Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

No do not think so .. Oyster house in at the beaches here will give you oyster shells but not broken that is any shells

 

[Hinotori]

I've been giving eggshell, but I still have most of a 50 pound bag I bought last March when I got all paranoid and bought extra of things I thought might get hard to get, like canning lids.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

They said online that the 50lb bag was available at my Tractor Supply for pickup, but they only had 5lb bags. Since the chickens really needed Oyster shell, I bought the 5lb, even though the 50lb would have been only a few dollars more. They might want to work on updating the site.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Oh, and I stopped by to look at the chicks. It was awful. I don't necessarily think that the brooders themselves are the problem, I think it is that the employees at TSC don't know how to use them properly.

Here are a few problems I noticed.

1. There was at least one, cold, dead chick that I could see. It was laying by the window of the tall brooder (It was still in the brooder)

2. They didn't take the chick out of the brooder for at least the half-hour I was there, even though I told them. (Some customers even came to buy chicks, but they didn't take it out then, either?!)

3. Way overcrowded. They had at least 50 chicks in one of the trays. I know they are trying to probably keep breeds together, but having over 50 chicks in one of the segments? I couldn't believe it. Then there were some chicks that were all alone in other parts, and most parts were completely empty.

4. Too cold, too hot. Some of the chicks were pressed against the glass siding, trying to escape the heat (these were the overcrowded ones) Then others, which had about 5 (and the dead chick) were huddled together in the very center.

5. Cheeping very loudly. They were cheeping at the top of their lungs. It was very loud, meaning they were probably very uncomfortable.

6. No access to food or water. Literally. I've never bought chicks from TSC, its always from the local feed store, but they always offer 24/7 access to feed and water for them at the local store. (except when cleaning or refilling) I'm sure TSC feeds them in the morning or something, but I still think they should have access.

7. The chicks didn't have horrible pasty butt like I've seen others posting on here, but they did have mild cases (from what I could see) The main health problem I saw was many, many (I would say half) looked lethargic. (And no, I don't think they were just sleepy little babies, but I'm pretty sure they were sick.

I didn't get any pictures, but as you can see, (or read) they were in awful conditions. I really wanted to save a few, but I knew that

A. I didn't have a place to keep them (my coop is at max capacity)

B. I'm going on a trip in a week.

C. There would just be new shipments coming in, and it would be a never-ending cycle. I felt really bad leaving them there, (and I may or may not have broken down crying)

D. There are tons of TSC's in the world, and I can't save them all.


I'm sorry for this rant. I still feel bad though.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Unfortunately the employees may or not may be allowed to do much.
I also know they never know how many they will get Trust me I hate corporate not all their folks should be in a feed store

 

[manta8ray]

Have you looked at the Auction thread I have bid on eggs there looking at the easter hatch

What is the link for the auction thread? Of a thread for rehoming roosters...I have a black Silkie roo and a sneaking suspicion that our 4 week old Lavender Orpington is a roo also...

 

[TeePants]

Boo, the rain is back. We weren’t quite done attaching the hardware cloth to the new quail pen. Now we get to do it in the rain!

 

[Sequel]

Boo, the rain is back. We weren’t quite done attaching the hardware cloth to the new quail pen. Now we get to do it in the rain!

It’s a slow drizzle here. Not fun to work with hardware cloth on a nice day let alone in the rain!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Yeah... the rain.
I was planning to clean the shed out today. (It’s infested in rats!) but the rain is stopping me. And it looks like it’s going to be for a while.

 

[Stefrrr]

I’m really torn. It was wonderful to have the bright sunny weather, but there were at least two brush fires last weekend, and that’s really not good.