Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Fredjones on November 22, 2009, 00:10
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Hi all, how do you tell the age of your chooks?, is it something to do with there combs----Fred
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with difficulty,
once they are above 6 months and generally grown, their wattles and combs will change colour, depending on wether they are in lay, or have gone off, they are in lay when their wattles and combs are bright red to show the cockerel they are ready, and they will fade out of lay, so he does not bother them.
however there are always exceptions, but wattles and combs, as far as i know dont keep growing, just change colour.
i am sure a more experienced keeper will possibly be able to advise you, they will be along soon, as its raining.
lol
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Really difficult to tell. If someone is selling a young POL hen, I always look at the legs and feet. Young legs usually smoother, feet have shorter toe nails etc, but after that age, I really cant tell, just very tatty legs/feet USUALLY an older bird. Cockerels you can also check out their spurs.
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Young pullets can look a bit "beaky" with smaller,paler head gear.
If they are a "yellow" legged breed then the colour can fade from the legs at the end of a laying season. After that I agree it can be quite hard to tell a 2 year old from a 3 or four year old specially if they have just moulted out.