Wondering what straight run chickens are? Here’s everything you need to know!

Want to get some chickens for eggs, meat or both? If you are thinking of buying poultry, one option is to purchase straight run chicks. But are they right for you? Read on to learn more!

What Are Straight Run Chickens?

Straight run chickens are chicks ordered from the hatchery unsexed. This means that when it comes to male and female chicks, you don’t know what you are going to get. You are going to get a mix of male and female live birds.

In theory, you may expect this to mean that you’d receive a 50/50 mix of males or females. But the reality is that it is quite possible you will receive a much larger ratio of one over the other.

This “unknown variable” is exactly why non-sexed day old chicks are more economical than pullets. (Although cockerels – baby roosters – are usually the cheapest option of all.)

Are Straight Run Chickens Right For You?

Are you thinking about adding some chickens to your life? If you don’t want to use an incubator like this to hatch eggs, you can order day-old chicks instead!

If you are purchasing chickens for the first time, you may be uncertain about some of the terms you see used in online brochures for large scale hatcheries (like Rochester Hatchery in Canada or Cackle Hatchery in the States).

Not only that, one thing you will definitely notice is that there can be a wide variety of prices for the exact same kind of chicken. And one of the cheapest options available is the Straight Run Chicken.

But what exactly does that mean? And is that a good option for you?

Where can I Buy Straight Run Chickens?

There are several places you can buy day old chicks (there may be a minimum order quantity):

• available for pre-order online (see links above for hatcheries). You can find out future hatch dates (3 weeks from ordering). Local pickup location may be your post office.
• at your local livestock auction (often a minimum quantity)
• find someone advertising on farm store bulletin boards or ask the store owner if they know of any chick enthusiasts selling day old birds.
• some limited online advertising forums for chicken lovers

Straight Run Chickens Vs Pullets

Although they are one of the most economical options, straight run birds are not the optimum choice for everyone.

Pullets – young hens – are vastly preferred by most chicken owners, for the simple fact that they are the ones that lay eggs.

Not only that, but if you live in a city or town, you have to comply with the ordinances of your community. And while many communities allow for a certain number of “backyard chickens”, almost none of them allow roosters, due to their noise.

Roosters crowing loudly in the early morning at sunrise tend to make the neighbors cranky.

Therefore, if you live in or very close to high density neighborhoods, be sure to check the local codes of your city or town before purchasing chickens. Be aware of potential issues and when you purchase, you will likely only want to buy pullets.

Flock owners living in any neighborhood can lessen potential issues by checking in with neighbors and gifting free eggs!

However, if you live in the country and there are no rules in your area against roosters, straight run chickens may be a great option for you.

In this case, it mostly depends on how much room you have, and what you want to do with the chickens you raise.

When Should I Order Sexed Chickens Instead of Straight Run?

Making the decision to order sexed (straight run) or unsexed chicks depends on what you want the birds for.

I Want to Raise Chickens Just for my Own Eggs

If you are wanting chickens so you can gather fresh eggs, then you will ONLY want to order pullet chicks or hens.

Your pullets will grow into egg layers at roughly 16-20 weeks old. Once they reach egg-laying age, they will give you eggs for roughly 3 years. They take a break every year (wouldn’t you?) and they won’t lay as often at 3 years old.

I Want to Raise Chickens for my Own Meat

If you only want birds for meat you will ONLY want to order cockerel chicks (roosters).

And with male day old chicks often being the least expensive of all, you may actually save a little money ordering this way. Learn more about raising roosters in this next part.

You may want to look at chickens bred for weight gain, such as Cornish Cross. The time frame to grow out a rooster is between 6 -8 weeks for a proper finishing age. At this time, roosters will clearly have wattles and the male bird’s combs are a good size.

I Want to Raise Chickens for Eggs and Meat

Ordering straight run-day old chicks will allow you to have enough of both sexes. 

Male chickens get larger and meatier than hens, making raising roosters a better choice in this case. And with no hens to fight over, they should get along just fine growing up together in their all-male flock.

As they grow, you can cull the extra boys one at a time for your own consumption. If there are any extra roosters showing really aggressive behavior, they’re the ones to get rid of next.

Consider keeping a rooster to be with your hens as a flock protector. Keeping too many roosters can lead to big problems. 

The usual ratio is to keep one rooster for every 10-12 hens.

With the exception of broilers (which are specifically bred to raise for meat), male chicks are generally the least expensive to buy, and therefore, may save you money.

When Are Straight Run Chickens the Best Choice?

If you have a lot of space for chickens (including enough space to keep separate flocks) and wish to raise chickens for both eggs and meat, ordering straight run chickens is definitely a great way to get your flock started.

But it will also require a bit more planning and hands-on labor to work. Because you will first have to deal with any unwanted roosters you receive, possibly in large number.

You will want to have a separate area or chicken coop for any excess roosters you are planning to raise for meat birds. As long as they are kept separate from the females, they should get along fine.

Can you kill and butcher the chickens yourself? If not, you’ll need to take them elsewhere for processing. Either way is fine, but you’ll want to decide before your little chicks become mature roosters.

You’ll also need to have a plan long term for dealing with any fertilized eggs your hens lay.

Once you have the details sorted out for dealing with any males you don’t want as part of your main flock, you’ll be better prepared to order straight run chicks.

Do Straight Run Chickens Lay Eggs?

Adult hens lay eggs. This includes any hens you receive when you order straight run chickens.

What Breed Are Straight Run Chickens?

Some breeds of chicken are easy to sex shortly after birth because they look different. Sexed link chicks usually have differences in their color.

Breeds like the Cream Legbar are considered “auto-sexing” because the male and female hatchlings naturally look different from birth. Some are “sex-linked”, which means that they are cross-bred based on certain genetic traits.

This creates males and females that look different – from different shades of yellow to different speckle patterns.

Technically, the term “straight run chicken” applies only to whether or not chicks have been sexed yet. This means that every breed that exists could be sold this way.

However, you are most likely going to find unsexed chicks in breeds where it is difficult to determine the gender. The process of doing so requires additional personnel.

These are experts at sexing chickens – usually through a difficult technique called vent sexing. This means that the hatchery spends more money paying these experts for their accuracy sexing baby chicks.

In this case, the hatchery is more likely to offer the option of buying straight run or unsexed chickens. They save money – and so do you.

Ultimately, you are the only one who can determine if straight run chickens are right for you. If you have limited space, buying sexed chicks is a better option.

But if you have the space for a large free-range flock of chickens on your homestead, you may find you prefer to only order straight run chickens when you need to increase the size of your flock.

Straight run chickens are unsexed chicks – be sure that is what you want before ordering!

Learn more about raising chickens:

How to set up a brooder for chicks and what you need to have ready before they come!

All the info you need to raise chicks for meat in 8 weeks!

Want to learn about raising Heritage Chickens? Help keep the older hardier heritage breeds going.

originally published November, 2021; latest update April 2025

Heritage chickens are perfect for northern climates! Here are some of the best heritage dual purpose birds.

Want to get some backyard chickens? Here’s something worth considering if you live in cold winter climates – look into heritage chickens. They are naturally more suited to cold winters than breeds like Cornish Giants or Polish.

Do some research as to your weather conditions, how harsh your winter is and how much natural vegetation you have in season. What about housing for chickens? Do you have an insulated chicken coop?

Then get some heritage breed chickens! They know how to forage and they are used to being outdoors year round.

Benefits of Dual-Purpose Breeds of Heritage Chickens 

Dual purpose birds are an excellent addition to the homestead as they serve multiple purposes. Dual purpose chickens are often used for homesteaders who want to have a bird that has enough meat to make it worth eating, but also lays enough eggs to make it worth keeping them around for a couple of years.

Heritage breeds of chickens are a great way to support conservation. This prevents older and more standard breeds of chickens–like the ones that were popular in the mid-20th century but have become in danger of extinction–from falling off the radar in favor of hybrids.

These breeds were denoted by the American Poultry Association starting in the late 1800s and early 1900s. True heritage eggs can only be produced by any American Poultry Association standard breed.

What Makes a Heritage Chicken?

Most APA heritage chickens have a moderate or slow growth rate, which typically means reaching the breeding market weight in 16 weeks. These birds must come from mating pairs of both grandparent and parent stock. Breeding hens should be productive for 5-7 years and roosters for about 3-5.

When it comes to egg production, these types of birds will lay more eggs than a meat-only chicken, while having more meat on their bones than an egg-laying chicken.

Raising dual purpose birds helps you maintain a self-sustaining flock of birds, because so many of them are good brooders and great mothers. This means they hatch a good number of chicks that in the end, means more chickens for your backyard.

Dual purpose chickens can free range, provide meat, and provide eggs without needed separate housing options for multiple types of birds.

Are cold hardy heritage chickens generally good foragers and free rangers?

Yes, cold hardy heritage breeds are generally good forages and free rangers. Heritage breeds were the norm on farms right up until the Industrial Revolution. You’ll find that the cold hardy heritage breeds of chicken are good foragers, meaning they will find their food in the yard easily plus they’re great at free ranging.

A heritage breed chicken must have the genetic ability to live a long vigorous life and thrive in the rigors of pasture based feeding. These chicken breeds are known for their good skeletal structure and healthy organs, which makes them hearty and great for egg laying as well as for meat production.

Heritage Chicken Breeds Best Suited for Cold Climates

Below are some of the chicken breeds that are best suited for cold climates. Learn more about each breed to determine which type of chicken is best suited for your homestead.

Top Heritage Chicken Breeds for Winter Climates

More information on each chicken breed is below, but here’s the list of top chicken breeds for northern homesteads:

• Buff Orpington
• Barred Plymouth Rock
• Rhode Island Reds
• Silkie Bantams
• Australorps
• Brahmas
• Icelandics

Buff Orpington

The Buff Orpington chickens are very docile and friendly. This chicken breed does well in hot and colder climates. Many families use this breed for 4-H since they are tolerant of hyper and curious human children. They make great broodies and mothers, too!

Barred Plymouth Rock

These mellow chickens do well in most temperatures but they may need some attention to their large combs and wattles if you have Barred Plymouth Rock roosters in colder climates.

These chickens have been known to live 10-12 years, so they make for a long-lasting chicken to have at the homestead.

Rhode Island Red

These dual purpose chickens were created by poultry farmers in New England. These birds aren’t very quiet and while they are friendly, they can be rather pushy at times.

The Rhode Island Red chickens were originally bred to be dual purpose birds, but since have been bred more for egg laying.

Silkie Bantams

As long as you don’t have the Silkie Bantams that have been bred to be show girls, this chicken breed does well in the colder climate regions of the world. They are great mothers and will often lay on other chicken’s eggs to help with them!

While they can be used as a dual purpose bird, they’re not the most popular option for meat. There are other heritage chicken breeds that are much larger than these.

Australorps

This chicken breed is heavier than other chickens that live in colder climates. The Australorps are similar to the Orpington chickens, but more of an Australian twist on the breed. This is one of the highest egg producing chickens out there! They lay beautiful white eggs.

Brahmas

Brahma chickens are rather large in size and can do well in colder climates. Brahmas are dual purpose chickens that do well for meat and are excellent layers, yielding medium to large brown eggs.

This chicken breed is docile and friendly, making them a great addition to any homestead family. This breed is named after a river in India, but most breeders now agree that this breed was actually developed in America.

Icelandic

Icelandic chickens are one of the few that lay well during winter. The chickens are on the smaller size, with roosters weighing in around 5 pounds and the hens less than that. These are a great choice for raising chickens in northern climates.

Icelandics are great at foraging and they also excel at being broody, which should mean lots of chicks for you.

Some other great heritage breeds are Black Minorca, Blue Andalusian, Speckled Sussex, and Ancona.

Which heritage chicken breeds do best in North America’s colder climates ( as in -40F)?

The Barred Plymouth Rock and Australorps are the two favorites for North America’s colder climates, but all of the chicken breed listed above will fare well in colder temperatures. Just make sure they have a shelter to go in when they need a little cold weather break! 

A well insulated chicken coop is important! Chickens will huddle close together when it is cold out, so you may get away with an unheated chicken coop. 

However, it needs to be well insulated and have a good thick layer of hay or straw on the floor for them. 

Tip: Instead of cleaning the coop floor weekly, simply add more hay or straw. 

This ends up adding more insulation to the coop. In spring, as temperatures warm considerably,

take a day to clean the coop.

Heritage Chickens – Which cold hardy chicken breeds are the best egg layers?

There are a few hardy breeds of chickens that will lay eggs year round and do so pretty consistently. The best hardy breeds that lay eggs and survive in cold weather temperatures are:

• Australorps
• Icelandics
• Buff Orpington
• Plymouth Rock

Here’s how to know if your chicken is a rooster or a hen!

Heritage Chickens are perfect for northern climates, making it easier to raise and keep chickens, even in hard winters.

How to Defrost Chicken Fast

Great Gifts for Chicken Lovers

Chicken Questions and Answers

Bored Chickens? Put Your Chickens to Work!

Originally published 2016; updated November 2022

An intro to chickens for beginners if you want to start keeping hens in the back yard.

Chickens are hard workers in our backyard. Every animal we raise here has a job to do while they are with us. If you want to have chickens, here’s some of what we’ve learned having our hens. Think of it as Chicken Farming 101!

Raising Chickens for Beginners

Our chickens are always working. They are trying to find food and working the soil.

They work to keep the bugs down (have you ever watched chickens chasing bugs? Hilarious stuff!).

They work over and fluff up our composting manure piles in their search for bits of grain and worms.

Plus, they lay some of the best tasting eggs you will eat. Don’t knock farm fresh eggs. They taste SO different from those store bought ones.

And the colour – the brilliant yellow, almost orange yolks are a sight to behold. So unlike those pale runny eggs they sell in the grocery store.

If you don’t have chickens at your house, consider getting a few. Even 3 or 4 hens will lay more than enough eggs to keep a family of 4 happy and they make great additions to your backyard.

Many towns and even large cities are changing their bylaws to allow chickens in city backyards.

In the City of Vancouver, you are allowed to have 2 hens per house. It is really great to see so many cities and town starting to think progressively about the food supply.

You don’t need a rooster in order to get eggs from your hens. That’s a good thing, because roosters in the city may be a problem because of their crowing.

Where to Find Chickens to Buy?

You can look on Craiglist for some laying hens. But be aware that sometimes people will sell off their OLD laying hens.

You want young hens, ones that will produce well for at least 2 years. Older hens will lay fewer eggs but those eggs will be larger.

If you have a local feed store you can ask if they ever bring in “Ready to Lay” hens. These hens are probably about 4 months old, and should start laying for you within a month. These are probably the best option for chickens for beginners, who would rather not raise hens from chicks.

Our feed store sells them for about $10 each and most years I do order some to add to my flock.

You can also mail order day old chicks and raise them to laying age yourself. If you want to learn about setting up brooders and raising day olds, 8 Pounds in 8 Weeks covers all the stuff you will need.

Whether you are raising meat birds or laying hens, their starting needs are the same, except for their feed.

Feeding Chickens

We feed our layers 16% protein feed. Much of the year, they are outside running around in the yard chasing bugs and worms which adds more protein to their diet.

If we had a worm farm, we could likely do away with the feed from the store.

Our hens also get a lot of our garden waste and veggie tops. We can reduce the amount of store bought feed in the warmer months as the hens are getting protein from other sources.

During the winter months, when our barnyard is covered in several feet of snow, things change for our hens.

They get lots of  16% lay pellets, plus hay. Our hens love hay and yours probably do too. Alfalfa hay is excellent and will help their yolks have that beautiful deep colours.

We also give them all our household leftovers and scraps, except chicken. We do NOT feed chicken to chickens, just like we do not feed pork to pigs.

Do Chickens Like Eating Fat?

Speaking of pigs, when we butcher our pigs each Fall, we trim off a lot of the fat. Our pigs do not have as thick a layer of fat on them as straight grain fed pigs, because we feed them heavily on garden veggies. We still get plenty of fat for our needs.

I wrap the fat in bags and tuck them away in the freezer. Then during those short, cold dark days of Winter I pull out a package and dice it up for the hens.

They love it and it’s good for them. Look around your barnyard and see how you can reduce the feed store food bill. 

Many people with extra freezer room tuck turnip tops or beet tops in there to take out for their hens in the Winter. Cabbages can be kept in a cold room down in your basement to be brought up to the chicken coop during Winter.

Five minutes later, here’s what’s left of that big bowl of fat and leftovers.

What do you feed your chickens? Start thinking of easy things to grow that will be good for chickens. Less dependency on the local feed store is a good thing.

Grab our book 8 Pounds in 8 Weeks! Everything you need to know is in there!

Links to our articles about raising chickens for beginners:

Answers to the most common questions about chickens are right here!

A funky temporary chicken coop and fast and easy chicken fencing!

Even MORE answers to your questions about backyard chickens.

More information about raising chickens in the city.

Originally published 2017; updated June 2021