Chicks or Pullets?

[Knittycat]

So I'm new to the chicken thing. My coop and run will likely be done by Wednesday, and I was wondering on the merits of buying chicks over pullets. I've never butchered a chicken, but I have done a hog and some deer, so I'm not squeamish if I get roosters and need to send them to freezer camp. So folks, Chicks? Pullets? Gimme your pros and cons!

 

[CowgirlPenny]

My first chickens were two pullets. They had very little socialization and were deathly afraid of us. Wild as could be. We've managed to tame them somewhat but they still aren't going to hop in your lap or anything.

This time we went with chicks. Already becoming really familiar with people, curious and don't mind being held.

If you want to be able to pet/hold/interact with them, get them as chicks. If you don't care how they were raised and have no desire to touch them...get them as pullets.

 

[Momagain1]

I thought baby chickens were chicks...pullets are female chicks...please someone correct me if I'm wrong..

 

[Knittycat]

Pullets, at least around here, are about 6 weeks old and already sexed as female. So female chicks are pullets, but if I buy a pullet at the feed store, it won't be a new hatched baby chick.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

A pullet is a young female hen, I think its technically what you refer to them before they are an actual Hen. I always consider a pullet a juvenile...not a baby.

 

[wsdareme]

Quote:
X 2. Somewhere on this site I read that "pullets" become "hens" when they reach 1 year of age.

 

[AZBootsie]

Day old chicks incredibly fun!! So, if you have the time and energy I think it is the best way to go. But, constantly cleaning the brooder and water dishes take time. Chick dust and chick litter wind up everywhere. And you will probably loose a few nights of sleep worrying when they move out of the brooder and into the coop.

Either choice you make is going to work out fine....so just pick your poison

Oh, Oh, Oh ....Even better yet!! get an incubator and hatch your own. I just hatched my first a couple of days ago and it was amazing!!

 

[Knittycat]

Oh, Oh, Oh ....Even better yet!! get an incubator and hatch your own. I just hatched my first a couple of days ago and it was amazing!!

Goodness knows I want to! I'm looking at the brinsea mini advance for hatching, but I don't think I could get away with it. My Mr. doesn't have his store open yet (army navy surplus), our rent house is empty, and I still haven't found a job. No $$ for the incubator! That's why the coop is being made from scrap lumber left over from our remodel. We aren't destitute! I get an anuity, but it's not enough to go spending 150 bucks on an incubator.

EDIT: Wahoo! I'm just hatched!!

What a perfect post to 'hatch' on

 

[Knittycat]

Uh-oh. I think that next year the question will be moot as I've discovered a hatchery not three hours from me. And it specializes in rare breeds I think my Mr. is in for a surprise next spring.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

A huge advantage to getting chicks is that the probability of disease is much lower.

"My chicken has a cold" is a DISEASE, not a cold.