[traacyken]

hi ive seen an ad for some 6wk wheaten marans, i just wondered if they can be sexed at this age as i dont want to make another costly mistake is ther anything to tell them apart at this age, any advise grealty appreciated looked up the breed and like the look of them v much what do you all think, is it a good breed to start with if there are any girls, he alkso has some black copper ones are they easy to sex 

[Jane-M]

to save yourself a huge amount of grief why not get some older birds? It really doesn't work out that much more expensive as you are getting eggs so much sooner and not just feeding their hungry little maws for nothing.

Buy in genuine point of lay pullets no younger than 20 weeks or even older for pure breeds, or even go for laying birds of 30 weeks or so if you can find them. I've got a thread going at the minute about the price of pullets, have a look and you'll see that good quality pullets are really not that expensive.

One reason baby birds are cheaper is that you don't know reliably what you are getting sex wise (unless you buy autosexing breeds, and I know nothing of this sorry). And of course older birds are less likely to die on you, apparently 

[traacyken]

cheers jane, ive found some local pullets some are 18 weeks and some 26 weeks and laying :)i mite go for 3 at 26wk and 2 at 18 weeks too vary the egg laying ther all £8 each annd vaccinated going to have a look later

[JuneFR]

Hi, if you look back through some of the topics this was covered in one of them last week.  Point of lay are a better option if you are new to keeping chickens.  Good luck

[Jane-M]

Hi T - hope you got sorted. These look a v good option and good price too. Good idea to mix the age of the birds.

[Tazzy]

Where can I find your thread on buying pullets please, can't seem to locate it.

Thanks,

Tazzy