Cockerels will show signs of splotchy red patches, usually concentrated on the shoulder area. Depending on breed and growth rate, these feathers begin to emerge from eight to twelve weeks.

PHOTO: Close-up of a black rooster with a red comb and shiny feathers. (iStock │ #2204508119 – Sviatlana Lazarenka) TAGS: Backyard Chickens, Butchering, opinion, recipe, rooster.

The rooster was made in 1721 in Boston’s North End by Shem Drowne, the coppersmith who also made the grasshopper weathervane atop Faneuil Hall, according to First Church. “The cockerel is a ...