 

[CrazyTalk]

At risk of causing rumpled feathers, after hearing so many stories of mislabeled birds, straight run being sold as pullets, meat birds being sold as layers, antibiotics sold without reason, it boggles my mind why folks continue to buy chicks from them.

Because it's mostly mislabling at the hatchery that causes this. TSC basically takes the box, unloads into a bin, and then copies the box's label.


People have all sorts of problems with hatcheries too. And independent shops.

 

[wvhomesteader]

I agree with you, @yellowswirl we are doing these birds a big honor by lovingly caring for them until it is "their time."

My husband and I are new to the meat bird thing and in a few weeks will have to cull our 16 Xs. Currently they are 2 days old (hatched on Monday) and we have 26 that should be hatching around the 19th.

I have never done one myself but we spent the last two months researching them while waiting for the eggs to hatch. I figure we have 2 more months to further our research.

I am kind of excited to learn a new skill but I will definitely be saying a prayer of thanksgiving for these birds before we do the procedure.

We have already purchased a cone and plan to use the neck slit/poke method.