I am nineteen years old and have never been around chickens in my life. I bought 3 chicks on the way home from college for easter as a surprise gift to my younger sisters. We live in the suburbs, and I didn't expect the chicks to live that long. My father made a make-shift coop for them, but they have grown out of it and just roam around the yard. One died shortly after I bought it, but the other two are continuing to grow. We have been told that one may be a rooster, but I have no way knowing! Is there any place I can go with my questions as basic as they are? I want to buy more. Can anyone give me links to pictures of small chicken roosts? When will a chicken lay eggs? will mine? These are plain white chickens. The one we think may be a rooster has feathers on its legs. What does this mean? Do cats kill chickens? I am feeding them laying hen feed from the local grocery store. Is this good enough? Please help!!!!!- Mary

Mary, Go to: http://www.countrysmallholding.com/chicken.htm You will find lots of answers, pictures and help, but come back to this site when you need more help. CJR

hi,
chickens begin to lay when they are around 20 weeks old, maybe a week later....depending on your chicken. My pullets have and are just starting to lay. One thing that is a sure way to distinguish between pullets and cokerals are the combs and wattles....if one has a comb and wattles(the things under their chin) that are significantly bigger than the other chicken's, they are most likely a cockeral. the feathers on the legs don't really mean anything...it's just the breed of chicken. cats can kill chickens. It all depends on the chickens and the cats. my chickens chase my cats....but other cats may be more bold than mine. How old are your chickens? go to www.feathersite.com, that is a good site to find out the breed(if you want to know). you might look under silkies, white leghorns, cornish x, and anything that says "white" in the name.
you shouldn't feed your chickens layers feed until they start laying or when they turn 20 weeks old. feed them growers feed, that's the best for them. layers feed isn't too healthy for them until they start laying.
Hope this helps
Daniel

Mary, you would know by now if you had a rooster. My chicks were born the week of easter not sure if it was 2 or 3 days before. BUT I can tell you that if you had a rooster it WOULD be crowing by now and loudly. At 11 weeks of age the little roos are not as loud as a full grown but they DO crow. I also have 9 chicks that were born about a month later and now I can hardly tell them apart from the older one. The size is hardly any difference. But they have not tried crowing yet so I can't tell the roos from the hens on the younger ones.