What is so "bad" about buying feed store chicks?

[debid]

I agree, completely. Your experience at any store is affected by the management and employees of that store. It just happens that our nearest TSC is grossly mis-managed.

 

[SobbaChickens]

Geez you guys are making me scared of TSC lol So basically what I'm reading is that no matter what some people might say there is no guarantee you'll get the sex of bird that you want whether you order yourself or buy from a farm store. Anyone could make a mistake when sexing the birds but when buying from a farm store you run a greater risk of mistake because more people handle the birds. Makes sense.

.....

Ideally, unless you know what you're looking for your best bet in buying from local outlets is to look for sex-link birds (Red's, Comets, etc) to be sure you're getting pullets. ....

You will have to forgive my newbie brain , I got 2 black sex link chicks and 2 red sex link chicks from my farm storm. After reading your post it's now my understanding that out of my 6 chicks (ALL were labeled as pullet) these 4 are (almost) guaranteed to be hens.....right? Because aren't sex linked roosters culled? So if one of those ended up as a rooster that would be a mistake made by the hatchery.

I've had my chicks for 2 weeks now and they have never once acted strange, stressed, sick. But they are only 2.5w (my guess) so I know this could always change. The red sex links are skittish but they have not had much human contact. When they were inside it was just too difficult to get them out of the brooder because of our inside pets and now that they are outside the weather hasn't been nice enough to let them out into the yard. But this weekend and early next week is suppose to be nice so we should get some play time in I boiled eggs for them today so maybe I'll win them over with some treats.

 

[PrairieChickens]

Yeah, if you got sexlinks, you're pretty much guaranteed pullets. If they're fit and healthy at 2 weeks, you were sold good stock--most serious health conditions you would have to worry about would have presented themselves within the first few days. I'd make a point to try and interact with them now while they're still young, even if it's just holding your hand in the brooder and talking to them. Trust me when I say, it's much easier to socialize them at this age than when they're adults. Don't be discouraged if they don't seem to warm up to you--our red sexlink "Goldie" acted terrified of us for her entire chickhood, then one day as a young adult suddenly decided she liked us. Now she follows us everywhere and is one of our favorite hens, but that early socialization was key.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have to chime in. I got 6 of my chicks from a local hardware store, and was real pleased with the experience. 3 Araucanas (really EE) and special ordered 3 Dominiques. They had their chicks over nighted from Murray McMurray, so these chicks spent less time traveling than they would have if I had ordered them myself. When I questioned the gender of the Dominiques (that's still up in the air) the manager was very responsive and called MM, got back to me with the offer to exchange the chicks, or refund at a later date if they start crowing. As far as TSC goes, from what I've seen, you can special order, but you have to order 25 and they mail them to you... now, WHY would I pay them an extra middle man fee??? If getting chicks from a feed store, it's worth while to do your homework, and at least be aware of what the different kinds of chicks look like. If you are not determined that you NEED a specific breed, it might better to get locally or order it yourself.

 

[SobbaChickens]

I was going to get 2 more chicks tonight and went back to the same farm store where I got my first 6. Holy cow did I get a taste of why people don't like them. They are now on my poo list big time! None of the chicks had water, some had food but not all. There was an extra large brooder of the BRs that I wanted and all of them had big sores on their backs from being pecked on. And some other different chicks had that pasty butt thing going on. I told two different people that worked there and one just walked away and the other said "Umm okay".

 

[theminimizer]

Same thing that happened at my feed store today. Man said, "Oh, you haven't had water ALL day. Oops." Eek.

 

[Roan]

We bought 8 RIR pullets and 6 Doms at Southern States last year and were told that they only sell pullets when we said that we wanted a rooster as well. So my uncle ordered 7 Canas for us that were supposed to be 5 pullets and 2 roosters.

What we ended up with was

7 RIR pullets and 1 RIR rooster
5 PR pullets and 1 PR rooster (instead of Doms)
4 (THAT'S FOUR!!!) Cana ROOSTERS and only 3 Cana hens!!!

So buying from Southern States was A LOT better than ordering through wherever he'd ordered from!!!

After all, 5 roosters with only 15 hens is NOT a good combination! We had to cull most of our Roosters. I was not pleased.

 

[Everstuff]

My local D&B and the local Valley Co-ops will both allow you to order chicks from the hatchery in small numbers and they pay the shipping. As long as the hatchery does their half right, the boxes are labled for the customer, and they call when they come in. I just grabbed whatever was on hand when I went in for my chicks.

 

[FaerieChickens]

We got our chickies at a family-run feed store/farm supply place - Triangle Farm & Home near Durham NC. Overall, I was pretty pleased with my service there.

They were stored in an upright metal brooder cage - like a giant square layer cake, and all looked pretty healthy. And it smelled pretty clean, too.
For a first-time buyer, so far we kinda lucked out:

Of our 3 Silkies, one is most likely a Bantam Cochin. But we like it. It's a feathery little beast with spunk. It has super-feathered legs and feet, and loves to dig.
Of the 3 Dominques (they called them Dominickers) one is looking more like a Marans, and not like a Dom at ALL. We'll see when she starts laying (hoping she is not a roo)
The Buff Orp is most likely a Buff Orp.
And the teeny Sebright, which I read here on BYC were quiet birds, is quite the little cheeper. She sings like a bird sometimes! Our loudest chickie is our smallest!

An odd mix, but they get along, are healthy, and I hope we get some eggs out of them. So far they have more than paid for themselves in entertainment value!

 

[cosmo1104]

Got mine from TSC, and was CONCERNED after reading this, lol. But I got 4 diff sex links, so that sounds safe, but got 2 black astralorps that 100% are not. BYC members are pretty sure they are a OEGBs and golden sebrights. Which I'm OK with, but seems kinda par for the course. The sex links are what they are I'm pretty sure