March 13, 2025 • 18 mins
🐔 Is your chicken a hen or a rooster? In this episode, we break down the key differences between a hen and a rooster, covering everything from physical characteristics to behavior and crowing. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced poultry keeper, this guide will help you determine if your bird is a rooster or a hen!
🔍 Keywords:
- How to tell if a chicken is a hen or a rooster
- Difference between hen and rooster
- Do roosters lay eggs?
- How to identify a rooster
- Chicken keeping for beginners
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer (00:01):
Welcome poultry enthusiasts to another exciting
episode of the Poultry NerdsPodcast.
Carey (00:07):
Whether you're raising backyard chickens, diving deep
into the science of avianhealth, or you're just obsessed
with all things feathers andeggs, you're in the right place.
I'm Kerry.
Jennifer (00:19):
And I'm Jennifer.
We're your hosts.
And today we've got an episodepacked with everything you need
to know.
About, is it a hen or a rooster?
Carey (00:29):
From expert tips, fascinating facts, we're here to
help you become the ultimatepoultry pro.
It's time to get nerdy aboutpoultry.
Today's episode is brought toyou by Purely Poultry.
Ready to grow your flock?
Purely Poultry offers a hugeselection of birds, chicks,
(00:53):
waterfowl, turkeys, guineas, andeven hatching eggs.
Ship safely to your local postoffice.
Whether you're a beginner or aseasoned poultry keeper, find
exactly what you'll need atpurelypoultry.
com.
Welcome.
Today, we're gonna talk abouthow to figure out if it's a hen
(01:16):
or a rooster.
Jennifer (01:18):
If you're just watching Facebook and all you
gotta do is look at those wingfeathers.
It tells you everything you needto know on every single chick
that exists.
So this is the shortest podcastin history.
Carey (01:30):
Or no, look, So I have this guy.
He says, Hey, do you mind if Ipick the chicks up?
I said how many are you on?
And he said I'm gonna get fiveor six of them, but I want to
make sure I only get onerooster.
And I was like, okay.
And so he picks one up, grabs itby the feet, holds it upside
(01:52):
down.
And I'm like, what are youdoing?
And he goes, Oh if they try toget back up, they're a rooster.
If they just lay there, they'rea hen.
I was like, oh, okay.
Jennifer (02:06):
On their backs?
Carey (02:08):
Yeah, like he would hold the feet with a head dangling.
I've had.
Jennifer (02:13):
And
Carey (02:13):
he said if they try to turn back up.
But then they're a rooster, butif they just lay there, they're
a hen.
Jennifer (02:22):
I had somebody get some turkey pulps from me one
time, and she said that if youhold them in your hand and you
let their legs dangle, if theytried to pull their legs back
up, it was a male, and if theylet their legs dangle, it was a
female.
Carey (02:39):
Okay.
And look, so with the otherthing, like I actually Googled
it cause you know me, I'm onGoogle stuff to check it out.
And.
That's a common thing for peopleto think that's the case.
And there's some people thathave said it's about accurate
half the time, which I wouldthink anything would be half the
(03:01):
time when you have 2 options
Jennifer (03:05):
about the same as the shape of the egg, or if you put
it in the refrigerator or not,we really got to start doing the
video just because of theexpressions on your face.
Carey (03:14):
But no, but you're right, like I've had people order
hatching eggs and they're like,can I have ones that are more
rounded than pointy?
Because I've heard pointy onesare this and rounded ones are
this, and I would like to havemore hens.
And I'm like I just, I want tosay, I'm very confident that a
(03:35):
scientist has studied that.
If there was some science to it,hatchery folks would be rich.
Jennifer (03:45):
And they wouldn't be ticking off all of the animal
rights peaceful by the grindingof all of the male chicks that
supposedly happen.
Carey (03:56):
Yeah and I'll just tell y'all.
People don't do that.
They sell those roosters too.
Yeah, and they don't sell them alot cheaper either.
But hey, stick around as webreak down the key differences
between hens and roosters,covering everything from
physical traits to the way theyact.
Jennifer (04:17):
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference
between a hen and a rooster isby looking at their physical
traits.
Carey (04:24):
Look, let's start with a comb and waddles.
A rooster will typically have amuch larger and redder comb and
waddles compared to a hen.
That is a dead giveaway.
Jennifer (04:38):
Yes.
Carey (04:38):
They want to.
Get chicks and figure it out.
And now there are some that youcan hail after a week or two,
but unless you're using somekind of sex link trait.
Jennifer (04:55):
I think a pullet's waddles and hen don't they,
waddles and comb, don't theystay a little bit pinker?
A rooster will get redderfaster.
Carey (05:04):
I know that with the American breasts that I have,
the Rhode Island reds that Ihave, and the game birds that I
have, with those, that is true,The comb will be more of a dark
(05:25):
red on the ones that typicallygrow up to be the males and the
waddles.
On the females, they'll be moreof a pink color, but I'm not 100
percent positive that's the casefor all.
Jennifer (05:40):
No, the orpingtons that I have, they'll stay pink,
but the breasts, I was lookingat them today because I am like
anxious for them to start layingeggs, and all of their combs and
wattles are red, and theyhaven't laid the first egg yet.
So I do think it's somewhatbreed dependent.
Carey (05:58):
And I've seen yours and you, if you're judging on the
size of the Coleman wattles,your roosters are very obviously
roosters, but what about like aChanticleer, they don't really
have Coleman wattles or bredthat way from Canada.
(06:19):
So I I wonder what that does.
Jennifer (06:22):
You're going to have to go by their more muscular
legs.
Carey (06:26):
I was going to say body size, maybe.
Tail
Jennifer (06:29):
feathers.
Carey (06:31):
Yeah.
Tail feathers.
They'll typically be moredeveloped on the roosters
because they like to be allbougie and stuff like that.
I will say a lot of people alsowill look for spurs.
But even that's not 100 percentbecause I have seen rare
instances where some breeds ofchickens, the hens have spurs
(06:55):
too.
I
Jennifer (06:56):
think for the most part, you're going to be looking
at their hackle feathers andtheir sickle feathers.
If, we're talking about a littlebit older birds.
But even
Carey (07:07):
then, you got to know what the bird is.
Jennifer (07:11):
Yeah,
Carey (07:12):
because I would think some would be different.
Jennifer (07:16):
Let's talk about behavior.
Carey (07:18):
Can say one of the biggest giveaways about four
months down the road is going togo with.
Number one, who's crowing, buteven then, some people will
swear that they have henscrowing.
(07:39):
I would say until you seesomebody on somebody else's
back.
Jennifer (07:43):
Or an egg.
Carey (07:44):
Or an egg.
And that's, that all goes tobeing a good poultry nerd, and
knowing your flock, and knowingtheir characteristics.
Yeah.
Because a lot of this stuff doesvary.
Based on breeds.
You've also can tell byaggression levels, but let's be
(08:07):
honest, most breeders don't keepaggressive anything, they'll get
rid of it because they don'twant aggression in their flock.
So
Jennifer (08:21):
the good thing.
Carey (08:23):
Yeah.
I have seen aggressive pullets.
Jennifer (08:28):
You want to hear a funny story?
Carey (08:30):
Of course.
Jennifer (08:32):
We were having to downsize all the birds when we
moved out here.
Because we moved from about anhour away.
And we went out there one day.
And we harvested all of themales.
I was only going to bring thehens with us.
So I harvested all of them.
Go to bed, get woken up the nextmorning by a crowing rooster.
Carey (08:56):
Cock a doodle doo.
Jennifer (08:58):
So I go out there and I'm looking and he's just
standing there looking at me.
And that bird was a hen for likeclose to a year.
And I kept, I, I would havesworn, I would have lost money
on a bet that was a hen andovernight because there was no
(09:20):
competition, he turned into arooster and he was a lemon
cuckoo, Orpington, absolutelybeautiful bird and we called him
FDR.
After that.
We kept him for several years.
But we called him FDR, Faux deRooster.
Carey (09:40):
So you're like, finally I'm in charge.
Jennifer (09:43):
He was huge too.
Like he was the size of a henthe night before.
And the next morning he was likefour pounds heavier.
And he had a comb and he wascrowing.
And I am not making this up.
Carey (09:54):
I
Jennifer (09:58):
mean, he was in charge.
Carey (10:00):
That is crazy.
Jennifer (10:02):
Yep.
So yeah.
Yeah.
So it happens even to the bestof
Carey (10:07):
us.
Hiding it pretty well.
Jennifer (10:12):
Yep.
So why does it matter if youhave a hen or a rooster?
Carey (10:16):
So I got to say this, there's a large number of
people.
And this is why I love a certainbackyard group because I like
entertainment and I find somestuff comical.
But there's some people thatonly want eggs and those of us
(10:39):
that know that they don't need arooster.
They can have a hen and justhave eggs.
I have, I'm outside the city,but I have a lot of customers
that will come to me from thecity to buy a small coop
because, this time of year,everybody wants to be a
homesteader and they want tosave the biggest jokes.
(11:02):
They want to save money on eggs.
And they're like, they want toget some hens and I'm like,
okay, here you go.
Here's your little coop.
And, they're going to raisechickens.
I love it.
Jennifer (11:16):
It's
Carey (11:16):
like in the city, if I'm right outside of Birmingham, but
if you're like in the Hooverarea.
or the Vestavia area, you'reallowed to have up to six hens,
but you cannot have a roosterper city code.
So that would be one reason withthe legal restrictions, noise
(11:37):
complaints, or whatever.
Jennifer (11:41):
If you're not going to breed, you just want eggs.
You don't need one either.
No.
And if you have too many ofthem, they're going to fight
with each other for dominance.
Unless you get a reallysubmissive one, like FDR.
Carey (11:57):
Like I have a coop that is a 10 foot by 12 foot.
I have three roosters in there.
And about 18 to 20 hens, andit's a tractor, it gets moved
very often.
And people are like, thoseroosters are huge, you don't
have aggression problems?
I'm like, no.
(12:19):
The aggression problems havelong been in a crock pot or
something.
Then that.
Like the, these, I went downthere one night to go check on
'em, and two of the roosterswere actually on a pole roos to
side by side.
Like they were homies.
So it is possible for them toget along.
(12:39):
But I would also venture to saythat if I had three roosters and
three hens.
Or two hens.
They may not get along as well.
Jennifer (12:52):
No, they're not going to.
You need to, that's whereculling comes in.
Carey (12:58):
That's where not having too many chickens comes in
handy.
Because some people
Jennifer (13:05):
I do not understand what you're saying.
Carey (13:08):
Okay, we don't see the thing, but I had a conversation
with a lady the other nightabout feed and she looks at feed
the same way I do, but she washelping people find a feed that
was like 2 off, which made it10.
(13:29):
99 a bag, which, okay, forsomebody.
That has way too many birds andfiguring out how to feed their
birds is a problem, then I couldsee that.
But here's the thing, just don'thave too many birds.
Jennifer (13:45):
I don't understand what you're saying.
Carey (13:48):
But you feed your birds really good feed.
Jennifer (13:50):
I do feed my birds really good feed.
Carey (13:52):
Yeah.
Jennifer (13:54):
Yeah, overcrowding is a problem.
I'm just kidding.
Carey (13:58):
Can a hen ever turn into a rooster?
I know the situation that youhad, but
Jennifer (14:07):
it's actually a yes, it is possible that's a story
for another podcast, though,because you put that in there
and you weren't expecting thatanswer.
Carey (14:20):
Okay, but are you talking about componing?
Nope.
Oh, okay.
Jennifer (14:26):
Nope.
Carey (14:28):
I, they do that surgery on people, I guess they can do
it on chickens too.
Jennifer (14:33):
Yep.
You're sorry your ass now,aren't you?
We'll do that on anotherpodcast.
Yeah, that's for, that's
Carey (14:38):
a but people, for the biggest part, there may be some
truth to a lot of the thingsthat you see on internet.
If you look at the wing and itmakes a B, is it one or is it
straight, is it another?
For some breeds, some of thosethings are true, but you need to
(15:00):
know that it's not a one anddone thing.
Jennifer (15:05):
So that image that floats around Facebook this time
of year.
Where the, some of the feathersare shorter, like every other
feather is shorter, and thenevery other feather is longer.
So they think that, okay, youlook at the wing, and then you
can tell.
That picture was actually partof a very long article that I
can post on the website forreference.
(15:27):
But that is only accurate oncertain breeds, and they have to
be a fast feathering breed.
Yeah.
So it's not really accurate formost people at all.
Carey (15:38):
That's what a grow out pin is for, right?
As a chicken person, you justthrow them all in the grow out
because you got to wait and findout what they are and it's a
good excuse to have more.
Jennifer (15:53):
If you want to know when they're chicks, then you
really need to know your birds.
And if you just bought thechicks at the box bin store or
whatever, then you're not gonnaknow.
But like my Orpingtons, thegirls will get their tail
feathers earlier than the boys.
But then by, I don't know, fouror five weeks, you can't tell
(16:17):
anymore.
They're caught up to each other.
Carey (16:19):
Right.
Jennifer (16:20):
So, you just got to know your birds and, or be
patient.
Carey (16:26):
And I'll say this, I've seen a lot of people posting,
hey, does anybody know where acertain store that starts with a
tractor Has pullets, because alot of places do advertise that
they sell just pullets.
I've also heard of people buyinga bunch of said pullets and
(16:50):
getting about half a brooderfull of roosters.
Jennifer (16:54):
If you have the sex linked chickens, then you could
guarantee bullets.
Yes.
And we did a show on that.
And, so you could go back andreference that show.
Auto sexing or sex linked.
Carey (17:07):
Yeah.
That was actually a pretty goodshow.
I learned about a couple ofdifferent things that could be
sex linked that I didn't thinkabout.
If you want to make a link andfind out.
You can do that.
Jennifer (17:21):
That we didn't mention on the chicks, if you watch
their behavior a male will standup right a little bit more and a
female's back will be morehorizontal.
Carey (17:35):
Like when you look at breed standards the rooster
stands up more and, but thefemales, like on a Rhode Island
Red, if you look at their back,It should essentially be a brick
with feathers going this way anda head up this way.
That's a wrap for today'sepisode.
If you learned something new,give us a a subscribe, share,
(17:57):
and leave us a review.
And as always, happy chickenkeeping.
Welcome poultry enthusiasts to another exciting
episode of the Poultry NerdsPodcast.
Carey (00:07):
Whether you're raising backyard chickens, diving deep
into the science of avianhealth, or you're just obsessed
with all things feathers andeggs, you're in the right place.
I'm Kerry.
Jennifer (00:19):
And I'm Jennifer.
We're your hosts.
And today we've got an episodepacked with everything you need
to know.
About, is it a hen or a rooster?
Carey (00:29):
From expert tips, fascinating facts, we're here to
help you become the ultimatepoultry pro.
It's time to get nerdy aboutpoultry.
Today's episode is brought toyou by Purely Poultry.
Ready to grow your flock?
Purely Poultry offers a hugeselection of birds, chicks,
(00:53):
waterfowl, turkeys, guineas, andeven hatching eggs.
Ship safely to your local postoffice.
Whether you're a beginner or aseasoned poultry keeper, find
exactly what you'll need atpurelypoultry.
com.
Welcome.
Today, we're gonna talk abouthow to figure out if it's a hen
(01:16):
or a rooster.
Jennifer (01:18):
If you're just watching Facebook and all you
gotta do is look at those wingfeathers.
It tells you everything you needto know on every single chick
that exists.
So this is the shortest podcastin history.
Carey (01:30):
Or no, look, So I have this guy.
He says, Hey, do you mind if Ipick the chicks up?
I said how many are you on?
And he said I'm gonna get fiveor six of them, but I want to
make sure I only get onerooster.
And I was like, okay.
And so he picks one up, grabs itby the feet, holds it upside
(01:52):
down.
And I'm like, what are youdoing?
And he goes, Oh if they try toget back up, they're a rooster.
If they just lay there, they'rea hen.
I was like, oh, okay.
Jennifer (02:06):
On their backs?
Carey (02:08):
Yeah, like he would hold the feet with a head dangling.
I've had.
Jennifer (02:13):
And
Carey (02:13):
he said if they try to turn back up.
But then they're a rooster, butif they just lay there, they're
a hen.
Jennifer (02:22):
I had somebody get some turkey pulps from me one
time, and she said that if youhold them in your hand and you
let their legs dangle, if theytried to pull their legs back
up, it was a male, and if theylet their legs dangle, it was a
female.
Carey (02:39):
Okay.
And look, so with the otherthing, like I actually Googled
it cause you know me, I'm onGoogle stuff to check it out.
And.
That's a common thing for peopleto think that's the case.
And there's some people thathave said it's about accurate
half the time, which I wouldthink anything would be half the
(03:01):
time when you have 2 options
Jennifer (03:05):
about the same as the shape of the egg, or if you put
it in the refrigerator or not,we really got to start doing the
video just because of theexpressions on your face.
Carey (03:14):
But no, but you're right, like I've had people order
hatching eggs and they're like,can I have ones that are more
rounded than pointy?
Because I've heard pointy onesare this and rounded ones are
this, and I would like to havemore hens.
And I'm like I just, I want tosay, I'm very confident that a
(03:35):
scientist has studied that.
If there was some science to it,hatchery folks would be rich.
Jennifer (03:45):
And they wouldn't be ticking off all of the animal
rights peaceful by the grindingof all of the male chicks that
supposedly happen.
Carey (03:56):
Yeah and I'll just tell y'all.
People don't do that.
They sell those roosters too.
Yeah, and they don't sell them alot cheaper either.
But hey, stick around as webreak down the key differences
between hens and roosters,covering everything from
physical traits to the way theyact.
Jennifer (04:17):
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference
between a hen and a rooster isby looking at their physical
traits.
Carey (04:24):
Look, let's start with a comb and waddles.
A rooster will typically have amuch larger and redder comb and
waddles compared to a hen.
That is a dead giveaway.
Jennifer (04:38):
Yes.
Carey (04:38):
They want to.
Get chicks and figure it out.
And now there are some that youcan hail after a week or two,
but unless you're using somekind of sex link trait.
Jennifer (04:55):
I think a pullet's waddles and hen don't they,
waddles and comb, don't theystay a little bit pinker?
A rooster will get redderfaster.
Carey (05:04):
I know that with the American breasts that I have,
the Rhode Island reds that Ihave, and the game birds that I
have, with those, that is true,The comb will be more of a dark
(05:25):
red on the ones that typicallygrow up to be the males and the
waddles.
On the females, they'll be moreof a pink color, but I'm not 100
percent positive that's the casefor all.
Jennifer (05:40):
No, the orpingtons that I have, they'll stay pink,
but the breasts, I was lookingat them today because I am like
anxious for them to start layingeggs, and all of their combs and
wattles are red, and theyhaven't laid the first egg yet.
So I do think it's somewhatbreed dependent.
Carey (05:58):
And I've seen yours and you, if you're judging on the
size of the Coleman wattles,your roosters are very obviously
roosters, but what about like aChanticleer, they don't really
have Coleman wattles or bredthat way from Canada.
(06:19):
So I I wonder what that does.
Jennifer (06:22):
You're going to have to go by their more muscular
legs.
Carey (06:26):
I was going to say body size, maybe.
Tail
Jennifer (06:29):
feathers.
Carey (06:31):
Yeah.
Tail feathers.
They'll typically be moredeveloped on the roosters
because they like to be allbougie and stuff like that.
I will say a lot of people alsowill look for spurs.
But even that's not 100 percentbecause I have seen rare
instances where some breeds ofchickens, the hens have spurs
(06:55):
too.
I
Jennifer (06:56):
think for the most part, you're going to be looking
at their hackle feathers andtheir sickle feathers.
If, we're talking about a littlebit older birds.
But even
Carey (07:07):
then, you got to know what the bird is.
Jennifer (07:11):
Yeah,
Carey (07:12):
because I would think some would be different.
Jennifer (07:16):
Let's talk about behavior.
Carey (07:18):
Can say one of the biggest giveaways about four
months down the road is going togo with.
Number one, who's crowing, buteven then, some people will
swear that they have henscrowing.
(07:39):
I would say until you seesomebody on somebody else's
back.
Jennifer (07:43):
Or an egg.
Carey (07:44):
Or an egg.
And that's, that all goes tobeing a good poultry nerd, and
knowing your flock, and knowingtheir characteristics.
Yeah.
Because a lot of this stuff doesvary.
Based on breeds.
You've also can tell byaggression levels, but let's be
(08:07):
honest, most breeders don't keepaggressive anything, they'll get
rid of it because they don'twant aggression in their flock.
So
Jennifer (08:21):
the good thing.
Carey (08:23):
Yeah.
I have seen aggressive pullets.
Jennifer (08:28):
You want to hear a funny story?
Carey (08:30):
Of course.
Jennifer (08:32):
We were having to downsize all the birds when we
moved out here.
Because we moved from about anhour away.
And we went out there one day.
And we harvested all of themales.
I was only going to bring thehens with us.
So I harvested all of them.
Go to bed, get woken up the nextmorning by a crowing rooster.
Carey (08:56):
Cock a doodle doo.
Jennifer (08:58):
So I go out there and I'm looking and he's just
standing there looking at me.
And that bird was a hen for likeclose to a year.
And I kept, I, I would havesworn, I would have lost money
on a bet that was a hen andovernight because there was no
(09:20):
competition, he turned into arooster and he was a lemon
cuckoo, Orpington, absolutelybeautiful bird and we called him
FDR.
After that.
We kept him for several years.
But we called him FDR, Faux deRooster.
Carey (09:40):
So you're like, finally I'm in charge.
Jennifer (09:43):
He was huge too.
Like he was the size of a henthe night before.
And the next morning he was likefour pounds heavier.
And he had a comb and he wascrowing.
And I am not making this up.
Carey (09:54):
I
Jennifer (09:58):
mean, he was in charge.
Carey (10:00):
That is crazy.
Jennifer (10:02):
Yep.
So yeah.
Yeah.
So it happens even to the bestof
Carey (10:07):
us.
Hiding it pretty well.
Jennifer (10:12):
Yep.
So why does it matter if youhave a hen or a rooster?
Carey (10:16):
So I got to say this, there's a large number of
people.
And this is why I love a certainbackyard group because I like
entertainment and I find somestuff comical.
But there's some people thatonly want eggs and those of us
(10:39):
that know that they don't need arooster.
They can have a hen and justhave eggs.
I have, I'm outside the city,but I have a lot of customers
that will come to me from thecity to buy a small coop
because, this time of year,everybody wants to be a
homesteader and they want tosave the biggest jokes.
(11:02):
They want to save money on eggs.
And they're like, they want toget some hens and I'm like,
okay, here you go.
Here's your little coop.
And, they're going to raisechickens.
I love it.
Jennifer (11:16):
It's
Carey (11:16):
like in the city, if I'm right outside of Birmingham, but
if you're like in the Hooverarea.
or the Vestavia area, you'reallowed to have up to six hens,
but you cannot have a roosterper city code.
So that would be one reason withthe legal restrictions, noise
(11:37):
complaints, or whatever.
Jennifer (11:41):
If you're not going to breed, you just want eggs.
You don't need one either.
No.
And if you have too many ofthem, they're going to fight
with each other for dominance.
Unless you get a reallysubmissive one, like FDR.
Carey (11:57):
Like I have a coop that is a 10 foot by 12 foot.
I have three roosters in there.
And about 18 to 20 hens, andit's a tractor, it gets moved
very often.
And people are like, thoseroosters are huge, you don't
have aggression problems?
I'm like, no.
(12:19):
The aggression problems havelong been in a crock pot or
something.
Then that.
Like the, these, I went downthere one night to go check on
'em, and two of the roosterswere actually on a pole roos to
side by side.
Like they were homies.
So it is possible for them toget along.
(12:39):
But I would also venture to saythat if I had three roosters and
three hens.
Or two hens.
They may not get along as well.
Jennifer (12:52):
No, they're not going to.
You need to, that's whereculling comes in.
Carey (12:58):
That's where not having too many chickens comes in
handy.
Because some people
Jennifer (13:05):
I do not understand what you're saying.
Carey (13:08):
Okay, we don't see the thing, but I had a conversation
with a lady the other nightabout feed and she looks at feed
the same way I do, but she washelping people find a feed that
was like 2 off, which made it10.
(13:29):
99 a bag, which, okay, forsomebody.
That has way too many birds andfiguring out how to feed their
birds is a problem, then I couldsee that.
But here's the thing, just don'thave too many birds.
Jennifer (13:45):
I don't understand what you're saying.
Carey (13:48):
But you feed your birds really good feed.
Jennifer (13:50):
I do feed my birds really good feed.
Carey (13:52):
Yeah.
Jennifer (13:54):
Yeah, overcrowding is a problem.
I'm just kidding.
Carey (13:58):
Can a hen ever turn into a rooster?
I know the situation that youhad, but
Jennifer (14:07):
it's actually a yes, it is possible that's a story
for another podcast, though,because you put that in there
and you weren't expecting thatanswer.
Carey (14:20):
Okay, but are you talking about componing?
Nope.
Oh, okay.
Jennifer (14:26):
Nope.
Carey (14:28):
I, they do that surgery on people, I guess they can do
it on chickens too.
Jennifer (14:33):
Yep.
You're sorry your ass now,aren't you?
We'll do that on anotherpodcast.
Yeah, that's for, that's
Carey (14:38):
a but people, for the biggest part, there may be some
truth to a lot of the thingsthat you see on internet.
If you look at the wing and itmakes a B, is it one or is it
straight, is it another?
For some breeds, some of thosethings are true, but you need to
(15:00):
know that it's not a one anddone thing.
Jennifer (15:05):
So that image that floats around Facebook this time
of year.
Where the, some of the feathersare shorter, like every other
feather is shorter, and thenevery other feather is longer.
So they think that, okay, youlook at the wing, and then you
can tell.
That picture was actually partof a very long article that I
can post on the website forreference.
(15:27):
But that is only accurate oncertain breeds, and they have to
be a fast feathering breed.
Yeah.
So it's not really accurate formost people at all.
Carey (15:38):
That's what a grow out pin is for, right?
As a chicken person, you justthrow them all in the grow out
because you got to wait and findout what they are and it's a
good excuse to have more.
Jennifer (15:53):
If you want to know when they're chicks, then you
really need to know your birds.
And if you just bought thechicks at the box bin store or
whatever, then you're not gonnaknow.
But like my Orpingtons, thegirls will get their tail
feathers earlier than the boys.
But then by, I don't know, fouror five weeks, you can't tell
(16:17):
anymore.
They're caught up to each other.
Carey (16:19):
Right.
Jennifer (16:20):
So, you just got to know your birds and, or be
patient.
Carey (16:26):
And I'll say this, I've seen a lot of people posting,
hey, does anybody know where acertain store that starts with a
tractor Has pullets, because alot of places do advertise that
they sell just pullets.
I've also heard of people buyinga bunch of said pullets and
(16:50):
getting about half a brooderfull of roosters.
Jennifer (16:54):
If you have the sex linked chickens, then you could
guarantee bullets.
Yes.
And we did a show on that.
And, so you could go back andreference that show.
Auto sexing or sex linked.
Carey (17:07):
Yeah.
That was actually a pretty goodshow.
I learned about a couple ofdifferent things that could be
sex linked that I didn't thinkabout.
If you want to make a link andfind out.
You can do that.
Jennifer (17:21):
That we didn't mention on the chicks, if you watch
their behavior a male will standup right a little bit more and a
female's back will be morehorizontal.
Carey (17:35):
Like when you look at breed standards the rooster
stands up more and, but thefemales, like on a Rhode Island
Red, if you look at their back,It should essentially be a brick
with feathers going this way anda head up this way.
That's a wrap for today'sepisode.
If you learned something new,give us a a subscribe, share,
(17:57):
and leave us a review.
And as always, happy chickenkeeping.
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