How to Find Hens to Buy Fast

You’ve built a coop and been meaning to get chickens but now an emergency event of some sort has threatened the egg supply at the grocery stores. You (and everyone else) want backyard chickens now. In this article I’ll describe how to use social media and old-fashioned know-how to quickly locate young pullets (female chickens) and laying hens for sale in your area. Here is how to find hens to buy fast:

If a chicken buying panic is underway, do not get caught up in the rush. Here is what you need to do, step-by-step, to quickly but wisely guarantee a steady backyard egg supply for your family:

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First, You MUST Already Have a Coop

This part cannot be skipped. You must have a fully built, completely predator proof coop with waterers already installed before you purchase any chickens. (Affiliate link.) Chickens poop a few times per hour, around the clock. You will not be able to keep adult birds in your home or your garage without a massive mess by the next day. If there is a current chicken buying panic underway, do not think you can skip the coop step for now. It is likely that Tractor Supply is already sold out of coops so you’ll need to build one, which typically takes a minimum of two weekends. Focus on having a secure, predator proof coop first.

Raccoons and opossums, which live in every city and suburb, will kill and eat your new chickens the very first night if the coop is not sturdy or was improperly built with chicken wire, which they can reach right through.

Hint: Chicken wire is for keeping chickens out of vegetable gardens. Hardware cloth is for keeping predators out of your chicken coop! (Affiliate link.)

Take a picture of your completed coop. A farm or breeder may ask to see a picture of your secure coop before selling you any hens.

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A Calming Note: Once a chicken buying panic begins, breeders load their incubators with eggs, which will hatch 3 weeks later. There will still be chicks, pullets and hens for you to buy as soon as your coop is finished!

This newly hatched chick is two days old.

Know Basic Poultry Terminology to Aid in Your Search

Newly hatched baby chickens are called chicks. They are typically less than 6 weeks old. Some may be advertised as “coop ready”, which means they are feathered 4+ week olds.

Chicks that are fully feathered – around 2-4 months old – are often called juveniles.

Young female chickens who are not yet old enough to lay eggs are called pullets.

Young male chickens who are not yet old enough to crow or mate hens are called cockerels.

Female chickens who are around 5-6 months old and have just begun laying their first eggs, which start off small and increase in size over the first month of laying, are called point-of-lay pullets or point-of-lay hens.

Adult female chickens who are laying full size eggs are called laying hens. The seller should disclose their age.

Hens that are over 2 years old will experience a slow-down in her egg laying, giving only 3-4 eggs per week but still consuming as much feed as a young hen laying 5-7 eggs per week.

Hens that are 3+ years old may be laying very few to zero eggs per week. Do not buy hens 3 years old or older!

This is a 3 week old cockerel chick who does not have enough feathers to be put into an outdoor coop. Chicks younger than 4 weeks need supplemental heat and should be kept in a brooder box.

These 2 month old juveniles (female on top, male on bottom) are fully feathered and can sleep in the coop outside. Learn how to visually sex chicks here. This rooster’s breed is called Whiting True Blue, which comes in a large range of feather colors and lays blue eggs.

Know How Many Hens You Want

Your coop can only fit a certain number of full sized adult birds and it is wise to not exceed that number. Crowded coops can be smelly coops. If your coop can only hold four to six adults, that is the number of young pullets you should buy. Our article on How to Hide Backyard Chickens gives some great tips on minimizing noise and smell!

Hens naturally eat grass, bugs, seeds and spiders! They also love garden weeds and kitchen scraps like strawberry tops, lettuce bottoms, bell pepper seeds, and watermelon rinds. Chickens do not eat orange peels, banana peels or raw potatoes.

How Many Eggs Does a Hen Lay Per Week?

Laying hens younger than 2 years old will lay an egg every 26-30 hours; about one egg per day. They lay for 5 or 6 days in a row and then their body takes a break, called a ‘skip day’ where the hen does not lay an egg. She then resumes laying the next morning. You should assume each standard size hen will lay 4-6 eggs per week. Standard size hens usually lay 250 to 300 total eggs per year. Bantam (miniature) chickens only lay 100 to 190 USDA small size eggs per year. Dividing the number of eggs laid per year by 52 weeks per year will give you the average number of eggs per week an individual breed lays.

Most hens will lay 5-6 eggs per week with a skip day every fifth or sixth day.

A Buff Orpington hen. Their gorgeous golden plumage makes them a popular dual purpose breed.

Calculate the Number of Hens Your Family Needs to Keep

Dual Purpose breed hens typically lay 4-6 eggs per week. Mediterranean breed hens, such as Leghorns, typically lay 5-7 eggs per week, with some individuals only taking a skip day every 8 days. Knowing how many eggs your family typically eats each week is required to calculate how many laying hens you need: (the infographic below assumes each dual purpose hen is laying 4-6 eggs per week)

On average, each hen should lay a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6 eggs, as illustrated by this graphic. Chickens should always be kept with at least one other flock mate; they do not enjoy being solitary animals.

If your family typically uses a full dozen eggs each week, 3 young laying hens will provide 12 to 18 fresh eggs each week. If your family will need to consume eggs as a primary source of protein, pioneers calculated that two to three hens per family member was sufficient to feed everyone eggs at one meal per day and still have enough eggs to use for daily baking. Additional hens will give you the ability to share fresh laid eggs with family and neighbors.

This bantam hen is a miniature chicken who lays a USDA Small size egg.

Bantam Chickens

If you are interested in keeping bantam (miniature) chickens, this article walks you through how to calculate the number of hens needed based on your family’s egg usage. (Hint: You’ll need to keep a lot more miniature chickens because they only lay 3-4 small eggs per week.)

Two bantam eggs next to a USDA Large egg laid by a standard sized dual purpose breed hen. Bantam eggs and standard eggs are both chicken eggs and they all taste like chicken eggs. The label “bantam” refers to the miniature body size of certain breeds of chicken.

When You’re Ready to Buy, Use Social Media to Find Farms & Breeders

Facebook does not allow the selling of livestock – which is why Facebook Marketplace will be a waste of time – but you can request the contact info of a breeder or farm within a Facebook group. To do this, go to the Facebook Groups section and search for your city name + chickens. A few options should pull up. Request to join these groups. Once approved, you should be able to make a post with a picture of your ready coop and your location, asking for the contact info of any nearby farm selling pullets or young laying hens. If you know you want brown eggs or colored layers, you can include this info in your post.

Use Your Map App to Find Feed Stores Selling Chicks

Most feed stores will have chicks for sale during the spring and early summer months. A few will also have older started pullets for sale, usually 6 to 8 weeks old. Your map app will show you all the nearby feed stores, which you can begin calling. If you do not know how to care for newly hatched chicks nor have the ~$100 in chick supplies on-hand to do it, ask to buy started pullets that are older than 4 weeks, which are ready to go into a coop. You will still need to buy chick crumble feed for any pullets younger than 20 weeks old but they can function just fine in your outdoor chicken coop.

What if a Chicken Buying Panic is Already Underway?

When a chicken buying panic is occurring, you will be competing with other buyers for any currently available pullets. Many people are lazy, flaky and do not show up prepared, if they show up at all. If the breeder has an established page or website and clear pictures of their current pullets for sale, you can feel comfortable using a cash app to pre-pay for the birds you are going to pick up. If not, bring ample cash in smaller bills with you when you go to select your pullets. (You’ll need to provide exact change – the farm won’t be able to break 20’s for you.) Communicating clearly, texting when on your way and showing up on time makes you the ideal buyer the breeder is hoping for.

Show Up Prepared to Properly Transport Your Chickens

Bring a dog kennel with you to transport the birds. It is not the farm’s responsibility to provide you with a way to transport your chickens home. A very large cardboard box or plastic tote is fine for 2-3 birds if you line the bottom with straw, pine shavings or newspaper and have a way to secure it closed so chickens do not escape in your car. It is also a good idea to place a large towel or blanket under any wire dog crate as chickens can splatter poop outside of a kennel onto your vehicle upholstery.

Click the image to purchase the 30 inch long collapsible dog crate I use to transport my birds. (Affiliate link.) This size kennel can transport up to 10 laying hens a short distance (30 minute drive or less) or 4-6 chickens for a longer drive. Any transport kennel you use should be a minimum of 18 inches tall to allow the chickens to stand upright. The kennel can later double as a quarantine cage for a sick or injured bird if needed and chicken poops easily hose off of the bottom tray.

Prevent Accidental Escape and Loss

The birds will be frightened after being placed in the crate for transport and will desperately want to escape. Do not open the transport kennel until you have them safely inside your backyard coop. Your children may be excited but their eagerness to let the chickens out is how new birds are often lost or killed by a neighbor’s dog when the panicked hen jumps the fence.

A frightened young pullet can easily clear a 7 foot fence. She won’t fly far but she can keep running for quite a long time. Neighborhood dogs, excited by her prey-like movement, will kill her.

Follow the 3 Day Rule

Your new chickens should be locked inside your coop and run for three full days and nights so they learn it is their new home. After three days, the chickens can be let out to free range in your backyard and they should return to the coop to roost at sunset. If you let the new chickens out into your backyard the first day, you will spend a portion of that evening rounding them up to get everyone safely locked into the coop. This is terribly upsetting for them and hens will stop laying from the stress of being chased. Your new birds have no idea your coop is their new home and will spend hours trying to escape from your yard if let out. They will not stop running once they make it over your fence. The 3 Day Rule is a good practice that helps the new hens settle in quickly and learn to lay their eggs in the nest boxes.

Feeding fruit and vegetable scraps through the run wire is a great way to introduce the children to your new flock in a way that keeps everyone safe and calm.

Keep new hens confined to the coop and enclosed run for 3 days to train them to return there to roost at sunset.

How to Avoid Scams During a Buying Panic

If everyone is trying to buy chickens all at once, there will be unscrupulous individuals who are looking to trick inexperienced buyers by selling them all males…and at a premium price, too. A little research can help you identify young cockerels (male chickens) that will grow into a loud, crowing rooster.

• Do not buy a young, tall, skinny-looking chicken with a large red comb. It is likely to be male.

• Do not buy chicks that are older than 8 weeks as “straight run”, which means a mix of males and females together. (A breeder should be able to tell males from females by that age.)

• Newly hatched chicks often cannot be sexed by the breeder and will be sold straight run. Because of this and the extra supplies chicks need, it may NOT be a good idea to get chicks.

• Asking to buy started pullets from a breeder or farm is always the safest way to go.

• Craig’s List will be the most risky way to locate chickens for sale. Proceed with caution.

• Leave any farm that appears filthy, has a strong odor indicating lack of regular care, or has sick looking chickens. Chickens die easily from illness, especially respiratory illnesses.

• Do not buy hens that are 3+ years old. They may only lay one or two eggs – if that – per week.

• Point of Lay Pullets will cost a minimum of $25 each and may be closer to $40-$60 each. A $5 hen is likely 3 or 4 years old and may no longer lay. Be suspect of any deals that are too good to be true.

• You do NOT need a rooster in order for a hen to lay eggs. Similar to human ovulation, the hen’s body will produce eggs whether or not a male is present. Being given a free rooster “so the hens will be happy and lay eggs” is nothing more than someone looking to get rid of extra males.

• Hens cannot get pregnant. Chickens lay eggs and chicks hatch from the eggs. A “pregnant” hen for sale is always a scam.

Chicks hatch from eggs. A listing for a “pregnant” hen that will soon “have babies” is a scam.

If You Feel Overwhelmed, Find Local Egg Sellers Instead

Local egg sellers are wonderful people to know during an egg shortage event! They would love to sell you farm fresh eggs while the grocery store shelves are bare. Read here to learn how to locate clean, small farms who can keep your family well stocked with eggs.

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In Closing

I hope this article on how to find hens to buy fast has empowered you and brought some calm in the midst of tumultuous current events. This time of shortage will pass but if you have always dreamed of owning chickens, it may prove to be just the nudge you needed!