Purdue University Agricultural Extension Service Poultry Science Department Lafayette, Indiana
Mimeo P-64 December 1958
Raising Pullets in Confinement By Joe W. Sicer
There are some distinct advantages in confinement rearing of pullets. There are also some pitfalls that only good management or pure luck can avoid.
Most experienced poultry raisers will agree that when it comes to raising sturdy, robust pullets you can’t beat good pasture. There are those who will argue that they can raise pullets just as well under confinement as on range, but few will claim any better pullets.
There are some situations, however, where even the most ardent  pasture advocate will concede that confinement rearing would be good practice if the poultry raiser will appreciate the necessity for top notch management of the confined birds.
Advantages of confinement - - -
Here are some of the advantages claimed for confinement rearing.
You save labor. You can have a large flock of pullets in one House with water piped in and feed handy in built-in bins. You can Probably do all the feeding and watering in less time than it takes get out to most pastures, not to mention all the extra steps needed to go from one range shelter to another if you have several hundred Pullets in different houses. Large operators can use mechanical feeders.
You save the work of moving to a different pasture each year, or at least to a different spot in the
field. And on those farms where the chickens are largely the wife's responsibility, the job of getting friend husband talked into moving the brooder house, or relaying water pipe to a new location
can be a major task in itself.
Then there are the feeders, and possibly feed storage bins to move if the flock is of much size. Shifting a temporary fence can take a couple hours or more. With confinement rearing, all equipment is right in the house waiting for you.
You eliminate loss from predators. In some areas, foxes, mink, raccoon, chicken hawks, owls, weasels or other such take a heavy toll of birds on range.
You have better control of feed. No more standing back helplessly and watching the wind whip that high priced mash right out of the troughs in clouds. No more feed getting wet from rain and souring before the chickens can eat it. No more feeders blown over by the wind, their contents spilled and the feeders themselves bent into unusable shapes. No more free feed for sparrows and wild birds at your expense.
There is no guessing about what your pullets are eating. t may take more feed than it does
with good pasture, and balanced does need to he perfectly balance, and is probably more expensive but you don't have to withhold any of it to force the pullets to eat more pasture.
Finally if you hatch your chicks anytime between the first of October and the first of February (the period will be longer the north and shorter in the south)