Q Dear Practical Poultry, Is it true that you can tell the age of a bird from its feet?

A There are several pointers to a bird's age in its feet - the spurs start as a small, rounded bump on a young cockerel, they grow longer and thicker with age and develop a sharp point as the bird matures. With hens, the spurs stay quite short and blunt. The scales of the legs are small, smooth and rounded in outline on a young bird, becoming larger, thicker, and sometimes even dished in the centre and rougher as the bird gets older. Most yellow-legged birds also lose leg colour as they age, which can be another useful pointer.