Chicken Glossary

Alektorophobia: an uncommon but strong fear of chickens. American Standard of Perfection: the American Poultry Association book that classifies and describes the standard physical appearance, temperament, and coloring for all recognized poultry breeds, including chickens. The book was first published in 1874. Bantam: a small chicken measuring one-fourth to half the size of a regular-size chicken. Bantam standard: the American Bantam Association book that describes 63 breeds and 90 plumage patterns recognized by the organization. Banty: short for bantam, a smaller-size chicken. Plural is banties. Barnyard chicken: a mixed-breed chicken. Beak: the part of the chicken's mouth consisting of an upper beak and a lower beak that is hard and protruding.

Beard: feathers of a chicken bunched under such breeds as Houdan, Faverolle, and Ameraucana. They are always found in association with a muff.

Bedding: material such as wood shavings, straw, or shredded paper used on the floor of a chicken coop for moisture and manure absorption.

Biddy: another term for a hen.

Billing out: using the beak as a scoop for getting feed from the feeder to the floor.

Bleaching out: a yellow-skinned laying hen's fading color from the shanks, beak, and vent.

Bloom: the peak condition in an exhibition bird or the protective, moist coating on a freshly-laid egg that dries quickly.

Blowout: when a hen lays an egg larger than normal and her vent turns partially inside out. Separate the hen from the others when that occurs.

Booted: feathers found on the toes and shanks. Also known as the Sapelboot.

Breed: pairing a rooster and hen for obtaining fertile eggs. Also, a group of chickens that is similar to each other yet different from other groups.

Breeder: one who manages chickens. Also, mature chickens from which fertile eggs are collected.

Breed true: chicks that are purebred, resembling both parents.

Broiler: also called a fryer, a young and tender meat chicken.

Brood: the term for chicks and for caring for a batch of chicks.

Brooder: a heated enclosure designed to eliminate stress in young chicks by providing plenty of heat, light, fresh air, feed, and water space.

Broody: a strong instinct in hens in which they cover chicken eggs to warm and hatch them. Also refers to hens that stay in nests for extended periods and fail to produce eggs.

Candle: using a strong light source to examine contents of an intact egg.

Candler: the device used to shine strong light for examining an egg's contents.

Cannibalism: beak-inflicted injury followed by the bad habit of chickens eating each other's feathers, eggs, or flesh.

Cape: found between a chicken's neck and back, a batch of narrow feathers.

Carrier: a person or organism with an infectious disease agent but displaying no symptoms. Also, a case for transporting chickens.

Cecum: a blind pouch - resembling the human appendix - found where the small and large intestines meet.

Cestode: a class of parasitic flatworms, commonly known as tapeworms.

Chalazae: ropey strands of egg white which keep the yolk in place in the center of the egg's thick white. Singular is chalaza.

Classification: how purebred chickens are grouped, according to their place of origin. Examples are American and Asiatic.

Clean legged: chickens with no feathers growing along the shanks.

Clinical: the readily-observed presence of disease signs or symptoms.

Cloaca: also known as the anal beak, the posterior opening inside the vent where the reproductive, digestive, and excretory tracts meet.

Clutch: describes the collection of eggs that a chicken lays at one time or laid by a hen on consecutive days before skipping a day and starting a new laying cycle.

Coccidiasis: a complex and diverse group of protozoan (single-celled organisms) parasites, a group that contains many species, most of which do not cause clinical disease.

Coccidiosis: microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled parasites belonging to the apicomplexan class Conoidasida.

Cock: also called a rooster, a male chicken.

Cockerel: immature male chickens less than a year old.

Comb: the fleshy crown atop a chicken's head, usually red.

Conformation: the composition of a chicken's body.

Coop: a place, made of wood or wire, where chickens live.

Coop accessories: products such as heaters, chicken nesting boxes, safety lamps, and heated waterers that keep chicks more comfortable.

Coop covers: material installed over a coop to protect chickens from the elements.

Coop, portable: a home for chickens that can easily be moved.

Coop runs: an uncovered area of the chicken coop where chickens can move freely about.

Crest: also called a topknot, puffy feathers that emerge from a protuberance atop the chicken's skull in breeds such as Silkie, Houdan, or Polish.

Crop: to trim a bird's wattles. Also, a bulging pouch found at the base of a chicken's neck noticed after eating.

Crossbreed: taking a hen and rooster of two different breeds to produce offspring.

Cull: non-productive or inferior chicken. Also, the killing from a flock of a non-productive/inferior chicken.

Dam: female parent.

Dam family: chicken siblings, all with the same mother as well as sire.

Debeak: the removal of a bird's top beak to stave off cannibalism or self-pecking.

Down: a newly-hatched chick's soft, fur-like covering. Also, the soft part near bottom of a feather.

Droppings: also referred to as poop, chicken manure.

Dub: the act of trimming the comb.

Dusting: a method of cleaning its feathers and discouraging body parasites in which a chicken thrashes around in dirt.

Egg baskets: a pail or crate used to store large quantities of eggs.

Egg cartons: the most common form of storing eggs, usually a dozen at a time.

Egg tooth: a small, sharp, cranial protuberance used during hatching by chicken offspring to break or tear through the egg's surface.

Embryo: any stage of development of a fertilized egg before hatching.

Enteritis: inflammation of a chicken's small intestine.

Exhibition breeds: the act of keeping and showing chickens for their beauty rather than a chicken's ability to lay eggs or produce meat.

Feather legged: chicken feathers that grow down the shanks. Examples are Cochins and Brahmas.

Fecal: chicken feces.

Feces: chicken body waste or droppings.

Feed: rations given to chickens that can be natural or organic.

Fencing: wire used to protect chickens from other animals.

Fertile: a hen capable of producing a chick.

Finish: the fat found beneath the skin of a chicken.

Flock: a group of chickens living together.

Forced-air incubator: a device with a fan that controls temperature, humidity, ventilation, and egg turning for hatching fertile chicken eggs.

Fowl: a stewing hen. Also, domesticated birds or meat of fowl used for food.

Free range: the act of allowing chickens to roam at will in a pasture or yard.

Frizzle: a chicken breed. Also, feathers that are curled, not flat.

Fryer: also known as a broiler, a tender, young meat chicken.

Gizzard: an organ containing grit used to grind up grain and plant fiber eaten by a chicken.

Go light: term, synonymous for anemia, for growing thin while eating ravenously.

Grade: a way of sorting chicken eggs according to their exterior and interior qualities.

Grit: small pebbles and sand that a chicken eats and uses its gizzard to grind up plant fiber and grain.

Hackles: the cape feathers found on a rooster.

Hatch: a group of chickens emerging from their shells simultaneously. Also, the process of a chick coming from the egg.

Hatchability: the percentage of fertilized chicken eggs set to hatch that, indeed, do hatch under incubation.

Helminth: a division of parasitic worms that, unlike external parasites, live inside a host.

Helminthiasis: a disease in which a chicken's body parts are infested with worms such as roundworm, pinworm, or tapeworm.

Hen: mature female chicken.

Hen feathered: a rooster with rounded rather than pointed sex feathers.

Host: a chicken or other animal inside which an infectious agent or parasite resides.

Immunity: a chicken's ability to stave off infection.

Impaction: blockage of a body passage caused by a chicken consuming something it can't digest.

Incubate: the maintaining of ideal conditions for hatching fertile eggs.

Incubation period: the time from exposure to disease-causing agents until the first symptom appears or the egg-hatching time (normally 21 days).

Infectious: the ability to cause or communicate infection in living tissue and multiplying therein.

Infertility: the inability, whether temporary or permanent, to reproduce.

Intensity of lay: a hen's ability to lay a number of eggs during any given time.

Keel: resembling a boat's keel, the breastbone of a chicken.

Leaker: an egg leak that occurs when the shell is cracked and the shell membrane breaks.

Litter: materials such as shredded paper, wood shavings, and straw placed on a chicken coop's floor for absorption of manure and moisture.

Mate: when one or more hens are paired with a rooster. Also, the pairing of a hen and rooster.

Mite: a member of the subclass parasite Acarina or Acari and the class Arachnida.

Molt: the time of year when birds shed and renew their feathers.

Morbidity: refers to a diseased state, disability, or poor health by any cause.

Mortality: the condition of being mortal or susceptible to death. Opposite of immortality.

Muff: a mutation found in chickens which causes extra feathering under the chicken's face - also called whiskers. This is present in breeds such as Ameraucana, Faverolle, and Houdan.

Nematode: a parasitic roundworm that feeds on bacteria, fungi, and other nematodes.

Nest: a secluded spot for a hen to safely leave her eggs. Also known as the act of brooding.

Nest egg: placed in a nest, a plastic or wooden egg used to encourage hens to stay in the nest.

Nest run: ungraded eggs that may be sold to shell egg grading or packing plants or to official egg products plants.

Oocyst: the thick-walled spore phase of certain protists (sporozoans).

Parasite: an organism that populates mostly the intestinal wall and derives food or protection inside the chicken.

Pecking order: the determination of which chicken may eat first, where which chicken is allowed to sit on the perch, and other things.

Pen: a coop's exterior area. Also, a group of chickens entered in a show and judged together.

Perch: also referred to as a roost, it's the home for chickens while sleeping. Also, the act of resting on a perch.

Pickout: damage to a vent from cannibalism.

Pigmentation: a chicken's shanks, vent, and beak color.

Pinfeathers: newly grown feathers on a chicken that is undergoing a molt.

Poultry: the classification of chickens and other domesticated birds raised as pets or for food or eggs.

Pullet: a female chicken less than a year old.

Purebred: offspring produced by a hen and rooster of the same breed.

Resistance: possessing immunity to infection.

Roaster: a pullet or cockerel suitable for cooking whole in an oven. It usually weighs 4 to 6 pounds.

Rooster: adult male chicken.

Roosting bars: a place for chickens to rest, making manure cleanup easier.

Scales: the covering of a chicken's shanks and toes consisting of small, hard, overlapping plates.

Scratch: grain fed to chickens. Also, a habit by chickens of scraping their claws against dirt to dig up food.

Setting: also called sitting, eggs hatched in an incubator or under a hen.

Sexed: the sorting into pullets and cockerels of newly-hatched chicks.

Shank: a chicken leg part found between the claw and the first joint.

Sire: the male parent of an animal.

Sire: a hen that is no longer laying well.

Standard: an ideal specimen for its breed. Also, a chicken that meets the American Standard of Perfection breeding standards.

Sterile: a chicken's permanent inability to reproduce.

Straight run: also called unsexed or as hatched, newly-hatched chicks yet to be sexed.

Trematode: commonly referred to as a fluke, a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes containing two groups of parasitic worms.

Unthrifty: a chicken that appears unhealthy or is failing to grow at a normal rate.

Vaccine: a substance culled from dead or living microorganisms that is introduced into the body through inoculation.

Wattles: fleshy red or purplish growth hanging under a chicken's chin.

Zoning laws: regulations related to land use for such purposes as raising chickens.