Every hobby has its own language, and chicken keeping has more than most. This glossary covers the terms every keeper runs into — from broody hens to vent gleet — each explained in plain English, with links to our full guides where a word deserves a deeper dive. It pairs with our beginner’s guide if you’re just starting out.
B
Bantam
A miniature chicken breed, usually a quarter to a half the size of a standard bird. Popular for small backyards because they need less space and feed, though they lay smaller eggs.
Bloom
The invisible protective coating a hen deposits on an egg as she lays it. It seals the shell’s pores against bacteria, which is why unwashed fresh eggs keep longer.
Broiler
A chicken raised specifically for meat rather than eggs, typically processed young. See our meat chickens guide.
Brooder
The heated, enclosed space where chicks live for their first weeks before they can regulate their own body temperature.
Broody
A hen’s hormonal state of wanting to sit on and hatch eggs. A broody hen stops laying, stays glued to the nest, and often growls or pecks when disturbed.
C
Candling
Shining a bright light through an egg to check what’s inside — used to track embryo development in incubated eggs or spot cracks and blood spots in eating eggs.
Cloaca
The single rear opening a chicken uses for droppings and egg laying. The egg and waste routes share the exit but not the timing.
Coccidiosis
A common and potentially deadly parasitic gut disease, especially in chicks. Bloody droppings and lethargy are the classic signs — see signs your chicken is sick.
Comb
The fleshy red crest on top of a chicken’s head. Its color is a quick health gauge — pale or purple combs signal trouble — and large combs are prone to frostbite in damp winter coops. See coop ventilation.
Crop
The pouch at the base of the neck where food is stored and softened before digestion. A squishy bulge at bedtime that empties by morning is normal. Covered in the digestive health guide.
Cull
To remove a bird from the flock, whether by rehoming or humane dispatch, usually for health, temperament, or productivity reasons.
D
Dust bath
How chickens clean themselves: rolling and kicking in dry dirt to smother mites and lice and condition their feathers. A flock without a dust bath will dig one.
E
Egg bound
A hen with an egg physically stuck in her tract — a genuine emergency. She strains, stands penguin-like, and stops eating. Calcium and a warm soak are first aid; see shell quality problems.
Egg tooth
The tiny hard tip on a hatching chick’s beak used to break out of the shell. It falls off within days of hatch.
F
Feather picking
Chickens pecking and pulling each other’s feathers — usually from crowding, boredom, or protein shortage. Different from molt; see feather loss guide.
Flock integration
The careful process of adding new birds to an established flock without bloodshed. Done gradually with see-but-don’t-touch stages — full method in the integration guide.
Free range
Birds with regular access to open ground for foraging, rather than confinement to a run. More bugs and greens in the diet, more predator exposure to manage.
G
Grit
Small stones a chicken swallows and holds in its gizzard to grind food, since chickens have no teeth. Essential for birds eating anything beyond commercial mash — see the grit guide.
Gizzard
The muscular grinding stomach where swallowed grit pulverizes food. The chicken’s replacement for chewing.
H
Hackles
The feathers on a chicken’s neck. Raised hackles mean a bird is squaring up for a fight — the origin of the phrase.
Hardware cloth
Welded wire mesh (half-inch is standard) used to predator-proof coops and vents. Unlike chicken wire, raccoons cannot tear it.
Hen
A female chicken one year or older. Before that she’s a pullet.
K
Keel
The prominent breastbone. Feeling how much muscle sits either side of it is the honest way to judge a bird’s condition under all those feathers.
L
Layer
A hen kept for egg production, and also the name of the feed formulated for her — higher calcium for shell-making. Production numbers in how many eggs does a chicken lay.
M
Molt
The annual replacement of feathers, usually in fall. Laying slows or stops while the bird rebuilds its coat — it looks alarming and is completely normal. See feather loss.
N
Nest box
The private, dim cubby where hens prefer to lay. One box per three to four hens keeps the peace.
P
Pasty butt
Droppings stuck to a chick’s vent, blocking it — fatal if not cleaned. A warm damp cloth fixes it; recurrence usually means the brooder is too hot or too cold.
Pecking order
The flock’s strict social ranking, settled by pecks and posturing. Every bird knows its place; chaos only erupts when the order is disturbed — like when new birds join.
Perch
See roost.
Pullet
A young female chicken under one year old, typically before or just starting to lay.
R
Roost
The elevated bar where chickens sleep at night — instinct tells them height is safety. Placement and sizing details in the roosts guide.
Rooster
An adult male chicken. Not required for hens to lay eggs — only to fertilize them. Full picture in the complete rooster guide.
Run
The enclosed outdoor area attached to a coop where birds spend the day protected from predators.
S
Scratch
Loose grain (usually corn and wheat) tossed as a treat that chickens scratch the ground to find. Candy, not a complete diet.
Sexing
Determining a chick’s sex, which is genuinely difficult in most breeds until they feather out. Sex-link crosses are bred so color reveals it at hatch.
Sour crop
A yeast infection of the crop, leaving it squishy and the breath sour. A crop problem covered in the digestive health guide.
Spur
The sharp horn growth on the back of a rooster’s leg, used in fights and against threats. They keep growing for life.
Straight run
Chicks sold unsexed as-hatched — statistically about half will be roosters. The cheap gamble at the feed store.
V
Vent
The external opening of the cloaca. A healthy vent is pink and moist; checking vents is basic flock health monitoring.
Vent gleet
A messy, foul-smelling fungal/bacterial infection of the vent area. Treatable, but it spreads on shared roosts, so isolate first.
W
Wattles
The two red flaps hanging under a chicken’s beak. Like the comb, they help shed heat and their color reflects health.
Wing clipping
Trimming the flight feathers of one wing to unbalance flight and keep birds inside a fence. Painless, like a haircut, and grows back at molt.