[Lindeggs]

I recently bought six pullets of three different breeds, all from the same breeder at the same time.  He said they were between 12 and 17 weeks old.

I was very excited at the time when I picked them up.  There was a lot of information to absorb, and I've forgotten who is what age.

Is it important for me to know what age my pullets are? 

I'm happy to just wait and see when they start laying - there's no deadline.  But is there any other reason I should know their age?  Should I be watching out for important developmental milestones?  Or if they get sick or something goes wrong will knowing their ages help with a diagnosis?

[joyfull]

Really they are all so close in age I wouldn't worry (unless you want to bake them a birthday cake  ), point of lay covers a wide age range from 12 weeks upto 30 depending on the breeder.

[Lindeggs]

Thanks Joyfull.  For convenience they will all have their birthday parties on the same day - I think Feb 27 as it's the day they came to live with me.  I have a year to train them to share their birthday cake nicely.   

Point of lay will be interesting.  I'm quite glad they have different hatch dates so I will get a staggered arrival of eggs.  The excitement will probably continue for months! 

Locals have told me that some of their Light Sussex pullets started laying as early as 17 weeks, and some of their Barnevelders as late as 26 weeks.  To add to the contributing factors we are now in autumn so some of them may 'come of age' during the shortest daylight hours.  Maybe they will wait until after the winter solstice to start laying.

If the details of their Hatchy Birthdays doesn't matter for any reason other than laying dates, I will just wait and see what happens.

[New shoot]

Hi Lindeggs.  I've bought pullets in our autumn over here and if their POL dates come in midwinter, they do tend to wait until spring.  You should be able to tell when they are getting ready as their combs will redden up and get bigger.

As for sharing a birthday cake nicely................you have more chance of herding wasps   

[joyfull]

My neighbour got light sussex last year (along with 4 araucanas off me - 3 of which turned out to be cockerels  ) and she had to wait until they were over 30 weeks before they started to lay (the girls that is not the cockerels - 2 of which are now going to be dinners) as we went into winter when they should have started laying.
Another thing to look for is if your girls start to squat when you go close - or as some peeps on her call it curtsying