Did you know the difference between a hen and a chicken? It might surprise you! Chickens are the birds that lay eggs. Hens are female chickens that lay eggs. Both male and female chickens come in many different varieties depending on what breed they are. Did you know you can tell the difference between hens and chickens based on their faces, coloring, behavior, and even their eggs? Learn more about the differences between chickens and hens below!

A hen has brown eyes
A young female chicken is called a pullet until it matures, at which point it becomes known as a hen. The term hen refers to any adult female bird that lays eggs. A rooster is another name for an adult male chicken. A rooster has red eyes: While it’s true that all chickens have brown eyes as chicks, when they reach maturity and begin to lay eggs, their eye color changes to red. (The same can be said of turkey hens.) A rooster’s job is to guard his flock: Roosters are known for crowing loudly at dawn (or even throughout the night) but there's more to them than meets the eye!

A chick has yellow eyes
Have you ever tried to tell a hen from a chicken? When they’re first born, it’s easy! But as they grow up their feathers cover up their eyes. That means that if your animals are grown, there are some subtle differences to look out for in order to tell them apart. A chick has yellow eyes until about six weeks old. After that it will have developed adult colouring, which is blue for hens and red for roosters. Hens have short hairs on their ears whilst roosters have long hairs over them; hens will also always have four toes per foot and roosters only three.

A rooster crows loudly in the morning
While roosters can crow at any time of day, it's usually in the morning hours that they're heard. A rooster's crowing means he's advertising his presence to other animals and has no relationship to how many hours have passed since sunrise. If you notice your cockatiel crowing during different times of day, don't worry -- that doesn't mean he's a rooster in disguise. Birds will naturally make noise throughout different parts of their days as they communicate with other birds or mark their territory; if your bird is particularly loud in comparison to others, that might be because he’s just louder than most cockatiels. And remember: You may not see it or hear it, but male birds also sing -- even at night!

A chick peeps like a baby
Baby chicks are called chicks for a reason: They peep like babies! But chickens don’t. So how can you tell if that animal is an overgrown chick, or just someone with strange habits? It all comes down to vocalization. Chickens have many vocalizations; they cluck, cackle, hiss, purr and moan. The ways in which we communicate with one another helps us get along—it allows us to convey pleasure (purring), discomfort (hissing) or fear (peeping). Chickens make all of these sounds. A baby bird cannot do any of these things—it simply peeps or chirps.

Hens lay eggs while chicks hatch from eggs
This is one of those facts that we might have known as kids, but it’s still pretty easy to forget as an adult. For example, if we are going over to Grandma’s house for Sunday dinner, we would say We’re bringing eggs for Grandma! In reality, chickens don’t lay eggs. They hatch them in their nests—the same nests where they live with their male counterparts, or roosters. But when those little chicks emerge from their shells (which takes about 21 days), they are not referred to as eggs—they are referred to as chicks.

Cute chicks are tiny versions of adult chickens, but they still grow up to be large fowls!
In many ways, baby chickens are just little versions of adult chickens. A baby chicken (called a chick) will often spend its first three months living in an incubator with dozens of other chicks. After hatching, a chick will grow from several ounces to nearly two pounds in just 12 weeks! On average, hens lay about one egg every day until they reach their peak production at about 20 weeks old. But don’t worry if you can’t tell your eggs apart—chickens are considered adults after only 16 weeks!