Probably the most asked question in my chicken group on Facebook, especially in the spring and early summer, is: how do I know if my chick is a hen or a rooster? It’s a complicated question with ...

Feathers There are various feathers on a chicken that can help you determine whether you have a hen or a rooster. Neck feathers, called hackle feathers, are rounder and shorter on a hen. On a rooster, ...

They bought out his display of hackles — the long, skinny rooster feathers fishermen use to make lures — months ago. But the calls keep coming at Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop in Maine, and the ...

Superfly: A stuffed Whiting rooster displays the exquisite grizzly hackle prized by many fly-tiers.

Note to the trendy-feathered: The birds your ornament came from were mighty pampered fowls. Each rooster gets his own little house, because if they fight, it ruins their feathers.

They bought out his display of hackles — the long, skinny rooster feathers fishermen use to make lures — months ago. But the calls keep coming at Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop in Maine, and the ...

Thomas Whiting breeds birds not for their meat, but for their feathers, in a quest to satisfy a clientele of fly-fishers—and his own obsession with perfect plumage. From left: One of Whiting's ...

There’s hot competition these days, in Maine and across the nation, for dry fly-tying feathers, also known as hackles. Industry officials say the shortage of feathers, which come from roosters ...

Industry officials say the shortage of feathers, which come from roosters, has been building for about a year.