Buying Chickens | Forum

I am new to keeping chickens and would like to know what age chicken should i look to buy?

Chicks require specialist care so when you are first starting out with chickens it is essential to begin with an adult chicken. The usual age for purchasing your chickens is known as the point of lay.  The point of lay is when a chicken is at the point of laying her first eggs.  Different types of chickens will be at different ages for their point of lay. Most reputable layers should be able to honestly predict when the chicken will begin to lay by using their past experience with the breed. It is important to feed the chickens at point of lay a balanced ration to allow them to come into lay.

Chicken farmers often only keep their hens for the first year as chickens are at their most productive for laying eggs at this age. Chickens however do continue laying eggs beyond this age for may years.

It is possible to buy hens directly from the farm or from battery hen rescue organisations. Battery hens will have been vaccinated in their farms but may be physically challenged due to their housing within the farms.

There is a huge range of pure breed chicken, each offering slightly different behaviours and appearance.

Pure breeds are often classified into the following categories:

●High performance egg layers

●Coloured egg layers

●Fancy Fowls & Bantams