TSC UGGGH!

[amazondoc]

Let me preface this by saying that my LOCAL TSCs in Lebanon and Mt. Juliet have healthy chicks in good conditions. I was pleased at how they were being housed when I saw them.

But then yesterday, I was on the road. I stopped into the Halls TSC just to see what they had, and YUCK. Their chicks were okay, but their ducklings were in TERRIBLE conditions. The food in the feeders was so low that the ducklings couldn't reach it. The water was held up so high that they could just baaarely reach it by standing up on their toes. The muck in the bottom was about an inch think, and every duckling was FILTHY. There was a dead duckling in one of the tubs, and I had to ask an employee twice (I TOLD him the second time) before he would remove it. It had been lying there so long that I could smell it from several feet away when he finally did take it out.

UGGGH.

They had a "clearance" sign on the ducklings. I ended up buying some of them, mostly just to get them outta there. Original price $4.50, marked down to under $2 -- even though these look to still be under 1 week old. Those idjits obviously have NO CLUE.

I'm still thinking about calling animal control on them.....

 

[Laura78]

Go back, take pictures if you can, then call Animal Control. If Animals Control doesn't do anything call L and I or the Health Dept, anyone to get those animals better care.

 

[amazondoc]

I can't go take pics, that's more than 200 miles away from me now. I should've taken some with my cell phone when I was there, but I didn't think of it!

I did call both county and city animal controls as soon as I posted that message -- but neither one answered. Can't bother about animals on the weekend!

 

[bock]

Horrible, it's just cruel

 

[new-roo]

In defense of TSC, ours had 2 "pens" of ducklings set up, and in the 5 minutes that we were there, the nice yellow ducks had about emptied the waterer in one onto each other, and ducks are notorious for being slobs, grabbing a mouthfull of food and dropping most of it to mix in with the spilt water, turning the whole place into a mess. I dont know about the dead duckling, but I am sure TSC doesnt have a person assigned to continually watch over the pens of chicks/ducks, they check on them then have 100 other things to do so if a mess is made, live with it, that is what ducks do.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

oh I know. I went to another chain like TSC. One had very happy healthy chicks. the other had several sick and even dead chicks and acted like they didn't really care. I'm glad the other stores are great. I would call corporate and tell them what you witnessed. I'm sure they would like to know.

 

[Laura78]

Our local feed store gets in between 800-1000 chicks a week, about 100 or more are ducklings. They only have 3 people tops there at a time, yet still keep their brooders clean and customers taken care of. I've never seen the ducklings brooder dirty and have even seen them keep the ducklings with older chicks. I've only ever seen 2 dead chicks in there, and they hadn't been dead long. They also keep the food and water right on the ground for all the birds. If they can't employee enough staff to properly care for the birds then they shouldn't be selling them.

Our feed store also has a coop and run for adult birds.

 

[abluechipstock]

my tractor supply just got chicks/ducks in, you have to realize their ducks come from a hatchery the same as ours do, and you know how we get failing ducklings with our orders, ducklings are also so dirty, they would have to change the water every 10 minutes to keep it nice, i bought 16 chicks from them, i lost 2 bantams but that's how it goes, sorry it wasn't up to your expectations though, hopefully they'll do better

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
I am NOT blaming all TSCs. As I already mentioned, my two local stores keep their babies clean and dry. But this PARTICULAR store really dropped the ball.

I'll try to call animal control again on Monday.

 

[Wifezilla]

I am noticing a lot of feed store people don't have a freaking clue about animals.

Scary