A group of chickens is called a flock (as with most birds) or a brood. Although brood is more specifically the word for a group of hens (female chickens).
A lot of people ask, what do you call a group of chickens? Because there are some fun and interesting collective names for other birds and animals.
Sadly, this is not the case with chickens. They are just flocks.
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Other Useful Chicken Terminology and Collective Nouns
Here are some of the technical jargon, collective nouns for male, female, and baby chickens, and even a little slang explained:
A mature female chicken is called a hen.
An immature female chicken is called a pullet.
A mature male chicken is called a rooster or cock.
An immature male chicken is called a cockerel.
A neutered rooster is called a capon.
A baby chicken is called a chick.
A hen ready to lay is called a point-of-lay chicken.
A group of chickens is called a flock.
A group of hens is called a brood.
A group of chicks is called a clutch or peep.
A slang term for a chicken is chook (you’ll notice I use this term).
Poultry is a term for all domestic fowls, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and so on raised for their eggs and meat.
What’s The Difference Between a Pullet and a Hen?
I mentioned above that an immature hen is often referred to as a pullet. The main way to define whether or not a chook (see, I do use this term) is a pullet or a hen is based on their age and if they’re laying.
A pullet is a hen that is less than a year old and has not started laying eggs. When they are ready to lay or about to start laying, they are then called point-of-lay chickens.
A chicken will typically start laying at 16-20 weeks of age, so they aren’t pullets for long.
If you are intending on incubating eggs yourself, be sure to pick up the right incubator for the size of eggs you're chickens are laying.
You can find a summary of the best small egg incubators in this post.
Related content - How long do pullets lay small eggs?
What Is a Point-Of-Lay Chicken?
A point-of-lay (POL) chicken is a chicken that’s ready or about to lay eggs. They are referred to as POL to let potential owners know that they’ll be buying a hen that’s going to start producing eggs.
This means that there is a short timeframe window for hens to be classified as POL. Typically between the ages of 17-20 weeks of age.
Around this age, chickens will not have fully developed their wattles of comb yet either. That’s another way to tell you’re looking at a young hen.
Remember, Chicken Is a Gender-Neutral Term
A little caveat that often confuses people is not realizing that the word “chicken” is gender-neutral.
Both roosters (male chickens) and hens (female chickens) are called chickens independently. This makes it easy when referring to chooks and talking about them. But, you need to specify if you’re talking about males or females if you’re buying backyard chickens.
In Summary
There you have it, a group of chickens is called a flock.
Did you already know that now you think about it?
Hopefully, all the other jargon and chicken-related terms have helped you brush up on your chicken knowledge.
At the very least, you now have some new you learned to show off to your friends and you’ve improved your quiz knowledge.
