When to add chickens: Pullets in the fall or chicks in the spring?

[Dreammaker]

OK - first, ignore any confidence you may infer from my typing. I am NOT a breed expert.

Australorps and Buff Orps are both good winter weather weather choices. Large birds, the Buff Orps being larger, with moderately early maturity Start of lay is probably in the 22-26 week range.. Buff Orps tend to lay more, larger, and paler eggs than the Australorps - but if you want eggs more brown than creamy tan, the Australorp would be the better choice. Looking at eggs in the 3 days out of 5 range +/- from either breed. I don't have either myself, but they are both very popular. Full grown, you are looking at birds in the 6.5-7.5# range, most likely, with the Buff Orp favoring the heavier side.

Golden Comets, I do have. These are hybrid birds "built" for egg laying. Mine pop out a large, brown, egg almost every single day, and they start doing it early. Mine began at 17 weeks, though there are reliable reports of laying beginning at 15 weeks (or of course, "late starts" in the 19 week range. They are relatively small birds for the size of the egg they pop out, and are known for having high incidence of reproductive problems in later years (3+) and relatively short lifespans. Commercially, they often aren't kept as layers beyond about a year and a half. I brought mine on 14 months ago, they've been steady layers, moderately "low key/middle of the road" type birds, and are starting to look like a little ragged (molt in a few months). Undecided if I will keep them, likely not. They were less than 4# when they started laying, a couple of mine are unusually heavy at 5# and an ounce or two now. 4.5# is about the average hen.

I also have Silver Laced. Honestly, I think the gold are more attractive, but I do love mine. Energetic birds, excellent escape artists, predator aware. Grew fast, mine were outside full time at 6 weeks (Sept 29th) and could have gone out sooner, but like the Comets, they have stayed relatively small birds. Mine started laying around 19 or 20 weeks - late December, in spite of the shortness of the days. I'd have to check the calendar, medium eggs, pale cream, with a pinkish tint under certain light. I've not weighed any recently, but I'd "guesstimate" somewhere around 5#. Again, they lay about 3 days out of 5.

I have no experience with either the Barred Rocks or the Sussex, and recall only that they are relatively large birds which should be well suited to your climate, and of course the Barred Rock is half the genetics in a large number of commercially useful hybrid breeds - they are just generally good birds.

Great info. Thanks for sharing your experiences with these breeds.

 

[NatJ]

You could go either way.

I would finish the coop and run before making a final decision. If you get it done much earlier than you expect, or much later, it might affect your decision.

Personally, I've always started with baby chicks. There are more breed choices that way, they grow up knowing me, and I avoid many kinds of diseases and parasites.

If you have the coop built first, and no other chickens yet, you can brood the chicks right in the coop. That avoids all the messiness of chicks in the house, and there is no question of when to move them out to the coop!

I have found baby chicks fairly easy to raise. They need plenty of space, shelter from predators & bad weather, a warm spot and plenty of cool space, dry bedding, chick starter & water. Your coop with a heat lamp in one corner will probably work just fine. Be careful how you secure the heat lamp, check with a thermometer to be sure it's the right temperature, then order the chicks or head for the nearest store that sells them.

Having said that, I will admit: chicks from the store may be mis-labeled, so you do not get the breed or sex you want. Even chicks ordered directly from the hatchery may have some percent mis-sexed, and they may send substitute breeds if they don't hatch enough of the ones you want. If you buy pullets, they can be old enough to recognize breed and gender, so you can be more sure of getting what you are trying to buy. So I can see good reasons why you might choose pullets instead of baby chicks.

 

[Dreammaker]

You could go either way.

I would finish the coop and run before making a final decision. If you get it done much earlier than you expect, or much later, it might affect your decision.

Personally, I've always started with baby chicks. There are more breed choices that way, they grow up knowing me, and I avoid many kinds of diseases and parasites.

If you have the coop built first, and no other chickens yet, you can brood the chicks right in the coop. That avoids all the messiness of chicks in the house, and there is no question of when to move them out to the coop!

I have found baby chicks fairly easy to raise. They need plenty of space, shelter from predators & bad weather, a warm spot and plenty of cool space, dry bedding, chick starter & water. Your coop with a heat lamp in one corner will probably work just fine. Be careful how you secure the heat lamp, check with a thermometer to be sure it's the right temperature, then order the chicks or head for the nearest store that sells them.

Having said that, I will admit: chicks from the store may be mis-labeled, so you do not get the breed or sex you want. Even chicks ordered directly from the hatchery may have some percent mis-sexed, and they may send substitute breeds if they don't hatch enough of the ones you want. If you buy pullets, they can be old enough to recognize breed and gender, so you can be more sure of getting what you are trying to buy. So I can see good reasons why you might choose pullets instead of baby chicks.

Thanks for your input! I totally agree about needing to get the coop built first. That will help drive our decision. Valid points about chicks vs pullets... We'll see how far we get in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Here's our progress. Pardon the kids' toys We have the coop set on a foundation of concrete pavers and compacted dirt, used pressure treated lumber for the base, and added a predator apron that extends about 2' out all around. It's now buried in a couple inches of loam so we can eventually put grass seed down in the fall. Next up: roof rafters and roof (corrugated metal). Those branches will be trimmed back to make room for it. Long way to go, but we're so excited to make this dream come true!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Shaping up nicely. The birds will tear up that compacted dirt. No fault with your predator skirting though. 2' should deter any diggers. Are you doing a flat roof, or adding a pitch to it? and where do you plan to locate your ventilation???

(also, fully agree on the metal roofing - excellent choice)

 

[aart]

Here's our progress.

Looks and sounds pretty good!
Is that picket fence on the property line?
Doesn't look like you have much room to get between picket fence and run wall.

 

[Pullet Press]

Hello!

First time poster here. My husband and I are from MA and are about to embark on our chicken-keeping journey. He is constructing a beautiful coop modeled after Carolina Coops. The coop is 6x5 and the attached run is 6x16 (which includes the portion that's under the coop, which is raised about 2' up). We are planning to have somewhere in the range of 6-8 birds (standard size). The coop and run should be ready to go probably in September, maybe October at the latest? This brings me to our dilemma...

Should we go with started pullets in the fall or wait until spring and raise baby chicks? I have 3 small kids, so TBH, I'm a little intimidated about the prospect of raising chicks. It seems like a lot of work. I am also really excited and impatient and want birds and eggs ASAP. I originally planned on pullets and if, down the road, we are doing great with chickens, attempt raising chicks. Again, we are in MA, so I am wondering if pullets would be able to adjust to the cold if we got them in September/October. I am assuming the pullets would be around 16-20 weeks. Really just depends on where I purchase them (online hatchery? local farm/breeder?). Of course, we'd choose cold-hardy breeds bred to handle our climate.

Thank you!

Welcome to BYC!
I think that (now this is just my opinion) you could decide to (if they are still available) raise them in July-August time, giving them enough brooding time, but also letting y'all finish the coop beforehand. Maybe raise them in late June even so that they have time to fully feather out, I don't know.
Good luck on your endeavor! Your kids will probably love the birds!
By the way, when I started chicken-keeping, I got chicks instead of pullets and they (all but one) survived. The one that died was a sickly one (I get at least one in most of my batches).

 

[Ted_Harrell]

If you know it is going to be cold in a couple of months you might want to start as soon as the coop is done so they will be already laying eggs by early spring, good luck in whatever you decide...

 

[Dreammaker]

Shaping up nicely. The birds will tear up that compacted dirt. No fault with your predator skirting though. 2' should deter any diggers. Are you doing a flat roof, or adding a pitch to it? and where do you plan to locate your ventilation???

(also, fully agree on the metal roofing - excellent choice)

Thanks! We figured the compacted dirt would be messed up. It was really just to give a nice flat base. It's on a sloped area, but the coop and run will be nice and level. We're doing a pitched roof (7/12 pitch). I have no idea what that means; my handyman-type husband determined that.

For ventilation... 2 windows above the nesting box, same on the opposite wall. One smaller one above the door to the coop that leads into the run. On the "back wall," facing the tarps, we will model after Carolina Coops: 2 large window/doors that open up above a drop-down door to make cleaning up easy. Lastly, a cupola with ventilation on all sides. All windows will have hardware cloth and, like Carolina Coops, will have plexiglass inserts that can be propped open or removed, depending on weather.

Looks and sounds pretty good!
Is that picket fence on the property line?
Doesn't look like you have much room to get between picket fence and run wall.

Thank you! No, our property extends about 20' past that. We had the same thought initially. Past the fence, it's a sloped, densely wooded area covered in poison ivy, so we just put the fence there to keep our kids out and dress the yard up a bit. There's about 3' of space between the coop and fence. We figured we wouldn't need to access that side too much, anyway. We'll be putting the door to the run on the same side as the nesting boxes.

 

[Dreammaker]

If you know it is going to be cold in a couple of months you might want to start as soon as the coop is done so they will be already laying eggs by early spring, good luck in whatever you decide...

That's our hope! Don't want to rush the process though.

 

[3KillerBs]

For ventilation... 2 windows above the nesting box, same on the opposite wall. One smaller one above the door to the coop that leads into the run. On the "back wall," facing the tarps, we will model after Carolina Coops: 2 large window/doors that open up above a drop-down door to make cleaning up easy. Lastly, a cupola with ventilation on all sides.

This looks well-thought out. Just make sure it adds up to at least 1 square foot of ventilation per bird that will never be closed because ventilation is just as critical in the winter as in the summer.

A functional cupola is a rare thing that ought to be used more often. Cupolas, clearstories, and monitors are, IMO, the ideal ventilation. Especially with generous roof overhangs so that the rain never blows in and snow never blocks them.