How to age a chicken?

[nikirushka]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this so I hope it's in the right place!

I took on some rehomers last weekend and two of them are of age unknown. The owner had known them for 18 months (sister had them prior to her) but as they were rehomers for her too, she doesn't know how old they are. They are what looks like a bluebell and a cream legbar-ish. Neither appear to be laying at the moment, the legbar was laying back in summer though I'm told.

Any tips and tricks for gauging their age?

 

[azygous]

You really can't age a chicken with any degree of accuracy. All you can hope to do is tell very young ones from older ones.

At first glance, an older hen will be showing very little "leg". Her body will appear to be cruising pretty low to the ground. Younger hens will have all or nearly all of their legs exposed.

There are other subtle differences such as quality of leg scales and feathers, but older chickens in good health have as good a scale and feather quality as younger ones. Toe nails may be longer and thicker in older hens, while younger ones are shorter and more narrow.

 

[chickens really]

You really can't age a chicken with any degree of accuracy. All you can hope to do is tell very young ones from older ones.

At first glance, an older hen will be showing very little "leg". Her body will appear to be cruising pretty low to the ground. Younger hens will have all or nearly all of their legs exposed.

There are other subtle differences such as quality of leg scales and feathers, but older chickens in good health have as good a scale and feather quality as younger ones. Toe nails may be longer and thicker in older hens, while younger ones are shorter and more narrow.

....