A Couple of Startling Events in the Pullet Tractor

In late August in what my wife would tell you was the WORST possible time, we added to the number of our egg-layers by ordering 30 day-old chicks from Ideal Poultry.  They came in the mail and we put them in the chicken tractor outside.  A week later we were pummeled by the first of two hurricanes.  We pushed the chicken tractor in the garage, and they weathered the storm beautifully.  If it had been cold outside at that time, we would have lost all of them as we lost power for weeks.  With no heat lamp, they would have died.

The birds thrived despite our hardship.  They stunk up the garage in spectacular fashion.  We moved them outside and over the resulting weeks they have grown and grown.  They are pushed to fresh grass almost daily.  We have three types of pullets - Rhode Island Reds - they are the most prolific brown-egg layers.  Next, we have Barred Rocks - another productive brown-egg layer.  Finally, we have Easter-Eggers.  These are a breed that lay blue, green, and pink eggs.  According to publications, these pullets begin laying eggs between weeks 18 - 24.  Well, Saturday we found a green egg and again today.  The first eggs that pullets lay are small.  They are 'working the kinks out.'  But it won't take long until the rest are laying and the sizes will get normal.  The photo below shows the two Easter Egger green eggs.  I placed an adult laying hen's brown egg beside them for comparative purposes to show the size.

The photo below shows the different breeds a little better.  The dark gray and white (salt and pepper) bird you see in the foreground is the Barred Rock.  The reddish brown bird is the Rhode Island Red.  The other oddly colored (but beautiful) birds are the Easter Eggers.  Do you notice something strange about one of the "pullets" in the photo below?

In the event you didn't pick it out, they aren't all pullets - one is a cockrel!  Can you see him below?  He is the one in the far right corner with the big, beautiful comb.  His size was the first giveaway, but then he began crowing!  Hens don't crow.

Someone at the chicken hatchery made an honest mistake.  You can order a 'straight run' which means as-hatched.  They'll generally be 50-50 hens and roosters.  You can pay a little more and get pullets, which is what we did.  The chick sexers separate the day old hens from roosters.  There is a science to it.  I am not 100% sure how they do it, but they are usually perfect - Except for this time!  One rooster slipped through.  That's okay.  We actually need another rooster on the flock.

Checking in on the Pullets

 A pullet is a young (hen) female chicken.  I recently ordered 30 pullets of three different varieties to replenish our flock that was declining due to old-age and predation.  In the past, each year I would add 25 pullets to the flock, but our flock grew to over 100 birds.  We want to keep the number somewhere around 50 birds, so over the past 3 or 4 years we've not added to the number.

This year we decided to bring some "new blood" in.  From Ideal Poultry in Cameron, Texas, I ordered 10 Barred Rocks and 10 Rhode Island Reds.  Those are both brown egg layers.  I also ordered 10 Easter Eggers.  Those lay green, blue and pink eggs.  I paid $2.15 per chick.  They are shipped at one day old and we receive them via USPS.  Tricia will get a call from the Post Office telling her that she has a package and that "It's alive!"

Here are the birds 3 weeks later.  They have certainly grown.  They are currently in chicken tractor, but eventually, they'll be set free to roam on 3 acres of grass where they'll be able to eat insects, clover, and worms.  They'll be happy.  In return, they'll lay healthy eggs that we'll enjoy.  I can still remember the excitement our kids had many years ago when we first got in the chicken business when our chickens laid the first egg!

The pullets are healthy and wild!  I chased this one around the pen until I caught it.  This was really my first interaction with the little birds.  Tricia has nurtured these babies with not much help from me due to the hurricane work schedule.  (Believe me, I've caught an earful from my dear wife because of this!)

There was a little trouble with the 30 pullets.  Upon opening the box, 9 of the 30 baby chicks were dead.  We attribute it to the heat during shipping.  It happens, and it is expected.  The hatchery guarantees live shipment.  Normally, they'll throw a few extra chicks in the box to make up for any fatalities, but not this time.  I contacted the hatchery and let them know about the dead chicks.  

They asked if I wanted money back or 9 new chicks mailed.   I opted for the latter.  The chicks were supposed to ship out a day or two after the hurricane and we had no power.  I emailed the hatchery and asked if they could delay re-shipment for a couple of weeks, and they obliged.  We received the next shipment of 9 replacement pullets a couple of days after the power came back on.

So now we have babies at two different stages of growth.  We have the tiny babies in a brooder within the larger brooder, as we had a concern about the older chicks bullying the younger.  The older chicks can fly up to the top of the brooder and plop down with the babies.  They don't really bother them.

As they continue to grow, we'll watch the calendar.  They'll begin laying somewhere between 16-24 weeks and will lay around 280 eggs per year.  That'll be enough to keep our egg collecting basket full again.

Adding to the Flock

Our flock is getting OLD.  Chickens, on average, will live about 8 years.  We've had chickens for many years now.  In the past, each year I would purchase 25 pullets (baby females) to replace any that had died the previous year to old age, predator, or accident.  At one point we counted them all and had around 110 chickens.  That's really too many for us.  In order to reduce the size of our flock, we just didn't replace them.  It has been maybe four years ago since we've ordered pullets and raised them.

Our flock is down to 55-60 laying hens now, primarily due to predators (possums, hawks, owls, and minks), but old age, too.  I decided it was time to add to the flock.  My bride was not pleased with my decision!  Since we've dried off the cows, she has enjoyed the carefree days that allow for weekends away, trips, etc.  Chickens aren't as demanding and labor-intensive as milk cows.  I assured her that these babies would (pretty much) take care of themselves. 

Our day old chicks arrived in the mail on Thursday.  They come via USPS and Tricia got a call from the Post Office to go pick them up.  I ordered 30 pullets.  When Tricia opened the lid, she found that 9 of them had died in transit.  It was not a nice sight to behold.  The remaining 21 pullets were feasting on their dead sisters.  We attribute the deaths to the heat in shipping.  The poultry company will make them good, so I am working with them to re-ship 9 live chicks to make up for the deceased ones.

Tricia has them all set up in the brooder with a heat lamp, feeders and waterers.  The other birds, except for one, seem to be perfect.  One of them acts strangely, almost as if it has a neurological problem.

The baby birds are very happy, running around, eating, drinking, pooping and doing what chicks do.  We watched them tonight running around the brooder and jumping up with their little plump bodies to eat mosquitoes that they catch mid-flight as they come into contact with the sides of the brooder.

The chicks were $2.15 a piece.  I purchased all pullets, because we want all females to lay eggs.  We currently have three distinct breeds, so I ordered 10 of each.  The first one, shown below, is the Barred Rock.  This hen, in adulthood, is a beautiful fat hen that lays brown eggs and is a good producer for us.  

Barred Rock

The next is the Rhode Island Red.  She'll be our most productive egg-layer and is also a brown egg layer.

Rhode Island Red

And finally, the Easter Eggers.  This is a new type of chicken for us.  We currently have Aracaunas.  I could not find Aracaunas in the breed list that the poultry company had, but they did have Easter Eggers and they fit the bill.  Easter Eggers lay blue, green and pink eggs.  Here is one of the Easter Eggers:

We'll take care of these girls and in about 18-20 weeks, they'll begin to lay eggs.  In the meantime, I will work hard to reduce the predator population.  I'll show some of my tactics in future posts to accomplish this mission.  I can remember how exciting it was when we first got chicks.  The kids were small and each day we would all go check to see if the hens had begun to lay.  It was truly an exciting day when the kids came running into the house with a big brown egg!