What are straight run chickens? What You Need to Know
What are straight run chickens? When you see those cute chicks for sale at your local farm supply store or online hatchery, you should know what you’re getting. I’ll share everything you need to know! If you want more information on raising chickens, I also wrote about how to raise chickens for cheap, how much space chicks need in a coop, and how to hatch eggs in an incubator.
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Baby chicks are so adorable. It’s easy to see why chickens are called the gateway farm animal. They’re cute as babies, fun to watch, and most grow up to be productive egg-layers or meat birds.
If you’re a new backyard chicken keeper, you may have many questions. My goal is to help you decipher some of the labels so that you can choose what will work best for you and your family.
What are straight run chickens?
Straight run chickens are a mix of male and female chicks. Some chicken breeds are unable to be sexed, so hatcheries and farm stores sell all the babies together as straight-run chickens. That means you could get half baby roosters and half baby hens.
When our hens go broody and sit on a clutch of eggs in the chicken coop, the babies hatch as straight run chicks. We don’t know who is male and who is female until much later.
Also, hatching your own eggs in an incubator will give you straight run chickens. You can’t tell which hatching eggs will result in a boy or girl until after they hatch.
There are some chicken breeds that can be sexed right away, though. You can tell the difference between males and females of certain breeds through wing sexing. Specifically, in Red Sex-Links, Black Sex-Links, ISA Browns, Plymouth Rocks, Bielefelders, Rhode Island Reds, and Cochin chicks to name a few.
Within the first 3 days of hatching, the females of these breeds will grow two rows of wing feathers. One long and one short. The boys only grow one row of wing feathers.
There are advantages and disadvantages to getting straight run chickens. Let’s go over some of them!
What are the advantages of straight run chickens?
The advantages of straight run chickens are that they are usually cheaper individually than sexed baby chickens. If you’re looking to get a batch of chicks, and if it doesn’t matter whether you get extra boys or female chickens, straight run is the way to go.
Some chicken breeds are called dual purpose breeds. That means the female hens are good egg layers and produce a good amount of eggs each year. Likewise, the male roosters are heavy enough to be good meat producers. So if you harvest your own meat to put in your freezer, this can be the cheapest option.
A couple of years ago, we bought day-old chicks that were straight run from a local farm auction for $0.50 a piece! That was an incredibly good deal. And since they were all a heavy breed of chicken, we used the hens for eggs and the roosters for meat.
If you have a similar setup where you live, and want both egg production and meat production, you should choose the best heavy breed available to you. Large scale hatcheries will usually give you a discount on large orders of straight run chicks.
Additionally, farm supply stores or your local feed store will generally sell older straight run chickens at a discounted price just to get rid of them. Ask a store clerk during their spring selling season when new chicks arrive. Then show up the day before just to see if there are week-old baby chicks for sale at a discount. You might be able to find some good deals!
What are the disadvantages of straight run chickens?
One of the disadvantages of straight run poultry is that you can’t readily tell the difference between the males and females. So you may end up with a large number of males than females. Most people want more females than males, though.
You only need one rooster per ten hens, generally. Roosters are a great flock protector. However, there are big problems if you have too many roosters for the number of hens in your backyard flock.
If you have too many roosters for your young hens, the hens will get over-mated and start losing feathers on their back. They may also be so stressed that they quit laying eggs. That can happen when too many roosters are chasing after them, and flock owners should protect the hens.
Also, if you aren’t willing to sell or harvest the extra roosters, you will want to avoid getting straight run chickens. Harvesting chickens is pretty straight forward. However, there is a learning curve. And if you get squeamish, or if you don’t have the equipment needed for harvesting, you should avoid getting straight runs.
Another disadvantage is that having large numbers of roosters can get noisy. Roosters crow…all the time. If you live in a neighborhood, your neighbors may complain on you. Check your local regulations to see if roosters are allowed or prohibited. Avoid getting straight run chicks if they are not allowed.
Lastly, roosters can can show quite aggressive behavior. This is all part of the pecking order, but it can be brutal nonetheless.
When should you get a straight-run order?
- When you want both male and female chickens, choose straight run poultry.
- Certain rare breeds are only available as straight run birds. If you want those rare breeds, that is a great way to get them for a lower price. They’re more expensive as they age and grow up.
- If one of your goals is to produce your own food, choose straight-run chicks. Females will provide you with your own chicken eggs in the early morning. Chicken keepers can sell the extra eggs at farmer markets. Excess roosters can be put in the freezer when they reach maturity.
Frequently Asked Questions
The difference between pullets and straight run chickens, are that pullets are young female chickens. What does straight run mean? Straight run chicks include both sexes. And you generally can’t tell what you’re getting until they grow up and mature into  hens and roosters. That can take a long time. And it can leave you with a lot of unwanted roosters.
If you want to get both hens and roosters, for say a dual purpose breed (a breed that’s known to be productive egg layers and good meat producers), then the 50-50 mix of straight run is the best option for you. Just be sure that you have enough chicken coop space and backyard space for the number of chicks you get.Â
If you order straight run chicks from an online hatchery, the ratio could be a 50-50 mix. However, you may have a larger number of unwanted males than egg-producing female birds in the box of chicks mailed to you.
