The problem with buying poultry is you often can’t tell how old a bird is unless it’s young. If you buy a lamb, a kid or a calf, it’s fairly easy to tell from its size, and in older livestock you can check their teeth up until the age of 4-5 years. Once a bird is laying and physically mature, then a one year old hen and a five year old hen of the same breed may look exactly the same, and there are no teeth to check! You will be relying on the breeder to be straight up with you, and that’s why recommendations from other people are so important, as is meeting the breeder and checking them out. It is also why we recommend you buy chicks or pullets if you are a beginner so that way you know the bird is aged at most under one year, and you will be getting the best years of its production and fertility.
The term “pullet” is used to describe a feathered bird aged from 6-8 weeks and not laying, right through to one year old and laying. Pullets may look full grown but can have combs and wattles that are smaller than those of older birds, and will tend to lay eggs that are slightly smaller too. There may be perfectly good reasons to buy an older bird, especially when bloodlines of a certain breed are hard to find, but if you just want eggs then young is best, and most easily proven
Abubakar MD CEO FARMINCOM NIG LTD Facebook page farmincom Agricnote What's app farmincom Agricnote +2348057338919