Chicken Wikipedia

Broiler breeds typically take less than six weeks to reach slaughter size, some weeks longer for free-range and organic broilers. The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found on Corinthian pottery of the 7th century BC. Phoenicians spread chickens along the Mediterranean coasts as far as Iberia. These chickens may have been introduced during pre-Columbian times to South America via Polynesian seafarers, but this is disputed. Skeletons of birds in the Gallus genus were used as grave goods at the site, confirming domestication. The chicks imprint on the hen and subsequently follow her continually.

Cockfighting

The standard chicken breeds come in different classes. Egg-producing breeds include ISA brown, Leghorn, Marans, Plymouth Rock, Sussex, and Wyandotte. Some common breeds include Rhode Island Red, Cornish Cross, and Leghorns.

Modern varieties however grow much faster; by day 35 a Ross 708 broiler may weigh 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) as against the 1.05 kg (2.3 lb) of a heritage chicken of the same age. Newly hatched chicks of both modern and heritage varieties weigh the same, about 37 g (1.3 oz). Chicken can mean a chick, and this was historically the meaning of the word chicken, as in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, where Macduff laments the death of “all my pretty chickens and their dam”. As of 2023, the global chicken population exceeds 26.5 billion, with more than 50 billion birds produced annually for consumption. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is one of the most common and widespread domesticated animals in the world.

Strongly inbred Langshan chickens display obvious inbreeding depression in reproduction, particularly for traits such as age when the first egg is laid and egg number. The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated form of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), originally native to Southeast Asia. They are improved chicken breeds that farmers raise for meat and eggs. Hens of some breeds can produce over 300 eggs per year; the highest authenticated rate of egg-laying is 371 eggs in 364 days.

• Domesticated chickens freely interbreed with populations of red junglefowl.
• A chicken strain is a family of chickens that results from selective breeding through internal insemination.
• The chicken is undoubtedly the most common domesticated fowl.

Classifications of Chickens

Re-examination of bones from over 600 sites, and dating of those from 23 sites, identified the earliest probable chicken bones as from central Thailand, at Ban Non Wat, some 3,250 years ago. Hens remain on the nest for about two days after the first chick hatches; during this time the newly hatched chicks feed by absorbing the internal yolk sac. The hen sits on the nest, fluffing up or pecking defensively if disturbed.

Some physical features that distinguish these breeds include size, skin color, comb type, and plumage color. Some physical characteristics of chickens include combs, wattles, and earlobes. Improved breeds can weigh up to 4kg when they are a couple of weeks old. These birds lay eggs ranging from olive green to pure white, blue, and dark brown.

Specialized breeds such as broilers and laying hens have been developed for meat and egg production, respectively. Females (mature hens and younger chickens, called pullets) are raised for meat and for their edible eggs. The chicken is perhaps the most widely domesticated fowl, raised worldwide for its meat and eggs. Chicken, (Gallus gallus), any of more than 60 breeds of medium-sized poultry that are primarily descended from the wild red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus, family Phasianidae, order Galliformes) of India. These domesticated chickens spread across Southeast and South Asia where they interbred with local wild species of junglefowl, forming genetically and geographically distinct groups. In domesticating the chicken, humans took advantage of the red junglefowl’s ability to reproduce prolifically when exposed to a surge in its food supply.

Modern high-volume poultry farms, with rows of cages stacked indoors for control of heat, light, and humidity, began to proliferate in Great Britain about 1920 and in the United States after World War II. Descendants of those domestications have spread throughout the world in several waves for at least the last 2,000 years. In situations where one adult bird challenges another—which happens most often when a new bird is introduced into the flock—fights khela88 involving males risk injury and death more often than fights involving females. In groups of male chicks, however, fights for dominance may continue into adulthood.