Chicken Types, Characteristics & Uses

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. Reproduction declines with age, thought to be due to a decline in GnRH-I-N.

• Individual chickens dominate others, establishing a pecking order; dominant individuals take priority for access to food and nest sites.
• At about six months, males produce viable sperm, and females produce viable eggs.
• In situations where one adult bird challenges another—which happens most often when a new bird is introduced into the flock—fights involving males risk injury and death more often than fights involving females.
• The dance triggers a response in the hen and when she responds to his call, the rooster may mount the hen and proceed with the mating.
• This involves the sacrifice of a sacred rooster, often during a ritual cockfight, used as a form of communication with the gods.

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According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74% of the world’s poultry meat and 68% of eggs are produced this way. The parasite Dermanyssus gallinae feeds on blood, causing irritation and reducing egg production, and acts as a vector for bacterial diseases such as salmonellosis and spirochaetosis.Viral diseases include avian influenza. The possibility that domestic chickens were in the Americas before Western contact is debated by researchers, but blue-egged chickens, found only in the Americas and Asia, suggest an Asian origin for early American chickens. Archaeological evidence appeared to support domestic chickens in Southeast Asia well before 6000 BC, China by 6000 BC and India by 2000 BC. Exactly when and where the chicken was domesticated was controversial.

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. In the UK and Europe, laying hens are then slaughtered and used in processed foods, or sold as 'soup hens’. Hens of some breeds can produce over 300 eggs per year; the highest authenticated rate of egg-laying is 371 eggs in 364 days. An early study proposed that a single domestication event of the red junglefowl in present-day Thailand gave rise to the modern chicken. The red junglefowl is well adapted to take advantage of the vast quantities of seed produced during the end of the multi-decade bamboo seeding cycle, to boost its own reproduction. The domestic chicken has subsequently hybridised with grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl; a gene for yellow skin, for instance, was incorporated into domestic birds from the grey junglefowl (G. sonneratii).

Domestication and economic production

Fertile chicken eggs hatch at the end of the incubation period, about 21 days; the chick uses its egg tooth to break out of the shell. As with all birds, reproduction is controlled by a neuroendocrine system, the Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-I neurons in the hypothalamus. Chickens have been thought of primarily as providers of food, but their cognition, emotions, and sociality are comparable with other birds and mammals. The concept of dominance, involving pecking, was described in female chickens by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe in 1921 as the „pecking order”. Individual chickens mostly play dominate others, establishing a pecking order; dominant individuals take priority for access to food and nest sites.

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BBC Food has hundreds of delicious chicken recipes from classic roast chicken to the ultimate chicken soup. In groups of male chicks, however, fights for dominance may continue into adulthood. The pecking order is established within groups of female chicks by the 10th week of life.

Certain breeds, such as silkies and many bantam varieties, are generally docile and are often recommended as good pets around children with disabilities. This involves complete withdrawal of food (and sometimes water) for 7–14 days or sufficiently long to cause a body weight loss of 25 to 35%, or up to 28 days under experimental conditions. Hens, particularly from battery cage systems, are sometimes infirm or have lost a significant amount of their feathers, and their life expectancy has been reduced from around seven years to less than two years. Broiler breeds typically take less than six weeks to reach slaughter size, some weeks longer for free-range and organic broilers.

A male’s crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call, serving as a territorial signal to other males, and in response to sudden disturbances within their surroundings. Chickens are capable of mobbing and killing a weak or inexperienced predator, such as a young fox. Some breeds have a mutation that causes extra feathering under the face, giving the appearance of a beard.