[b]Glossery of Terms[/b]

[newbiecaroline]

Could someone start a glossery for us newbies...pullet is confusing....thought it was a chicken ready to start laying eggs.
Thanks!

 

[newbiecaroline]

and how to make a heading big and bold? lol

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Pullet is a female chicken under 1 year.

Try putting your words between the 's. I don't think it will work for headings though.

 

[hooligan]

Quote:
Here ya go: http://backyardchickens.com/LC-glossary.html

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
...once a pullet starts laying it is no longer a pullet.

Here is a great glossary:
http://www.poultryhelp.com/glossary.html

 

[MissPrissy]

Many 'young hens' are refered to as pullets for ages under one year and some breeders use the term up until their first molt.

Here in the US the general concensus is under 1 year a pullet even if she is laying and over one year a hen. Which goes hand in hand with a cockeral being a male under one year and once he is one year and older he is thus a rooster.

Online Etymology Dictionary
pullet

1362, "young fowl," from Anglo-Fr. pullet, O.Fr. poulette, dim. of poule "hen," from V.L. *pulla, fem. of L. pullus "young animal, young fowl." Technically, a young hen from the time she begins to lay until the first molt.

American Heritage Dictionary
pul·let
n. A young domestic hen, usually one that is less than one year old.

[Middle English pulet, from Old French polet, diminutive of poul, cock, and poule, hen, both from Latin pullus, young fowl, young animal, chicken; see pau-1 in Indo-European roots.]​

 

[Churkenduse]

Many 'young hens' are refered to as pullets for ages under one year and some breeders use the term up until their first molt.

Thanks MissPrissy, that's my story and I am stickin to it.
Who can keep track of all that other stuff. I uses the up to a year thingy.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I was using the industry definition (as I figure most want to know if a bird is laying or not and often use the word "pullet" to describe a juvenile bird which is not yet laying) however both usages are correct see here:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS051
Univ. of Florida
"...A young chicken is called a chick. A male chicken is a cock or a cockerel, depending on its age. Similarly, a female chicken is called a pullet or a hen. The age at which a pullet becomes a hen and a cockerel becomes a cock depends on what type of chicken is being raised. Purebred poultry producers have very age-specific definitions. A chicken is a cockerel or pullet if it is less than one year of age. After one year of age, the chicken is referred to as a hen or cock. In the commercial industry a female chicken is called a hen after it begins egg production (around five months of age). A sexually mature male chicken (again, around five months of age) is referred to as a rooster. A capon is a castrated male chicken...."

 

[newbiecaroline]

Ok now I see why I was getting confused reading "pullet" in all the posts around here.....the best I could figure it had to do with laying ....
so a pullet is not a year old yet and may or may not be laying depending on who's posting....that's ok now.
Thanks everyone!
(some posts I was starting to think it had to do with certain breeds only!) so had to ask

 

[eggzettera]

Cultural difference who would have thought.....welcome Caroline, I grew up in Raymond....so I will not be making cracks aboat how to say about......oops just did

why do mercians think we all talk like that? I have learned to say huh instead of eh, so now that I know the lingo I don't stick out so much....