My pullets I think are really small for their age, what can I do?

[crazy4daisy]

Okay, I made the mistake of not being able to butcher my roosters until they were 18 weeks old. Keeping the roosters and pullets together for so long (of course) caused my pullets to not grow as big as they should (or so I think).

I was reading the headless chicken post and she said her chickens were 10 weeks old. I was like "WOW!" because her chickens look two times bigger than mine.

So my question is...since I can't change the past, will my pullets catch up on their growth? Or because of my earlier mistake, will they always be small?

 

[Rooster01]

I don't really see how not butchering roosters will stunt the growth of pullets. Where did you read that at?

 

[crazy4daisy]

I read that keeping too many roosters too long with the pullets will keep them small because they're always running away from the roosters.

 

[Rooster01]

Quote:
I think thats false. My hens grow to the same size with or with-out the rooster. Unless he just runs them 12 hours a day, they might be a little thinner, but even then they would eat more feed to replace the calories. I'm sure having a rooster in with them won't stunt them in any way.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, it might just be your breed of bird, but keeping them with a pile of young roosters won't affect growth unless they are not letting them eat which I doubt is a problem. I've had multiple breeds grow together and some were easill twice the size and weight of the others by about 10 weeks. A little standard sized leghorn will never grow as fast or become as large as lets say a cochin or orpington.

 

[crazy4daisy]

Well, I have 1 orpington pullet, 1 plymouth rock pullet, and 2 ameracuana pullets. My rooster is a orpington.

I had 7 roosters in with the pullets until 18 weeks old, and, like I said above, I butchered them at 18 weeks. But the thing that I read said that when your roosters are constantly chasing the pullets around (which was pretty much the case), neither of the sexes grow good, so you need to seperate them at about 9 or 10 weeks.

 

[Rooster01]

Even though 7 roosters to 4 hens is excessive, I still don't think it would stunt their growth. I would think with 7 roosters and only 4 hens, the roosters would fight so much that the hens could have time to eat, rest, etc.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

What are you feeding them?? At around 7-8 weeks I switch to grower mash/or pellets. Then at 20 weeks I switch to layer pellets. I agree with Rooster and Silkiechicken, keeping cockerels with pullets shouldn't effect their growth rate. They would eat more to make up the calories lost. Most of their growth happens in the first 10 weeks or so and at that age cockerels don't bother pullets as much as they do say when they are about 15-20 weeks, anyway.

 

[crazy4daisy]

Right now they are 19 weeks and they are on 16% all purpose because our feed store dosen't have grower.

 

[Julie in Al]

I always keep my roos and pullets together when growing off with no problem in growth. Feed could be the problem. I usually feed my 18% protein starter/grower until they are 20 weeks then switch to 16% protein layer crumble. You can also use half starter and half gamebird starter for the first two weeks if you want. I couldn't tell much difference.