Chicken age?

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Carl77

Carl77

Hatching
Jan 25, 2016
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Im new to the fun of owning backyard chickens, and for my luck i got mines from a friend at 10 months old, but if im buying hens from an unknown person how can i tell if the hen still producing a good amount of eggs per year and is not an old hen? Physical differences between a young hen and an old one?
 
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Hello!
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Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to joined the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC. I personally wouldn't buy full grown hens from an unknown person. There are many hazards. Diseases and mites are always a concern. I would buy chicks and them instead. Just my two cents.
 
Carl77 said:
Im new to the fun of owning backyard chickens, and for my luck i got mines from a friend at 10 months old, but if im buying hens from an unknown person how can i tell if the hen still producing a good amount of eggs per year and is not an old hen? Physical differences between a young hen and an old one?
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Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined the flock! Look at the feather quality, the redness of the comb and wattle. If the comb and wattle are more pale than red they are not laying, just about done or never even started. Also ask what protein % the hens are on. If they are laying best protein % for a laying hen is 16%. If they say 20% or more it's a meat bird. Also make sure they are hens not roosters. It's annoying. I've had people try to sell me 9 Rhode Island Red "laying hens" and they were all roosters. Here's a picture of a rooster and a hen. Feather structure is what you want to pay attention to when sexing them if they are fully feathered. Also the pictures are of 6 month old pullet and a 6 month old cockerel. It's almost always best to buy 2 or 3 month old pullets. That way you can sex them and you can see that they are still young and have many years in front of them for laying.
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My rooster.
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One of my pullets.
 
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Your chickens look healthy and beautiful thanks for the advise now i can see the difference, i would've fall in the rooster for hens trick, i really appreciate your advise!
 
Thank you guys for the advise, there are many things that i havent eve think of, im glad i fot you guys advise it will help me avoid big mistakes
 

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