Bringing Your New Pullets Home: A First-Time Chicken Keeper’s Guide
Your little girls are ready to come home! 🐔💕
Bringing home your first pullets is exciting, but we know it can also feel a little overwhelming. What do they need? Where should they sleep? What should they eat? How do you keep them safe? We want your transition from pickup day to happy backyard flock to be as easy as possible.
Our pullets are raised with lots of care, socialization, outdoor exposure, and plenty of time to grow into healthy, feathered young chickens. By the time they come home to you at approximately 6–8 weeks old, they are ready to begin their next adventure—but there are a few things you should have prepared before pickup day.
Here is our guide to getting your new pullets settled, safe, healthy, and happy!
Before Pickup: Have Their Home Ready
Before you come pick up your pullets, their new home should already be set up and ready for them.
Think of it like bringing home any new pet: don't bring the chickens home first and figure out their housing later!
Your pullets need a safe place where they can eat, drink, sleep, explore, and get away from predators.
Coop + Run
Your chickens should have a secure coop and, ideally, a protected run area.
If you plan to free-range your chickens during the day, they may not need a traditional run, but they still need a secure coop that they can return to at night.
This is especially important here in Arizona.
You might think that living in the city means predators aren't a concern, but they absolutely are. Even in neighborhoods around places like Tempe, chickens can encounter:
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Foxes
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Coyotes
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Neighborhood dogs
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Cats
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Hawks and other birds of prey
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Raccoons and other opportunistic predators
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Rodents and other pests
A predator doesn't need to live in the desert to find your chickens. If it can get into your yard, it can potentially get into your coop.
Make sure your coop is truly predator-proof before your pullets arrive.
Check doors, latches, fencing, openings, and the bottom edges of your run. If something looks like a gap a predator could squeeze through, assume that it can.
SHADE IS NOT OPTIONAL IN ARIZONA
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One of the most important things you can provide your chickens is plenty of shade. Arizona summers can be brutally hot, and chickens need a place where they can escape the direct sun and cool themselves throughout the day. Your chickens' living area should have shaded spaces available throughout the day. Remember that the location of the sun changes, so a spot that is shaded in the morning may be in full sun by afternoon. Consider natural shade, shade cloth, covered portions of the run, trees, or other structures that provide reliable protection. During especially hot weather, misters on a timer can also be a great addition to an Arizona chicken setup. Just be mindful of keeping the coop itself from becoming constantly wet or damp |
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WATER: FRESH EVERY DAY
Clean, fresh water is one of the simplest, and most important, things you can do for your flock.
Small water containers can become dirty surprisingly quickly. Chickens scratch, dust bathe, poop, and generally make a mess of everything! For that reason, we recommend checking and refreshing their water every day.
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Dirty water can contribute to illness and disease, so don't simply top off a dirty container. Empty it, rinse it, and provide fresh water. You can also choose to use nipple waterers, which can be a great option for keeping water cleaner. For this particular pullet flock, we have been using 3-gallon gravity water containers. We provide fresh water changes daily. As your flock grows, you may eventually want to upgrade to a larger pest- and rodent-resistant watering system. These can reduce daily chores, but always make sure whatever system you choose is easy for your chickens to access and easy for you to clean. |
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FEEDERS: KEEP THE FOOD OFF THE GROUND
Your pullets should have access to their regular chicken feed every day. We personally prefer feeders that hang above the ground.
Why? Because chickens are professional food throwers. 😂
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When feeders sit directly on the ground, chickens can scratch and kick bedding, dirt, and food everywhere. Hanging feeders can help reduce:
Your feeder should be positioned at an appropriate height so your pullets can comfortably reach their food without being able to easily climb inside it. As your chickens grow, you can adjust the feeder height accordingly. |
BEDDING: YOU DON'T NECESSARILY NEED IT
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If your chickens have a dirt-floor run, bedding isn't necessarily required. If you choose to use bedding, pine shavings are a popular option. Pine shavings can be collected periodically and added to your compost bin, making your chicken bedding useful for the garden instead of simply going into the trash. Bedding is relatively inexpensive, around $7 or so for a bag, depending on where you purchase it, but it does become a recurring expense if you use it regularly. There is no single "right" chicken setup. Choose what works best for your yard, your flock, and how much maintenance you want to do. |
WHAT ARE MY PULLETS EATING?
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Your new pullets have currently been eating: DuMOR 20% Chick Starter/Grower Crumbled Chicken Feed This feed is formulated to provide growing chickens with the protein and nutrients they need during this important stage of development. The 20% protein content is especially useful for growing chicks and pullets because young chickens need plenty of protein to support healthy growth and feather development. We also like the convenience of the crumbled form, which is easy for young pullets to eat. When you bring your pullets home, keeping them on the same feed initially can help make the transition less stressful. If you eventually decide to change their feed, it's generally best to transition gradually rather than suddenly switching foods. |
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DO MY CHICKENS NEED GRIT?
| Your pullets have already been exposed to natural dirt, rocks, and grass while growing up with us.
That means they've likely already swallowed a few tiny pebbles along the way! Don't worry—this is completely normal. Chickens don't have teeth, so they use grit in their digestive system to help grind up food. If your chickens are going to spend time free-ranging and naturally picking through dirt and soil, they will often find small stones themselves. If your birds won't have access to natural ground, you may want to provide supplemental poultry grit. Grit is different from their regular feed and is not the same thing as calcium/oyster shell. |
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TREATS ARE MORE THAN JUST TREATS!
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We've also been giving your pullets a variety of treats while raising them, including:
Treats should be just that—a treat, rather than the main part of their diet. But they can be incredibly useful for something else: SOCIALIZATION! |
SOCIALIZATION!
One of the easiest ways to build trust with your new chickens is through treats.
Sit with them. Talk to them. Offer treats from your hand.
Let them learn that you = good things.
This can make handling your chickens much easier as they get older. It can also help you teach them to come when called or return to their coop.
And yes, chickens absolutely can learn routines!
ADDING YOUR NEW PULLETS TO AN ESTABLISHED FLOCK
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If these new girls are joining chickens you already have, we recommend taking a little extra time with introductions. Even though we know our flocks are healthy, quarantining new birds is always a good poultry-keeping practice. Ideally, keep your new pullets separate from your existing flock for approximately 2 weeks while monitoring everyone for signs of illness. After quarantine, you can begin introducing them. Remember: chickens have a social hierarchy, and when you add new birds, that hierarchy has to be re-established. This is called the pecking order, and it is a very normal part of chicken behavior. You may see chasing, pecking, squabbling, and displays of dominance. That doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. |
GIVE THEM SPACE TO WORK IT OUT
When introducing new chickens, space is incredibly important.
The new girls need places where they can move away from an aggressive chicken.
If your coop or run is too small, bullying can become much more intense because the new chickens have nowhere to escape.
Try to provide:
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Plenty of room
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Multiple feeding areas
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Multiple water sources if possible
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Hiding spots
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Perches
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Different levels
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Areas where chickens can get out of each other's line of sight
Giving chickens distractions and places to escape can make introductions much smoother.
Limited space is stressful for chickens, especially when you're trying to establish a new flock dynamic.
When should you intervene?
Normal pecking-order behavior can look dramatic!
However, if one specific chicken is being relentlessly targeted, unable to access food or water, being injured, or experiencing intense bullying, you may need to intervene.
The goal isn't to prevent chickens from establishing a hierarchy. The goal is to make sure everyone can safely participate in the process.
A LITTLE TRICK FOR INTRODUCTIONS
Once your chickens have had appropriate time to see and become familiar with each other, one method that can sometimes make introductions easier is putting the chickens together at night when everyone is naturally settling down.
Chickens are much less interested in fighting when they're sleepy and settling onto their roosts.
This isn't a guarantee that there won't be drama in the morning—because chickens are chickens!—but it can help make the transition smoother.
Always supervise new introductions closely.
SPEND TIME WITH YOUR NEW GIRLS
The first few weeks at home are an important time to continue socializing your pullets.
They've spent their first weeks being cared for by us, and now they're learning that you are their person.
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Talk to them. Sit with them. Offer treats. Gently handle them. Let them get comfortable with your voice and your presence. The more positive interactions they have with you when they're young, the easier it can be to handle them later. And don't be surprised if they start following you around the yard looking for treats. You've officially been trained. |
DON'T FORGET TO WASH YOUR HANDS
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Chickens are wonderful pets, but like all poultry, they can carry bacteria that can make people sick.
Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling chickens, touching their food or water containers, cleaning the coop, or handling anything that has come into contact with poultry.
This is especially important for children.
A little handwashing goes a long way toward keeping both your family and your flock healthy.
YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU FOR PEST-PROOFING
As your chickens grow, you may decide to upgrade your feeding and watering setup.
Larger, pest-resistant feeders and waterers can significantly reduce the amount of daily maintenance involved with keeping chickens.
They can also help discourage rodents and other pests from turning your chicken coop into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Whatever equipment you choose, remember that cleanliness and accessibility are more important than having the fanciest setup.
A good chicken setup is one that:
Keeps your birds safe + keeps them cool + gives them clean water + provides nutritious food + stays reasonably clean.
That's the foundation of a healthy flock.
🐣 PICKUP DAY IS JUST THE BEGINNING!
Bringing home your first pullets is the beginning of such a fun adventure.
There will probably be a little pecking, a lot of scratching, some questionable chicken decisions, and plenty of personality.
Your girls will grow quickly, and before you know it, those tiny feathered pullets will be confident backyard chickens running the whole place.
We put a lot of love into raising these girls, and it means so much to us when we get to see them go to wonderful homes.
Please keep us updated!
Send us photos of your chickens in their new homes, tag us in your chicken adventures, and let us know how they're doing.
We absolutely LOVE seeing our girls living their best lives. 🐔💕🌻
Welcome to chicken life!
— Izaak's Happy Hens