Should I Buy Chicks Or Pullets?

[raymondjames]

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[wbruder17]

X7. I like to raise them from as young as possiible. Then you can acclimate them to you and raise them how you want. Chickens will be friendlier as aduults if you have them longer...but then, you have to wait 6 months for eggs. I hatch my own chicks and hand raise them, then sell them as pulllets, ready to lay...and I handle them every day. So iif you opt for pullets, make sure they are well socialized and mite free.

 

[bustermommy]

If you get pullets, you should quarantine for a month. If you get them all from one place, that's not so bad, but if you get them from multiple places or at different times, that's a quarantine pen per purchase. Kind of a drag.

 

[turtlebird]

Going into winter, I would opt for pullets. I think hatcheries sell started pullets and then you don't have to wait for eggs. You will eventually have to renew your flock, you can get chicks then, or better yet, skip the raising chicks thing and let one of your ladies go broody and do all the work for you. If there is anything I dislike about raising chicks, it's futzing with the heat lamp, especially when the outside temp is fluctuating.
Whatever you do, keep flock renewal in mind when designing your coop. It is nice to have extra space for new chicks, broody hens, injured hens, and those naughty roosters! Have fun!

 

[videoman77365]

I was wondering the same thing . I can get either at my feed store. My question is if I order chicks all I want are hens not a rooster.
when can they tell the difference. I would rather rase the chicks so my daughter can watch them grow but can they tell a rooster from a hen at that age?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I was wondering the same thing . I can get either at my feed store. My question is if I order chicks all I want are hens not a rooster.
when can they tell the difference. I would rather rase the chicks so my daughter can watch them grow but can they tell a rooster from a hen at that age?

Hi and welcome to BYC.

Hatcheries (where most feed stores source their birds) sell "sexed day old chicks" which are chicks who have had their vent inspected and determined to be female, but there is a 5-10% "error rate" on this depending on the person doing the inspection - so even purchasing sexed day olds and ordering all female you do have a chance of receiving an oops male or two. For absolutely certainty, ordering "sex links" is a good way to go (they come in Red and Black but are often sold as golden comets, cinnamon queens, ISA browns, red stars, black stars, etc - if you read the description you can find some key words noting they are sex links) - these are the result of specific genetic crosses that yield chicks that hatch with color/pattern differences that differentiate between male and female birds.
Getting an oops rooster is not the end of the world, there are plenty of options for dealing with it - but it seems it is always the one you get the most attached to that turns out to be a roo - so that is something to keep in mind and be sure that you/your kiddo are prepared to deal with if it comes to that.
Started pullets can be a great way to go as they are at the age where their gender pretty darn certain and they are closer to the point of lay which means less time spent waiting for them to mature and begin producing eggs.

 

[videoman77365]

Thanks for the info this want be until next year. I haven't convenced my wife there want be a baby chick in the egg when she cracks it open. Hence know Rooster no babies.