Чем отличается hen и chicken
Чем отличается hen и chicken
Chicken is the general term for the bird, it can be any age or any gender. A hen is an adult female chicken.
‘Chicken’ includes male and female chickens.
Hens are female adult chickens.
Roosters are male adult chickens.
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Hen vs Chicken – What is The Main Difference
Poultry terminology can be confusing at times. You may see items labeled as chicken, hen, Cornish game hen, or more. The terms chicken and hen are often used interchangeably, and while this isn’t entirely incorrect, it’s also not entirely correct.
There are times when the two words can be referring to the same thing, but this is not always the case. Here, we’ll explain the difference between hens and chickens.
Chicken
A chicken is a species of domesticated fowl, descended from the wild red jungle fowl which is native to southeast Asia. Chickens are one of the most widespread domestic animals on earth and are kept almost exclusively as a food source and very rarely for any other purpose.
Chickens can provide for humans in two ways. First, they can provide eggs which are a valuable source of nutrition. In fact, for most of the history of the domestic chicken, they were kept primarily for their eggs, since allowing the chicken to live and lay eggs for years provided far more food than killing and eating the chicken.
Chicken meat, usually just called chicken, is the other way that chickens provide food. For centuries, almost all the chicken meat that was eaten came from birds that were too old to continue laying eggs. Now, though, that isn’t the case. In fact, there are even distinct breeds of chicken that have been bred for eating, and other breeds that have been bred for egg-laying. Egg-laying chickens produce large numbers of eggs very quickly, and usually year-round. Eating chickens, or broiler chickens, grow more quickly and lay fewer eggs.
Chickens are also playful and intelligent birds, which leads some people to simply keep them as pets. Chickens are omnivores and eat a mixed diet of meat, bugs, plants, and seeds.
As we mentioned earlier, chickens were domesticated from the red jungle fowl, a bird native to Southeast Asia. They may have been one of the earliest domesticated animals, as they were already found in Europe (Greece) by the 5th century BC.
Chickens can be found in nearly every country on earth, and most cultures have their own distinct breeds of chicken, although most of these heritage breeds are now quite rare and have been largely replaced with industrial breeds that grow much faster and put on more weight.
Male chickens over a year old are called roosters or cocks, and male chickens under a year old are called cockerels. A castrated rooster is called a capon, and in some places, these make up the majority of the chickens sold for meat. The meat from capons is considered to be of very high quality, more tender, and flavorful than most chicken.
Hens
A hen is a female chicken over a year old. A female chicken under a year old is a pullet. All hens are chickens, but not all chickens are hens. Hens are mature females and are mainly raised for egg-laying.
The age at which a hen will start laying eggs depends on the breed. Some breeds can start laying eggs as young as 16 weeks old, while others won’t be ready to lay until they are closer to 20 weeks old. In the egg-laying industry, a chicken is considered a hen as soon as she is ready to lay eggs, rather than at one year of age.
Chicks hatched in winter will take longer to develop the ability to lay eggs than chicks hatched in the warmer months. Some hens, once they start laying, will continue to lay eggs every day, while others will only lay eggs every other day. Since this is a natural process, there will be times when the hens don’t stick to that schedule and skip a day or two of laying.
Younger hens lay eggs less often than hens in their prime, and so do older hens. So, you’ll notice that as the hen gets older, the frequency with which she lays her eggs will first increase, and then hold steady for a while, and after about four years will slowly decline until it stops altogether.
Hens do not need a rooster present in order to lay eggs. If you keep a rooster around the hens, there’s a very good chance the eggs will fertilize and hatch new chicks. While this may be desirable if you’re breeding chickens, it’s less so if you want eggs to eat.
Differences Between Chickens and Hens
Simply put, a hen is a mature female chicken. The term chicken applies to both male and female birds, and it applies to birds of any age. The hen is a term specifically for females that are old enough to lay eggs, or that are a year old or older.
If you use the word chicken, you could be referring to a hen, pullet, rooster, cockerel, or capon (or a Cornish game hen, which is simply an immature chicken). Therefore, the hen is a much more specific word. This is especially important to know if you plan on starting a poultry business since you want to be as specific as possible when ordering.
How to Tell if Your Chicken is a Hen
In mature birds, it’s very easy to tell roosters and hens apart. Roosters, even at a very young age, have combs and wattles that are redder, larger, and rougher than those of hens. They also have large spurs on their feet, and larger, longer feathers on their necks and tails. In most breeds, the roosters are also much more colorful than the hens.
Hens typically don’t have spurs, and have duller coloration. Their combs and wattles are much smaller, too. Of course, the most obvious sign that the bird is a hen is when it starts laying eggs.
What are Cornish Hens?
Cornish hens, sometimes labeled Cornish game hens, are not the same thing as hens. They are chickens, though. So, what, exactly, are they?
Cornish hens are a breed of chicken from England that are raised exclusively for meat. They are slaughtered very young, and so they are very small, usually only one or two pounds and serve one person. Many of the birds labeled as “cornish hens” in supermarkets are not actually of the Cornish hen breed but are simply hens of a more common meat breed that are slaughtered small.
Do the Differences Matter?
Where the difference really matters is if you’re planning to raise your own chickens. You’ll want mostly hens, and if you want a rooster you won’t want more than one, since roosters can be very aggressive towards each other. If you want chickens to provide you with eggs, you need hens, not roosters. If you want to raise chickens for meat, you still want hens, not roosters. You really only need roosters if you want to breed your own chickens.
Most people, when they refer to backyard chickens, are talking about hens. They’re either raising them for meat or eggs, but either way, they likely don’t have a rooster, and only have hens.
So, in the supermarket, the term “hen” really isn’t important, but on the industry side, the terminology matters a lot, as it does for those who wish to raise their own chickens.
Conclusion
The simplest way to remember the difference between hens and chickens is that hens are mature female chickens. Therefore, all hens are chickens and not all chickens are hens. If you’re just trying to be sure you buy the right thing at the grocery store, don’t worry: everything will be labeled as chicken but there’s no need to differentiate between chickens and hens for that purpose.
If you’re trying to start your own business or you want backyard chickens to raise for meat or eggs, you’ll want to be very sure that you order hens, not chickens. Chickens is too broad a term and you may not get what you ask for.
Чем отличается hen и chicken
A hen is a female chicken.
«Chicken» describes the species as a whole. «Hen» specifies that it’s a female chicken and «rooster» tells us that it’s a male chicken.
I’ve been speaking English my whole life and I still don’t know why we have these distinctions f^-^’) Very confusing for natives sometimes even.
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Мне трудно понимать даже короткие ответы на данном языке.
Могу задавать простые вопросы и понимаю простые ответы.
Могу формулировать все виды общих вопросов. Понимаю ответы средней длины и сложности.
Понимаю ответы любой длины и сложности.
Решайте свои проблемы проще в приложении!
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Hen Vs Chicken: Do You Know The Difference?
For those of us who love our chickens and their endearing little ways, the difference between a chicken and hen might seem like a ‘no-brainer.
But, if you have never raised chickens, then it’s a fair question.
It’s one of those questions that we chicken folk doesn’t even think about – but what actually are the differences between a hen and a chicken?
Read on and find out, maybe you will find something you didn’t know…
What Is A Hen?
After a chicken lays their first egg, it will be considered a hen.
She will now be noticeable to the rooster’s eyes, and he may well start to woo and court her.
Healthy hens will lay eggs as often as her cycle tells her to. A hen has no control over this. She will lay through the first year and then stop laying as her first molt starts.
She will start laying once her feathers are grown in and continue to lay for several more years until ‘old age.’
When does she stop laying? That depends on the breed and the individual hen.
Most heritage hens will lay into their 3 rd or 4 th year, while hybrids will be lucky to see the 3 rd year of laying.
Of course, they do lay sporadically after that time, but not very reliably.
What Is A Chicken?
The dictionary defines a chicken as a common domestic fowl (Gallus Gallus Domesticus). It is a subspecies of the Red Jungle Fowl and the Grey Jungle Fowl, both from India and Asia.
Many people use the term chicken to talk about a hen or rooster. The word chicken is not gendered specific.
If you think of chicken as the species name – like human, dog, cat, etc., it will make better sense.
The ancestors of todays’ chickens were first domesticated and raised for cockfighting purposes. It was not until the Greek period that they were actually used as a food source.
What Is A Pullet?
A pullet is a young female chicken that has not started laying eggs yet; a female chicken is under one year of age.
Some folks say that a female chick is a pullet. Whilst that is technically true, the generally understood definition of a pullet is a female chicken at around the ‘teenage’ time of 12-16 weeks old.
Another definition you will hear is that a female chicken is a pullet until her first molt.
Since pullets can start laying eggs at 16 weeks and avoid a molt until almost 18 months old, that definition is slightly off. Sometimes you can buy started pullets.
These are pullets that are approaching the point of lay but have yet to lay an egg.
What is the point of lay? It is the time in a pullets’ life when she is preparing to lay her first egg.
She will be fidgety, going from nest to nest, even making a new nest, talkative, and perhaps a bit grumpy.
This time of life is unsettling for her since she doesn’t know what is happening to her.
Once she has laid that egg, she will become a hen and be accepted by the older ladies as a fully-fledged member of the flock, and she will settle into her routine after a few weeks.
What Is A Cockerel?
A boy chick is known as a cockerel until he is 1 year old; at this point, he becomes a cock or rooster, depending on where you live.
The term cockerel is used in the UK and Europe. In the US, the more general rooster is used.
Cockerels will start to crow around 12-16 weeks, although some breeds do start earlier.
Those first crows are rather pathetic, sounding like a squeaky toy or someone gargling. However, with practice, they soon become loud!
While in the chick phase, rival males will establish dominance over the rest of the chicks.
The boys will bump chests, stare down at each other and play fight.
This usually has the desired outcome of the established hierarchy, so there is no need for any real fighting later on.
If the cockerels are wise, they will watch and imitate the head rooster of the flock.
They will also do well to be submissive to him. Any signs of an uppity cockerel and the rooster will soon put him in his place.
The cockerel will be busy growing his hackles and sickles – his finery to attract the girls and strutting his stuff even though he is unlikely to mate just yet.
What Is A Rooster?
Once a cockerel is over one year old or has started mating with the ladies, he is considered a rooster. However, he must still defer to the older rooster if there is one.
In the wild, groups of young cockerels hang out together until they find a flock of their own, and then they leave the group.
Since this doesn’t happen so much with our boys, we must find homes, cull them or create a group area.
Like a rooster, he is expected to guard his flock, provide food for them, warn them and take care of things for them. He will intervene in squabbles so that no one gets hurt.
He has to be constantly watching for challenges from the younger roosters. If they fight and he is beaten, the new rooster will claim the flock.
The old rooster may hang around on the periphery of the flock or move away altogether.
If he lost the challenge because he was sick, he will usually re-challenge the new rooster and try to reclaim his girls back when he is well again.
What Is A Capon?
Occasionally, immature roosters are ‘caponized.’ This means they are surgically altered by removing their testicles which are situated internally.
Estrogen implants can also be used to apply the same effect.
This has the effect of reducing aggression in the birds. The head and wattles will be smaller also. This is usually done for meat purposes.
The meat of a caponized rooster is said to be much more tender, juicy, and flavorful.
The practice of caponization is still widely practiced on the Continent, especially in France and Spain, where capon meat is considered a delicacy.
Caponizing had fallen out of favor for many people because it was a high-risk surgery for the bird, not to mention expensive.
Other Commonly Used Chicken Words
While we are on the subject of interesting terms for chickens, here are a few you might hear or use yourself:
Peeps: General term used for chicks.
POL: This refers to a pullet that is nearing her time to start laying eggs; she is said to be at ‘the point of lay.’
Started Pullets: Pullets can be purchased as ‘started,’ which means they are very close to laying eggs.
Straight Run: When buying chicks, if you buy a straight run, it means you will have a mix of boys and girls.
Broody: A hen that is sitting on eggs with intent to hatch.
Summary
So there you have it! Chicken terms and what they mean. You will know to understand a hen Vs. a chicken and what the differences are.
We don’t think twice about using these terms as chicken aficionados, but they can lead to some confusion with non-chicken folks.
Now you can point them to this article and educate them about your birds; who knows. Perhaps they, too, will become chicken folk!
Did we miss any other common chicken words? Let us know in the comments section below…
Чем отличается hen и chicken
A hen is a female chicken
A hen is a female chicken.
raw hen
ready chicken
Символ показывает уровень знания интересующего вас языка и вашу подготовку. Выбирая ваш уровень знания языка, вы говорите пользователям как им нужно писать, чтобы вы могли их понять.
Мне трудно понимать даже короткие ответы на данном языке.
Могу задавать простые вопросы и понимаю простые ответы.
Могу формулировать все виды общих вопросов. Понимаю ответы средней длины и сложности.
Понимаю ответы любой длины и сложности.
Решайте свои проблемы проще в приложении!
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