Chick and Duckling Sales Need to Stop

Rescue
Written By Woodstock Sanctuary

Every spring, Tractor Supply, a national agriculture supply store, sells ducklings and chicks in its storefronts. They are tiny baby birds who are commonly bought by people for backyard flocks, as pets, or for entertainment.  Here at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, we see the aftereffect of these purchases when we are called to take in unwanted, abandoned, and often severely neglected birds who were originally purchased at Tractor Supply during their very popular and lucrative “Chick Days.” Because of this, we are asking Tractor Supply to stop selling chicks and ducklings both in stores and online. We know from years of experience that people impulse buy these baby birds without understanding what it really means to care for them. In the later spring and summer, all rescues and sanctuaries around the country and in our community see an increase in requests to take in backyard birds from people who have realized they are unwilling or unable to provide them the care that they need. We also see an increase in birds dumped in parks, in the woods, and on the side of roads.  

Chicks at a Tractor Supply location in 2024

Why are these birds unwanted? Often it’s due to lack of understanding of the cost of proper care or how much work it takes to care for chickens and ducks. But also many of the purchased chicks are roosters, and you’ll see roosters overrepresented in shelters and rescues that are able to take them in. Why is this, especially when Tractor Supply often sells chicks that they say are all female? Tractor Supply confidently makes this claim because the giant hatcheries where their chicks are born are supposed to kill the boys shortly after hatching.  

What Tractor Supply doesn’t tell you is that a lot of males are mis-sexed, ending up with the female chicks on their way to backyards across the country. As weeks go by, customers realize they have roosters instead of hens. Since roosters don’t lay eggs, and are the subject of many negative (and inaccurate!) stereotypes, many people are very eager to offload their roosters onto someone else.  

A profile of one of many residents here at Woodstock who was a Tractor Supply impulse purchase subsequently abandoned

In 2024, we organized a campaign to send postcards to the Tractor Supply headquarters , telling CEO Hal Lawton that Chick Days hurt chicks. Our community stepped up for birds and blew us away by sending almost 5700 postcards! We also sent a package to Tractor Supply’s office with the stories of rescued roosters like Zuri who were found abandoned—a common fate for chicks impulse purchased from Tractor Supply. An invoice demonstrating the cost of care for unwanted and abandoned backyard birds, plus a huge packet full of just some of the rooster/backyard bird email requests we got last year alone were also included in the box. We hoped that the volume of postcards plus a package that delved deeper into the harm that Chick Days causes would at least get us a response from Tractor Supply.  

We were wrong. Clearly, Tractor Supply executives don’t care about what happens to the chicks and ducklings they sell.  

A small sampling of emails we receive every day about unwanted roosters

This year, the situation with backyard birds feels more precarious than ever. Rising egg prices means that many will look to backyard birds as a source of “cheap” eggs, without really understanding what it means to care for them.  We saw this happen in 2020, with disastrous results for the birds. This time, with cases of avian flu on the rise in birds and mammals like cats and cows, it feels particularly irresponsible for Tractor Supply to ship birds from enormous hatcheries to people’s backyards, especially without proper warnings and instructions on how to minimize risk. Shelters, rescues, and sanctuaries are already grappling with how to keep their existing flocks safe from avian flu. For many, that means pausing bird rescues and implementing strict biosecurity protocols. Another big wave of unwanted backyard birds is the last thing they need.  

As we speak, Chick Days at Tractor Supply have begun, with chicks and ducklings being sold in stores and online. We went to our local Tractor Supply last week and were told the babies had just arrived from being shipped out of state at a few days old. Tiny baby birds are being mailed in boxes across the country with little regard for what happens to them in transit or upon arrival. Many will die during shipping. More will die in stores while on display. And even more will end up in subpar care—dying in people’s basements or backyards and being exposed to avian flu. And here at Woodstock Sanctuary, we are bracing for an influx of requests to take unwanted backyard birds—requests that we cannot say yes to without compromising the health and safety of the birds who already live here. Every sanctuary and rescue in the country is dealing with the same issues, with very little guidance or support.  

How you can help save the birds:

Woodstock Sanctuary
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