Start Up Help For A Newbie

I would say it depends on how long you're willing to wait and what you're using them for.
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My boyfriend and I started out with 5 week old pullets and picked up week old pullets a week or so later.
 
I think it's entirely preference. I got day-old chicks mostly because I wanted the fun of raising a bunch of cute fluffy babies. It probably would've been cheaper to get older pullets, though.
 
If you just want them for eggs, older pullets are the way to go. If you want a strong bond with them and the potential for pets then get them as two day olds. When I got my second flock they were three weeks old and I can still tell a difference in closeness between the ones I raised from the beginning and the ones I got later.
 
I started out with older hens because they were free and I didn't know any better. Now, I hatch my own. Way I look at it, Chicks are about $2.50 each, then feed them for 20 weeks or so til they produce. Pullets not yet laying run about $10.00-$15.00 each, but no feed cost. Incubator used, about $50.00 and you can hatch as many as you want and even sell some. It's all preference. There is no right or wrong answer to this question IMHO.

Good Luck,
Shawn
 
We personally started with 10 week olds, we had 6 pullets and 4 roosters. We lost some to different things along the way and still have 5 of the original 10. I liked starting with older chicks because they didn't need a brooder but were young enough that we could bond with them. Then we added to the flock with older birds. Now we are starting to have our own eggs hatched (we don't have an incubator yet) and raising our own chicks. I like it but not sure how well it would have turned out if we had started with baby chicks since they are so much work those first month or so.

If you have time and aren't needing the eggs right away I would say get some chicks that are 5-7 weeks old. Or if you want to brood them get day olds. They are pretty cheap but like someone else said you can buy pullets almost ready to start laying for $10-$15 and not have the cost of feeding chicks or keeping the brooders going.
 
This really depends on what you want to do. I have always raised them as chicks, because I enjoy raising them (as other people have said also). If you wanted the experience of raising chicks, then get them young. if you just want them to start laying soon, get them older. This all really depends on you.
 

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