How to tell an old chicken from a young one and determine its age

Periodic updating of the livestock, replacing hens at the age of 2.5-3 years with young layers is the key to maintaining the overall productivity of the herd at the same level. However, the acquisition of new individuals to replace the culled ones is always associated with the risk of interacting with an unscrupulous or incompetent seller. As a result, instead of a young quod, inexperienced farmers risk acquiring an individual at the age of 1-1.5 years. Risks associated with this are a decrease in the profitability of laying hens due to the early end of the active laying period in purchased birds.

Experienced breeders know a lot of methods for determining the approximate age of a laying hen by its appearance, the condition of the skin and individual parts of the hen's body. However, even the most reliable methods for determining the age of chickens are approximate and have an error within 1-6 months. This means that the breeder should be familiar with as many methods as possible to distinguish an old hen from a young layer before undertaking a flock renewal.

How to tell an old chicken from a young one

Chickens of egg breeds enter the egg-laying age of 4-5 months, while the active phase of egg-laying after the process returns to normal is about 1 year. It should be noted that after this period the birds retain their productive abilities, but the number of clutches brought in gradually decreases.

Note! This means either the need to create nutritional conditions and adjust the diet to values ​​close to ideal indicators, or the culling of the queens by age. As a rule, experienced breeders update the livestock and replace it with young stock of replacement type.

The criteria by which breeders select highly productive individuals are:

• Inspection and visual observation of the behavior and temperament of the bird.
• Technological parameters, which are control of the productivity of layers in certain periods of time, an assessment of the quality of the brought clutches.

By using these methods together, experienced farmers can determine the date of birth of a bird as accurately as possible.

To reduce the risk of acquiring older individuals, some breeders advise you to follow these guidelines:

• The likelihood of acquiring an adult layer decreases when the flock is renewed in the spring. To do this, it is necessary to conduct an audit of the livestock in the fall, leaving individuals with the best productivity characteristics for wintering, replenishing the livestock in the spring by purchasing replacement pullets.
• The purchase of poultry bred in poultry farms can significantly reduce the risk of buying old queens. The implementation of this method allows the farmer to be confident in the young age of the livestock, since the specificity of production excludes the presence of hens older than 1-2 years.

Important! Since poultry farms keep records of livestock, if in doubt, data on the date and time of chick birth can be found. An additional advantage of acquiring young animals in this case is the presence of immunity from diseases, since the entire herd is vaccinated within the time frame specified in the regulatory documents.

• An alternative to buying pullets from an incubator is reproduction in your own poultry house.

Note! To do this, it is necessary to have one rooster for several dozen layers and several chickens with developed instincts to continue offspring.

Video: how to determine the age of a chicken and distinguish old from young

How to determine the age of a laying hen

As noted above, the age of a chicken can be determined by a number of external signs and behavior of the bird. Below are various ways to determine the approximate age of a laying hen and to easily tell a young hen from an old one.

Beak

Experienced farmers can distinguish chickens under 1 year old by their strong and slightly curved beak, which has a smooth surface and a bright yellow tint.

In contrast, older layers are characterized by an unclear beak color with possible shades of gray, roughness and even cracks can be found on its surface.

On the legs and feet

Determining the age of the laying hen by the color of the paws resembles the previous point, since in young chickens the limbs have a pronounced yellow color, which eventually fades and acquires shades of gray. In general, the color and structure of paws in juveniles resembles those of chickens. Over time, there is a partial loss of pigmentation on the skin of the legs in chickens and the appearance of growths, irregularities and cracks on the surface of the feet.

Note! Scales deserve special attention, which on the surface of the limbs of mature hens are large and can loosely adhere to each other.

The claws on the surface of the paws should not be too overgrown, as this indicates a low activity of layers, about illness, about deviations in the conditions of keeping quads or about their old age.

Important! You can identify a pullet chicken by small claws with a smooth surface and no delamination.

Video: how to determine the age of chickens or roosters by their paws

By scallop and lobes

A young laying hen can be distinguished from other individuals by the bright pigmentation of the earlobes and scallop. The latter in pullets of the repair type is distinguished by its juiciness and large size and often hangs down to one side.

An additional distinguishing feature that identifies young hens is a higher temperature of the ridge and earlobes associated with their active blood supply, which deteriorates over time. This is due to the presence in the body of a large amount of pigment that stains both parts of the hen's body and the eggshells of young quads. With aging and declining productivity, the color of these organs begins to fade.

On the belly

One of the reliable ways to determine the age of a laying hen is to palpate the abdomen.

In old chickens, when probing, the abdomen has a hard surface to the touch, this is due to an increase in the amount of fatty deposits under the skin that accumulate as the bird grows up.

Plumage

Young chickens have brightly colored smooth plumage that adheres well to the bird's body. Between the feathers and under the wings of the quads, there is fluff, soft to the touch, with a delicate texture. The presence of broken, tousled and protruding feathers refers to the signs of old and sick individuals.

Note! Replacement pullets have small blue veins and pink skin. Over time, the skin dries out, becomes dull and coarser.

By weight

One of the ways to distinguish an old layer from a young one is the mass of an individual, when determining which it is necessary to take into account the direction and breed of the bird.

According to external signs, egg-type chickens differ from their congeners, meat of the egg and meat directions in a lower weight, which at 6 months should be about 1.5 kg.

By pigmentation

Individuals that have recently reached the period of active oviposition are distinguished by the presence of bright pigmentation. As productivity increases, the color of certain parts of the bird's body will fade.

Important! Experts note that the onset of pigment loss can be determined by the whitening of the skin surrounding the cloaca, after which the color disappears on the iris, paws and beak of the laying hen.

When assessing the color of individual parts of the quail's body, it is recommended to pay attention to the food it eats.

Note! When eating flour from alfalfa, pumpkin and corn, a large amount of pigment accumulates in the hen's body, which in adult chickens is not excreted during egg-laying and can lead to an error when choosing individuals to renew the herd.

By the eyes

An additional sign that allows you to determine the productive ability of the brood is the examination of the eyes.

In young layers, they have a convex shape, clear color and shine, they do not have a cloudy film and foamy formations.

By behavior

A young, highly productive hen demonstrates a high degree of activity, is constantly on the move in search of food, walks for a long time, often rummages in litter and ground.

By physique

The exterior of productive chickens will be distinguished by a soft and light structure, the chest of such quads has a rounded shape and an even keel of a cartilaginous type. Over time, coarsening of the chest and the tip of the bird's keel occurs.

When probing, you should measure the distance from the keel to the surface of the bosom, which normally should not exceed the width of 3-4 fingers.

By molting period

Necessary physiological feather change (molt) in chickens with high egg production belongs to the late type and occurs within a short period of time.

The reference point for determining the time of birth of a bird is the fact that, according to the physiological cycles occurring in the body, the change of primary feathers occurs before reaching six months of age and the beginning of active clutch.

Technological methods for determining the age of chickens

This group includes methods that make it possible to determine the age of the laying hen with a fairly high degree of reliability. Their common features include the need for some time spent on monitoring the egg production and determining the quality indicators of the laid clutches.

Monitoring productivity

This procedure involves daily probing of the oviduct outlet for the presence of eggs. The operation must be performed in the morning for 1-2 weeks, while the egg production of good layers is 1 piece per week. With such indicators, it can be determined that the laying hen was born 5-6 months ago.

As the age of the pullet hen grows, the period begins to enter the stage of active egg-laying, at 6-7 months the hen lays about 3 eggs per week. The maximum productivity indicators of 5-6 eggs per week are typical for the age period lasting from 8-9 to 11-12 months.

Egg quality assessment

The onset of laying in chickens of egg breeds can occur as early as 17 weeks, while in other areas, it does not occur earlier than 21 weeks. An auxiliary sign that allows you to determine the time of the appearance of a quail is the fact that after the normalization of the reproductive system, such hens produce eggs with a strong and thick shell.

At the same time, experts note that, despite the small weight of eggs (about 45 g), which distinguishes pullets from old hens, the nutritional value of such products is several times higher compared to clutches brought by an adult bird.

Assessment of the appearance of the yolk

Estimating the size, color and consistency of the yellow substance inside the laid eggs also provides information on when the hen was born. However, when assessing the quality indicators of clutches, it is necessary to pay attention to the diet of layers, since unscrupulous producers can add substances that increase the pigmentation of both parts of the hen's body and the eggs it brings.

Important! Eggs obtained from juveniles can be distinguished by their large yolk size, rich color and thick consistency.

Experienced farmers recommend purchasing chickens in the spring, while their age should ideally be in the range of 4-6 months. In this case, the young age of the laying hen, nutritious feed in the spring-summer period and good housing conditions will provide the breeder with maximum profit.

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