Bantam – A miniature sized chicken, normally about half the size.
Bedding – Also referred to as litter, this is the substance that you put on the coop floor and sometimes in the run, to catch the chicken droppings
Brooder – The place where you raise chicks from day 1 until they are 5 – 8 weeks old.
Broody – The instinct of a chicken to lay on the eggs and wait for them to hatch. Referred to as a chicken going broody.
Chick – A baby hen.
Clutch – A larger group of eggs in a nest makes a clutch.
Cocks – Male hens, also called Roosters.
Comb – The fleshy growth on top of a chickens head. It is normally a shade of red. It is much larger on a rooster than a hen.
Coop – The building or structure that the chickens sleep and lay their eggs in.
Dust bath – Chickens clean themselves with dirt to keep clean and kill any flees or parasites.
Feathered out – Once the chicken has all of its adult feathers.
Gizzard – The sack that food enters first to be ground up using grit (see ‘grit’ below.)
Grit – Small rocks that the chickens eat and store in their gizzard to break up food with.
Hen – A female chicken.
Flock – A group of chickens.
Litter – Also referred to as bedding, this is the substance that you put on the coop floor and sometimes in the run, to catch the chicken droppings.
Moult – Also moulting is when chickens loose their feathers. This normally happens about once a year.
Oviduct – The duct that the egg comes out of.
Pecking order - Chickens establish a hierarchical order with one at the top and one at the bottom.
Perch – A place off the ground that the chickens stand on, like a piece of wood, branch, top of fence, etc.
Plumage – The chickens feathers.
Pullet – A young hen, under a year old.
Roost – A piece of wood, or branch that the chickens sleep on in their coop.
Run – An outdoor fenced in area that is connected to the coop.
Scratch – Chicken scratch their feet at the ground to turn up food, also refers to a type of supplemental food that is spread on the ground which allows the chickens to scratch at.
Sexing – Determining if a chick is a hen of a rooster.
Straight run – When you buy chick this means half of the chicks will be roosters and half will be hens.
Vent – The opening that their manure comes out of.
Wattles – The fleshy part that hangs down along side chickens mouths.
