started pullets

[DLS]

I am looking on replacing some of my old gals. I sell eggs & have loyal customers. so I must keep the eggs flowing. HAS anyone bought "STARTED PULLETS"? I am hoping to fence off part of the hen house with chicken wire untill the older hens get used to the new ones ? will this work? ALSO, how good do these started hens do?

 

[fordmommy]

I was told that that means they are either near laying or just started. That's how I have gotten all my pullets so far. Never a problem.

 

[RM44]

I purchased 2 & 3 month olds from a fellow in North GA last year and they started laying at 7 months old. They were perfect hens; lovely in color, egg production, personality, etc. Unfortunately I got 2 roosters out of the bunch, so I traded them. The original fellow wasn't breeding more chickens at the time, so I used a different fellow to trade the 2 roosters out for 2 8 month old hens. The 2 new hens were infected carriers of disease, and bringing them to my flock caused an infection in the entire flock and I had to put all mine down.

Needless to say, I'm a little gunshy now, so this time around I ordered mine from baby chicks and am hoping I can live up to my desire to have a closed flock this time (no new guys), just to prevent bringing in diseased chickens.

I do know folks (and have read of plenty of folks here) who aquire new chickens and add to their flock with no problems though.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[JimWWhite]

We bought 19 Gold Comet (Red Sex Links/Cinnimon Queen/Red Star) started pullets from Shooks Poultry in Claremont, NC last year. We bought them in three groups starting in April of 6, 6, and 7. The last 7 came around Labor Day. All of them started laying right at 22 weeks. Since early November we've gotten between 16 and 19 eggs each and every day without fail, even through that wintery blast we had right after Christmas. The GC's are fantastic layers. Since Jan 1st we started keeping a daily log and we've gotten 519 big brown eggs since then. And when I say big brown I mean extra large to jumbo size eggs. They are also a very people friendly chicken and are hardy. I'd go on and on but if you ask anyone who has them you'll get the same earful. They're great chickens and great layers! If you want eggs, get yourself some Gold Comets!