Spring is here, and you know what that means? Warm weather, gardening, and chicks! For many first-time and seasoned chicken owners, spring is the season to expand their flocks.
This article covers best practices for raising healthy, hardy pullets and cockerels. I’ll explain the differences between raising small and large flocks, what your pullets will need, and much more.
Growing Pullets and Cockerels
The grow-out stage begins when chicks start to look like miniature adults and continues until they reach maturity. Chicks in this stage are typically 6 to 18 weeks old. During this time, it's recommended to feed them grower feed. Once they reach 16 to 18 weeks, you can transition them to layer feed.
Adult chickens consume about half a pound of feed per day. If you're raising five chicks to laying age, expect to go through approximately 70 lbs of feed. This includes 30 lbs of starter feed in the first six weeks and 40 lbs of grower feed before they lay their first egg.
Providing a high-quality diet during the grow-out stage is critical. Poor nutrition can lead to stunted growth, low vigor, and poor laying performance later on.
What Affects Poultry Health?
The three biggest factors that impact poultry health are genetics, diet, and husbandry.
Genetics
Start with the best stock available. I recommend buying birds from a reputable farm store, online hatchery, breeder, or experienced local chicken owner.
Many people buy extra chicks expecting to lose a few. But if your chicks come from a quality hatchery, mortality rates should be below 10 percent. So if you want a flock of six chickens, don’t buy nine, assuming you’ll lose some.
Poor husbandry often causes increased mortality. For example, I worked with a client who bought seven chickens from a chicken broker. One was a runt that failed to thrive, and three others died from Marek’s disease. By the end of the year, she was ready to quit raising chickens altogether.
Nutrition
Feed your chickens the highest quality diet you can afford. It doesn’t have to be organic, vegetarian, or GMO-free. It just needs to be balanced with multiple grains, essential vitamins, minerals, and calcium.
Avoid feeding goat feed to chickens or trying to mix your own feed unless you're experienced. Unmilled feed can lead chickens to pick out only what they like, which causes nutritional deficiencies.
Use a fully formulated chicken feed that meets all their nutritional needs. And don’t forget to treat them occasionally with healthy snacks. Hatching Time offers a great selection.
Husbandry
Your management style directly affects your chickens' well-being. Overcrowding can lead to problems like feather picking, toe pecking, and aggression. Follow proper space requirements.
The best way to understand your flock is to observe them. Spend time with your chickens daily so you can spot anything unusual early on. Recognizing changes in behavior can help you address issues before they escalate.
Choosing Healthy Pullets
When purchasing pullets, it is important to know what a pullet is and how to identify one. Once chickens reach 2 years of age, it becomes nearly impossible to determine their age without knowing the approximate hatch date of the bird(s) in question. By this age, all chicken breeds have reached full maturity. If you place a 3-year-old hen with a flock of 6-month-old pullets, you will have a very hard time identifying the older bird. A pullet is any female chicken under 1 year of age. Identifying pullets also depends on the bird’s age and varies by breed. Please refer to the blog on sexing chickens to ensure you are purchasing pullets and not older spent hens. Point-of-lay pullets are about 4–5 months old, and even if they have just started laying, their combs will not be big and floppy.
Inspect the birds in a well-lit area before making a payment or leaving. Make sure the birds have bright eyes, healthy feather condition, good weight, no bumblefoot on the pads, and show no signs of illness or disease. Select birds that appear alert, active, and are eating and drinking. If you see dead birds or birds showing signs of illness or disease in the pens, leave without buying anything! Sanitize your shoes and car wheels as soon as possible. Don't forget to bring your transport coops when picking up pullets.
Transitioning from Brooder to Coop
If you are integrating new birds 14 weeks or older into an existing flock, it’s best to place them onto the roosts after dark. For birds 14 weeks or younger, it’s more effective to introduce them in a coop or pen next to the main coop. This setup allows both groups to get used to each other. Once the new birds reach 14–16 weeks of age, integration should go smoothly.
Integration
Integrating chickens into an already established flock needs to be done with intention. If your current flock is already 6 months old, do not integrate the new birds until they are 16 weeks old. You can start the integration process by sectioning off part of the run or using a large dog crate to house the new birds within the current coop. This is the "look but do not touch" method, where both groups of birds can see each other but cannot physically interact. This method keeps the younger birds from being attacked or bullied by the established flock. New chickens should be introduced to the existing flock this way. The new birds should be kept like this for 2–4 weeks. During this time, both groups will become accustomed to seeing each other. Once the new birds are released into the main flock, there will be some squabbling as the pecking order is reestablished.
When introducing older hens to a younger flock or birds of the same age, the same approach should be followed. Be careful when adding older hens to younger flocks, as they will most likely become the top chickens in the flock. Visual barriers and places to retreat should be provided if either of the groups has a rooster. Roosters can be especially amorous with younger pullets, and it is important they have places to escape his advances. Young roosters can also harass older hens. Do not be surprised if an older hen rebuffs a cockerel's advances by beating him up. It does happen, and I have had many older hens beat up young cockerels because they were not interested in their advances.
Notice the body posture of the black hen on the left. Her neck is fully extended, her hackles are puffed up, her wings are angled downward, and her tail is fanned. She is telling the red cockerel that he is too close to her. Notice how the red cockerel's posture is more relaxed and timid. Shortly after this picture was taken, the red cockerel moved away from the black hen.
Please note that chicks under 12 weeks of age can be mixed with chickens of the same age without an integration period. For example, a group of 6-week-old chicks can be added to a group of 6-week-old chicks.
The number of birds you’re raising, your needs, and your property layout will determine the best coop setup for you. Luckily, Hatching Time offers four chicken coop collections to choose from!
- The Smart Coop Collection is ideal for raising 3–5 pullets, depending on size. It features 24/7 AI security and cameras to constantly monitor your flock.
- The Nestera Coop Collection works well for raising 4–6 pullets, depending on size. Nestera Coops are durable, weatherproof, and movable.
- The Formex Coop Collection suits raising 6–12 pullets, depending on size. Formex Coops are power-washable, come with snap locks to keep your flock safe, and are easy to assemble.
- The OverEZ Collection is perfect for raising 10–40 pullets, depending on bird size and the model. OverEZ Coops are spacious, durable, made from high-quality materials, and offer large capacity.
Written by:
Aryeh Wiesel
