How do you know which is cockerel and which is hen?

[startinghandle]

A neighbour has hatched 5 eggs back in summer and she can't tell which is hen and which is cockerel !!!
From what I remember when we kept a few poultry they look like hens

 

[Fogg]

If they've not been bred to display gender via feather sexing (or similar) you've either got to wait a good few weeks or learn how to vent sex.

Check Youtube for 'vent sexing' tutorials, there'll be something there I'm sure.

 

[spanners and hammers]

get up at dawn and watch which one makes all the noise

 

[Netherfield]

By around 6 weeks the cocks comb will be starting to show, otherwise as above, it's vent sexing.

 

[Old Boar]

Wait for 3 months and the difference will be obvious. The male chicks will outgrow the female, have thicker legs and long neck feathers. There is no hurry to find out, is there? Vent sexing is difficult, I followed Youtube and got it 100% wrong. I waited and now am absolutely sure which are male and female. One of the cockerels jumped on a hen, wondered what he was doing up there and then fell off. He will learn....

 

[Dry Rot]

Then, just when you think you've got it right, it's hormones and chromosomes popping up to confuse the issue!

Can chickens really change gender?

Cocka-doodle-woahhhhhh....

www.sciencefocus.com

And I bet you didn't know that!

 

[Old Boar]

After the fox got the cockerel, one in my small flock of hens decided to change, and started to crow, which sounded like a strangled cat. When I introduced a new cockerel, she went back to normal and started to lay again.