what is a pullet?

[Chicky Chick]

I was first told that a pullet was a little older that a chick and that it could be a hen or a rooster. I was also told that you couldn't tell if it was a hen or rooster! But today a man that was selling chickens said that a pullet was a female that could not yet lay eggs because it was too young and could not be a male! I am new at this stuff as you can see and I hope to get chickens to and I think that I should know what a pullet is! It is confusing when you hear two different definitions for the same word. Can any one help me?

 

[woodsman23]

Pullet= female....

 

[mama2my4]

But today a man that was selling chickens said that a pullet was a female that could not yet lay eggs because it was too young and could not be a male!

This...

 

[wildriverswolf90]

A female chicken is a pullet until they go through their first molt, at this point she becomes a hen.

 

[Carolyn252]

My understanding of the term is simply any female chicken younger than one year of age. On her first birthday, she becomes a hen. The equivalent term for males is a cockerel. He becomes a cock ( also known as a rooster) on his first birthday.

 

[Zach123]

There are many different opinions on what seperates a pullet from a hen, wether it is a molt, laying eggs or age. However, one thing is always the same and that is that a pullet is a young female chicken.

UPDATE:

According to Storeys Illustrated Guide to Poutry Breeds by Carol Ekarius (2007) a pullet is a female chicken under one year of age

In Keeping Chickens the Essential Guide to Enjoying and Getting the Best from Chickens (2007) Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis describe pullets as "A female bird that is in its first year and has yet to commence laying."

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary: : a young hen; specifically: a hen of the domestic chicken less than a year old.

Dictionary .com's "word origin" for the word pullet: mid-14c., "young fowl," from Anglo-Fr. pullet, O.Fr. poulette, dim. of poule "hen," from V.L. *pulla, fem. of L. pullus "young animal, young fowl." Technically, a young hen from the time she begins to lay until the first molt.

Just some interesting takes on it

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[Carolyn252]

Backyardchickens.com has a page specifically devoted to words and terms used relative to chickens. It specifically says that Pullets are defined by the AGE of the female chicken. Not defined by molting or laying or anything else.

Here's the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...of-common-terms-for-raising-backyard-chickens

Hope that helps.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

A pullet is a female chick.

 

[Starlight 451]

I usually refer to them as pullets before their combs start growing out. You know the stage, massive body, small head.

 

[cva34]

GIRL .Birth through teenager.....cva34