Chicken & Hen....

[McNoodle]

What's the difference? - I'm thinking chicken is general whilst hen and cockeril denote gender..?

[fredpuli47]

Just so. But dog is either the male or dogs in general : a dog of the Spaniel type could be a bitch !

[Graham-W]

They are Chickens before they start laying eggs. After that they are Hens.
As in Chick Hen.

[wildwood]

All female birds are hens but not all hens are female. In the days when fowls were kept purely for eggs domestically there was no roosters so the name hens popularly stuck to chooks in general.

btw. A cockerel is generally thought of as a young rooster before it is able to breed.

Yes, it is confusing.

[jno]

if it's on a plate it is chicken. Nobody eats hen.