Chook Me!

How do I tell the difference between chickens and roosters?

At home i have nine baby chicks they are now about 2-3 months old (they were born at the end of november) my dad only wants to keep the hens and we are going to give my uncle and grandpa the roosters how can we tell the difference. more info: we think some are roosters because they fight but people have said they all fight please help

Public Comments

1. The hens should have longer tails, and the roosters will be leggier.
2. chiken is the girl roster is the boy that help u
3. the roosters will have a claw growing in the back of its leg by now.... or another sign is they will be bigger then the rest of the group
4. wait to see if their tail feathers are pointed up...or if they crow. Orrr.. thread a needle and hold the thread (with needle) over its head. If the needle rotates in a circle, its a girl. Back and forth, it's a guy
5. it's pretty hard to tell till they get a little older, they will be a little more aggressive than the hens and their combs will be larger, they will also grow the longer tail feathers.
6. unless you are a Professional chicken sexer there is no way your gonna be able to tell before they are full grown sorry and only rooster fight but thats when they are full grown
7. look for a penis, don't you have any common sense?
8. YOURJELL.....are you crazy??!!!??
9. There are two relatively easy ways to determine the sex of a chick: First, you could look at the feathers at the ends of the wings. This method only works if the chicks were specially bred to exhibit their sex in this way. The females (at this point known as pullets) have both long and short feathers. The long ones are sort of spiky, and more like what you would think of as "feathers." The males (known at this point as cockerels) only have short, downy feathers at the ends of their wings. Second, you could vent sex the chicks. While also relatively easy, this method is a bit more messy. You must first (as gently as possible) squeeze the feces out of the chick (which opens up its anal "vent" or cloaca), then look where the feces came out to see if there is a small bump. If there is, the chick is male. Some females have slight bumps, but none have the large ones typical of males. These bumps are the sex organs; they are internal.
10. Boys and girls are chickens. The boy is a rooster and the girl is a hen. Jakus has it right. The rooster will grow a spur on the inside of the leg just above the foot. Melissa also has it as the roosters comb will be larger and red as the hens will be a pale red and smaller. Roosters do not have a penis. Shalom also is right as he explains the male organ bump and the female will not have one or it will be tiny.
11. If they are all the same breed, then you should be able to tell by their colors and makings, if you can find a picture of what they will look like when they are full grown that might help too. Also look at their combs, sometimes (not always though) you can tell the roosters apart because they will have larger and darker red combs. The roosters do tend to fight more with each other, but that depends on the breed and if you have more than one rooster. Sometimes the rooster's tails will be darker, but again this depends on the breed. They should start to crow and then it will be a lot easier to tell. Also the boys might be bigger than the hens, and they might have small spurs on the backs of their legs. hope that helps!:)