How To Tell a Rooster From a Hen

Google

How to Guides Home

Featured How To Articles

How to Get on American Idol

How to Choose an Aquarium Heater

How to Attract Men

How to Avoid Poison Ivy

How To Use Blackberry Etiquette

How to Break a Bad Habit

How to Break Up With a Woman

How to Burn Abs Calories

How to Burn Enough Calories to Lose One Pound

How to Keep Cats Out of Your Mulch

How To Practice Cellphone Etiquette

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading

How to Choose a Health Insurance Plan

How to Use COBRA to Keep Your Medical Coverage

How to Deal With Allergies

How to Cope With Your Ex Moving On

How to Cure Canker Sores

How to Eliminate Cigarette Smoke from Your Apartment

How to Stop Emotional Abuse

How To Extend The Life Of Your Laptop Battery

How To Replace Board Game Instructions

How to be a Good Husband

How To Spot The Symptoms Of Gout

How To Ace Your Next Job Interview

How to Know When a Relationship is Over

How to Know if Someone is Lying

How to Start Your Own Not-for-Profit Corporation

How To Find And Use An Online Dating Site

How to Prevent Corns on Your Feet

How To Protect Your Child From An Online Predator

How to Read a Stock Market Ticker

How to Remove a Sty from your Eyelid

How to Keep Roaches Out of Your Apartment

How Often to be Screened for Cholesterol

How To Care For Shin Splints

How To Speak With An Angry Person

How to Stop Your Girlfriend from Breaking Up With You

How to Stop Your Husband from Snoring

How to Stop Thinking Obsessive Thoughts

How to Train to be a Bodybuilder

How to Train Your Dog to Roll Over

How to Treat Yourself for Pinkeye

How to Stop a Whining Dog

How to Win the Lottery

How to Tell if a Woman is Cheating

How To Blog

How To Handle The Emotional Strain of Debt

How To Protect Yourself From Pickpockets

How To Attract Mockingbirds

How To Tell A Rooster From A Hen

How To Override A Veto

How To Install Windows Vista

How To Reduce Debt

How To Find and Kill Fleas

How To Break Up a Dog Fight

How To Stop Your Neighbour's Dog From Barking

How To Keep Dreadlocks Clean

How To Find Out Who Sings A Song

How To Repair A Bad Credit Rating

How To Tell If You Have Hard or Soft Water

How Long Does It Take For Pap Smear Results

How To Create A Reading List

How To Get Rid Of Skunk Smells

How To Give Your Pet Oral Medication

How To Run For Local Political Office

Relationships

Health

Site Map

How To Tell a Rooster from a HenPeople new to the chicken business sometimes have a hard time telling their hens from a rooster. It's not quite as cut-and-dried as it is with many other animals. There are several methods for determining the gender of chickens, though.

Roosters have certain behavioral differences than hens. More dramatically, they look different than their female counterparts. Here's a few of the differences in chicken genders.

The Comb and the Wattle

The comb is the crest or tuft of flesh on a chicken's head. The rooster has a bigger and brighter comb than hens. Their combs tend to be red, while hen combs tend to be small and pale. Just remember that roosters want to attract the attention of female chickens, so they need brightly colored plumes on their heads.

The wattle is a lobe of flesh on the chin of a chicken. Like the comb, a rooster's wattle is brighter and bigger than that of a hen.

Colors and Sizes

Feather colors tend to be brighter on a rooster. Hens tend to have less colorful feathers in shades of pale white, or simply a brown earthy color. Roosters, on the other hand, have bolder colors.

Roosters are larger than hens. Hens tend to be fat and short compared to roosters.

Tail and Neck Feathers

The tail feathers of a rooster tend to be longer and brighter than those of a hen. Along with the plume, these feathers tend to be the most outstanding feature on a rooster.

The neck feathers are different on hens and roosters, too. Rooster neck feathers are longer, thinner and more pointed. Hen neck feathers are short and rounded on the end.

The Crow

Another good rule of thumb is that roosters crow and hens do not. I have heard of hens that crow when no roosters are around, but for the most part, it is the rooster which crows. If your chicks are starting to grow up and one of them starts crowing, you most likely have a rooster on your hands.

Sociability

Hens are more retiring and less animated than roosters. Roosters tend to be more sociable and friendly around humans. Also, roosters will be more aggressive among their own kind than hens are.

The Egg

In the end, the proof is in the pudding. The final determiner of a chicken's gender is whether it produces eggs. This is rather elementary, but if you're the sort who can't decide on these things, just wait. If your chicken starts laying eggs, it's a hen. If your chicken never lays eggs, there's a pretty good chance it's a rooster.

Go Down the Checklist

For whatever reason, any one of these characteristics may not be a good determiner for your particular chicken. I would suggest going down the checklist of characteristics, instead of settling on any one of them to make the call. The weight of the evidence will point one way or another.

One Final Note

Experts can determine the difference in chicks from an early age. This requires internal knowledge of a chicken. For the rest of us, we're going to have to wait until a chicken grows up a bit.

 

How To Guides 365 is Copyright 2007 - 2008. All rights reserved, no unauthorized duplication.