CHICK DAYS TRACTOR SUPPLY BEWARE

[CannedMonster]

The only chicks I’ll buy there are ones I know I can identify myself.
That’s why I got the Naked Necks (they’re a no brainer lol), bantam Cochin and Silkie.

 

[Flockjunkie13]

I literally thought I was crazy or wrong until I saw other people had the same issue. Me and my husband Recently decided to get chickens and after doing a ton of research and setting up the runs and copes we decided to get 12 chickens 2 ducks and a goose. We originally went to tractor supply and got what we where told where 2 ISA browns ( which are) 2 Buff orpingtons (1 unfortunately passed the first night) and 2 French Cuckoos and then went to rural king to get the 2 ducks ( khaki Campbell and a mallard) and an embden goose (they have there own home away from the chickens but still see them during the day) plus a few other chickens Tractor supply didn’t have ( 2 silkies, 1 crested polish, 1 Sicilian buttercup, 1 black austrolorp, & 1 Rhode Island Red) all the chickens from rural king are the breeds that we where told they where and labeled as but the Buff Orpington and the 2 French cuckoos look nothing like they should. The “buff Orpington” looks pretty much exactly like a New Hampshire and the 2 French cuckoos look like copper marans I mean we love are chickens and I don’t really care what they are more than just wanting to know but even when I took pictures in to ask they said well what did you buy them as because there probably them....

 

[Member 482121]

From what I understand, you bought those chicks at the Tractor Supply store from the bins they had at the store? Well, I shop regularly at the TS in my area, and I like it because the people are courteous and the store is well stocked. But I never saw much expertise when it comes to chickens, there. When I ordered 50 black Australorps from them, they came to me directly from the hatchery--the chicks never even saw the TS store, and they were exactly what I ordered. Maybe at the store where you bought the chicks someone mixed them up, mislabeled them, or something like that. I would not be amazed if that were the case. I see a lot of crass incompetence just about in every store or office I deal with, nowadays.

 

[SonRise Silkies]

Just my 2 cents...TSC has no idea what they are selling. They just unload them and sort of guess according to the box they came in. Some of the time they are correct. Hoover does a great job and can't be faulted on labeling or on quality as far as I have experience with them. Skip TSC and order from Hoover or be sure you can recognize a breed as baby chick.

 

[SonRise Silkies]

Forgot to ad that I buy from TSC and Hoovers and sometimes at TSC I buy just cause they suit my fancy at the time, cross my fingers and hope I got what I was wanting.

 

[featherhead007]

Mommy, look chicks! No daughter put those back in the bin! That's TSC !

 

[SonRise Silkies]

Yep! Any bin will do. Employees can tell the difference between the ducks and the chicks, [most of the time] NOT slamming the employees, it's not their fault...just saying.....

 

[Maryos]

I got chicks at tsc this summer. Suppose to be sexed. I like to raise 2 of each breed because they clearly like their own breeds best. I got 2 blue rock (auto sexing) and 2 black australorp pullets. One australorp quickly proved to be rooster. So I got another australorp and an ameraucana. Both said pullets. Quickly the australorp proved to be a rooster. Later the ameraucana proved to be a roo as well. I gave up on BA’s and got 2 more ameraucana. Now one suddenly has the long arching tail feathers of a roo again. Of the sexed chicks I ended up with 75% roosters. Hatch rate is only 50%. That’s a terrible track record. Chicks are expensive and time consuming to raise. I’ll never get chicks from tsc again or from Hoover Hatchery who I believe they get their chicks from

 

[Chik_8]

So I bought what was labeled as Americauna, turned out to be Easter Eggers was fine with that. Went back and bought what was supposed to be sexed pullets and brahmas, i don't think I got a single brahma, I will post picks this weekend but 3 of them are bluish color with no leg feather, the others look like cochins not brahma. This is very disappointing! Does anyone here have any experience with TSC with this issue and is there anything I can get them to do?

When I first bought chickens I got them from tractor supply as an impulse purchase but I had been wanting them for a while. I had a few breeds in mind that they had, one of which were buff Orpingtons. I bought 6 and they ended up all being isa brown but I still kept them. Bad labeling and not recommend if you don’t know much about the breed your getting and what they are supposed to look like. I ended up going back and I was basically the one directing the employees and they had barley a clue about any breed and could not answer my questions. I don’t hate them but the employees and labels are pretty disorganized so my only advice would be to know what your looking for when you get their and watch for miss labeling.

 

[Coops Dad]

I've had good results at the TSC in Waco, Texas, near my little town. Every chick has been the correct sex and type, every time. We also have an Orscheln (100% accurate), an Atwood's (100% accurate), and several Mom and Pop feed stores that sell chicks. They all order from the big hatcheries but some, like the M&P places, will do special orders from stuff not in their main catalogs. If the hatchery has it, they'll order it.

The chick manager at Orscheln takes great pride in keeping her department as perfect as it can be. She has a great relationship with the USPS and gets calls on her personal phone when the chicks arrive, she picks them up herself, and she oversees the sorting of the chicks into their respective bins. I asked about taking on "troubled" chicks and she told me they have a woman and her daughter who pick up sick/fail to thrive chicks whenever she calls but she'll keep my contact info as backup.

If I go in during chick days, she tries to hustle me (usually successfully) to buy the leftover and aging out chicks at huge discounts. Last time, I bought 6 RIR pullets for $1 each, she threw in a few other assorted pullets on top and told me to tell my wife and son hi from her. She also sold me "a dozen" 2-week-old leftover CX's for $1 each. They were really big, like Baby Huey chicks, and were going through a ton of feed and making a ton of poop. When I got them home and unpacked them into the brooder, there were 19.

I am still on the fence on whether being known as a chick softie is a good thing or not.