Are you suspecting you might have roosters in your young flock of chickens?

It seems to happen on a regular basis. You buy a group of straight run* chicks and eventually discover there are waaaay too many males in your group. Here’s how you can identify then at a young age, in case you want to “find them a new home” before they start crowing.

If you have an urban flock of chickens it’s important to know if there are roosters in the bunch because most municipalities prohibit them. They just turn out to be too noisy!

Saddle Feathers in Roosters

One distinguishing feature that male chickens have at an early age is a particular type of feather. Saddle feathers. Hens – female chickens – don’t grow these.

The saddle, on both male and female, is the area of the lower back, right in front of the tail. In roosters this area will start to grow feathers that are long and thin (apparently they make really nice fly-tying feathers).

So keep an eye out for these special feathers that grow from the saddle area of your chickens. It will be easier to cull them from the flock at a young age. A lot of rural folks won’t take full grown roosters, but will more easily take young roosters off your hands.

Good luck!

*Straight run, in the case of chickens, means you have a group of baby chicks of undetermined gender/sex. The hatchery doesn’t take the time to “sex” the chicks, and sells a “straight run” group at a slightly lower price.