What Is a Pullet? Chicken Age Terms, Decoded

A pullet is a female chicken under a year old. What that means when buying birds, what you pay for, and every other term on the price list.

By Zakaria September 21, 2026 4 min read Save to Pinterest

Brown Leghorn hens foraging on bare ground with a grey Blue Hamburg pullet among them — Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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A pullet is a female chicken under a year old. That is the whole definition — but what a seller means by it, and what it costs you, is the part worth reading.

The short answer

A pullet is a female chicken under one year old, becoming a hen at twelve months; the male equivalent is a cockerel. In practice sellers use the term for a young female between about six and twenty weeks, past the brooder stage and not yet laying. Point of lay means sixteen to twenty weeks, close to her first egg, and those birds cost $25 to $50 because the seller has carried five months of feed and risk. Most pullets start laying at eighteen to twenty-four weeks, later for heavy heritage breeds, and a bird that has just moved home commonly waits two to four weeks before her first egg.

Pullet = female under a year. Hen at twelve months
Cockerel is the male equivalent; rooster after a year
Point of lay = 16–20 weeks, laying within a few weeks
$25–$50 for point of lay — you are paying for five months of feed
Expect a 2–4 week pause after a move before the first egg

The terms, all of them

Every label on a poultry price list

Term	Means
Chick	Newly hatched, either sex
Straight run	Unsexed chicks — roughly half will be male
Sexed pullet	Day-old female, sexed at the hatchery
Started pullet	Female raised past the brooder, ~6–12 weeks
Point of lay	Female 16–20 weeks, close to her first egg
Pullet	Any female under 12 months
Hen	Female over 12 months
Cockerel	Male under 12 months
Rooster / cock	Male over 12 months
Capon	Castrated male, raised for meat
Broiler / fryer	Young meat bird, either sex
Spent hen	Past commercial laying age

Straight run means half your birds are roosters

It is the cheapest option on any price list and it is cheap for a reason. Expect about 50% males, and expect to have a plan for them before they start crowing at sixteen weeks — most municipalities that allow hens do not allow roosters.

If you want laying hens, buy sexed pullets and accept the price.

What you pay for

Price by stage

Stage	Typical price	What it buys
Straight run chick	$3–$5	A coin flip
Sexed pullet chick	$4–$8	Brooding is yours
Started pullet, 8 wks	$15–$25	Past the fragile stage
Point of lay, 16–20 wks	$25–$50	Eggs within weeks
Rare or heritage breeds	Well above	Scarcity

The gap is feed and risk. A point-of-lay pullet represents roughly five months of feed, brooder heat, space and the losses the seller absorbed along the way.

Raising chicks yourself is cheaper per bird only if you already have the brooder, the space and the time. Costed honestly from a standing start, the first batch rarely is.

When she actually lays

First egg, by breed type

Breed type	First egg
Sex-links, leghorns	18–20 weeks
Rhode Island Red, Australorp	20–22 weeks
Plymouth Rock, Sussex	22–24 weeks
Orpington, Wyandotte, Brahma	24–28 weeks
Silkies and some bantams	Variable, often late

Daylight matters as much as age. A pullet reaching maturity in late October may simply wait for the days to lengthen in February, and nothing is wrong with her.

A new pullet usually pauses before she lays

Two to four weeks is normal after a move. New coop, new flock, new pecking order — all of it suppresses laying.

Keep her confined to the coop and run for the first few days so she learns where home is, feed layer ration from about eighteen weeks, and leave her alone.

Buying pullets without regret

Look at the vent and the comb. A bird near lay has a red, full comb and a moist, wide vent; a pale small comb means weeks away yet
Check for mites under the wings and around the vent, and for scaly leg
Ask the hatch date, not the age. “About four months” covers a lot of ground
Ask about vaccination — Marek’s in particular, which is done at day old or not at all
Quarantine new birds for two to four weeks away from an existing flock. This is the rule people skip and regret
Buy two or three at once. A single chicken introduced alone into an established flock has a bad time

Why the first year is the good one

A pullet’s first laying year is the most productive of her life — often 250 to 300 eggs for a production breed — and she frequently lays straight through her first winter without the autumn moult that stops an older hen for six to eight weeks.

After that, production falls roughly 15 to 20% a year while the eggs get larger. A hen at four is still laying, just not many. That curve is why commercial flocks are replaced annually, and why a backyard flock benefits from adding a few new pullets every couple of years rather than all at once.

Common questions

What is a pullet?

A pullet is a female chicken under one year old. The term covers everything from a sexed day-old female chick through to the bird's first birthday, after which she is simply a hen. In practice most sellers use it more narrowly, for a young female between about six and twenty weeks — old enough to be reliably sexed and past the fragile brooder stage, but not yet laying. The male equivalent is a cockerel, who becomes a rooster or cock at a year.

What is the difference between a pullet and a hen?

Age alone. A pullet becomes a hen at twelve months. There are practical differences behind the label, though: a pullet has not started laying or is only just beginning, her first eggs are noticeably small, and her first laying year is the most productive of her life. A hen lays larger eggs and fewer of them each year after, and she takes a proper moult break each autumn where a pullet in her first winter often lays straight through.

What does point of lay mean?

A pullet at sixteen to twenty weeks, close enough to laying that she should start within a few weeks of arriving — the phrase describes readiness rather than a guarantee. Point-of-lay birds cost considerably more than chicks because the seller has carried the feed and the risk through the whole growing period. Expect a settling delay after the move: a pullet that has just changed homes commonly waits two to four weeks before her first egg, and stress or short winter days can push that further.

How much more does a pullet cost than a chick?

Several times more, and the gap is mostly feed. A day-old sexed female chick is a few dollars, an eight-week started pullet is commonly $15 to $25, and a point-of-lay bird at sixteen to twenty weeks is often $25 to $50 depending on breed and region. What the price covers is roughly five months of feed, brooder heat, space and the losses the seller absorbed. Raising chicks yourself is cheaper per bird only if you already have the brooder setup and the time.

At what age does a pullet start laying?

Usually between eighteen and twenty-four weeks, with production breeds such as leghorns and sex-links at the early end and heavier heritage breeds like Orpingtons, Wyandottes and Brahmas often waiting until twenty-six weeks or more. Daylight matters as much as age: a pullet reaching maturity in late autumn may hold off until the days lengthen in spring. The first eggs are small, occasionally shell-less or odd-shaped, and that sorts itself out within a few weeks.

What are the other chicken age terms?

A chick is any newly hatched bird of either sex. A pullet is a female under a year and a cockerel a male under a year; after twelve months they are a hen and a rooster. A started pullet is one raised past the brooder stage, usually six to twelve weeks. A capon is a castrated male raised for meat, a broiler or fryer a young meat bird of either sex, and a spent hen one past commercial laying age. A straight run is unsexed chicks, sold as hatched with roughly half likely to be male.

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