Chickens provide a farming family with a daily egg harvest and the occasional chicken dinner. Most farms separate their female hens inside a coop while letting their rooster, the male chicken, roam free. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be tough to distinguish between a rooster and a hen in order to make that separation. While different chicken breeds have their own identifying characteristics, you should still be able to tell which one is a rooster and which is a hen based on the way they look.
Instructions
1. Examine the combs of your chickens. Combs are the rosy-colored skin protrusions on the face and head. Hens typically have smaller combs than roosters. If some of your chickens' combs are floppy and falling across their faces, these are the hens.
2. Compare the tail feathers of the chickens. The rooster's tail feathers will be longer and fuller than the hen's.
3. Examine the spur on the back of the chicken's feet. This is a long protrusion looking much like an extra toe that extends in the direction opposite the rest of the toes. Roosters always have thick, long spurs. Hens don't often have spurs, but when they do, they're not as big as the rooster's.
4. Look for a shine on the feathers of the rooster. Roosters have oil glands that help them preen their feathers, making them look shinier than the feathers on a hen.
5. Pick out the crowing chicken. Only roosters can crow, and not hens. If you notice that one of your birds crows loudly, especially early in the morning, this will be the rooster.
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