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Print this PageChicken Terminology
Chick – a young chicken
Cockerel - a young male chicken, which becomes a cock (or rooster) at a certain age*
Pullet - a young female chicken, which becomes a hen at a certain age*
* The age at which a cockerel becomes a cock and a pullet becomes a hen depends on what type of chicken is being raised. Purebred poultry producers have very age-specific definitions. A bird is a cockerel or pullet if it is less than one year of age. After one year of age, the chicken is referred to as a cock or hen. In the commercial industry a sexually mature male chicken (around five months of age) is referred to as a rooster. A female chicken is called a hen after it begins egg production (again, around five months of age).
Capon - a castrated male chicken. These are valued for their meat as the lack of testosterone and slower ageing giving more time for weight and fat gain makes for better flavour.
Broiler – a chicken reared for meat rather than for eggs.
Layer – a chicken reared for eggs rather than meat.
Broody - a hen who has laid a clutch of eggs and is now sitting on them full time.
Bantam – a miniature breed of poultry.
Comb - the fleshy red protuberance on the top of a chicken's hea.d.
Dewlap - the single flap of skin below the beak of turkeys and some geese.
Wattles - the fleshy red things hanging under a chicken's beak.
Chook (rhymes with "book") - Australian term for a hen, as in "A flock of chooks."
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