# Chicken we eat -- Male or Female?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-we-eat-male-or-female/378484>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-we-eat-male-or-female/378484 "2006-10-30T20:51:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-we-eat-male-or-female/378484/21 "2013-12-30T19:46:08Z")

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As an aside, when I was buying our pheasant for Christmas, I was told that hens are better (tastier? more tender? plumper?) than cocks. I discovered that they are only sold in braces - one of each.

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-we-eat-male-or-female/378484/22 "2013-12-30T19:57:17Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> I thought that newly hatched male chicks, if they are from a breed specializing in egg laying, are usually (euphemism) destroyed immediately after hatching.

“Macerated” is the actual word.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-we-eat-male-or-female/378484/23 "2013-12-30T21:41:04Z")

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> [@Jackson5](#):
>
> In Germany the male chicken is called “Hahn”, while the female is called “Huhn”.

Is that so? My impression is that “Huhn” is the gender-neutral term for the animal as such, comprising both males and females; the term which specifically denotes a female is “Henne”. That’s at least my understanding, but I am neither an ornithologist nor a chicken farmer nor a linguist.

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