50 housed in the old squat finding chicken (6)
I believe the answer is:
yellow
'chicken' is the definition.
(as in cowardly)
'50 housed in the old squat' is the wordplay.
'50' becomes 'l' ('L' can be a synonym of '50').
'housed in' indicates putting letters inside.
'the old' becomes 'ye'.
'squat' becomes 'low' ('low' can be similar in meaning to 'squat').
'ye'+'low'='yelow'
'l' put within 'yelow' is 'YELLOW'.
'finding' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yellow that I've seen before include "Sort of hammer, jersey or belly" , "egg-hearted perhaps" , "Pusillanimous" , "Colour of Malvolio's stockings (T. Night)" , "Primrose-coloured" .)