How to tell the sex of a chicken...

The last time we lived in California, we lived in a rural area with no sidewalks and a hitching post in front of the 7-11. Most of the folks in town had horses or other animals. We decided it would be fun to have a little farm. The kids were excited, so we went to the local feed store and asked to buy some chickens. We told them we wanted four hens and a rooster. We were looking at all the baby chicks running around in a pen and they all looked the same to us. The man picked one up by it's beak and said, "That's a hen". He picked up a couple more and said they were hens, too!! Then, he picked one up and announced it was a little rooster. By then we were scratching our heads wondering how in the world he could tell the difference. So, I had to ask. He told us that when you pick up a chick by it's beak, a hen will just hang there, whereas, a little rooster will flap its wings. Who knew!!! So, we bought our chicks, a few ducklings, and a couple of pygmy goats. I also bought a milk goat, but that's a story for another time. After a few months, we were scratching our heads again. The chickens had all drowned in the duck pond, the ducks had all been trampled by the goats, and the goats had gotten loose and eaten everything in our garden. Needless to say, that was the end of our farming experience. Guess we were meant to be city dwellers!!