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Hen 2

A typical white hen

Rooster and hen

A male (known as rooster or cock) with a hen in the foreground.

The Chicken (Gallus domesticus) is a domesticated species descended from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus). It is the most common bird that comes to mind when people think of eggs and chicks. Although, now, most living chickens are living in backyards, farms, in factories, or kept as pets, there are a few still found in feral populations. The wild red junglefowl, which was first domesticated over 5000 years ago in Southeast Asia, is the ancestor of all chickens. The grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl, and green junglefowl have also contributed to the genetic makeup of this species. Chickens are the most widespread and common domestic animals, with around over 50 million of them living today and more of them than any other bird.

Appearance[]

Chickens vary from breed to breed in size, color, and weight. Most common colorations are red, white, buff and blue. Chickens have a red-pink (or black in fribromelanistic breeds) fleshy protrusion on the top of the head called a comb, and wattles, which are two mostly rounded protrusions hanging from the chin. Males tend to have bigger and redder comb and wattles than females, though this depends on breed. Chickens have a yellow, white or slate strong, downward-pointing beak. They have strong, scaled legs that are yellow, white, willow, slate and any mix of these colors. They have long claws, and webs in between their toes that aid in scraping the ground. Depending on their breed, chickens can either have clean legs or feathered legs, and the amount of leg feathering also depends on breed. Males are bigger than females and have points hackle feathers, pointed saddle feathers, and sickle feathers. Females lack sickle feathers and all of their feathers are rounded instead of pointed. Both genders have spurs, though males tend to have longer and more pointed ones, and theirs grow much faster.

When they are chicks, chickens are small and fluffy, covered with down. Their down can be a variety of colors, almost as variable as the colors that mature chickens sport. Chicks will have mature feathers when they reach six weeks old.

The most commonly known chickens are the high-amount egg production chickens, which are usually hybrids between Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns. Stereotypical chickens will likely be portrayed to have the colors that these chickens have.

Behavior[]

Chickens eat mainly seeds (they are granivorous), but they also eat worms and insects, fruits, vegetables and even mice and lizards. The male (cock or rooster) is polygamous. The chicks are nidifugous and the mother hens are very protective to them. Contrary to what people think, chickens can fly, even if for short distances. Some domestic races have trouble with taking off because they are very heavy and can't fly high, but wild chickens fly good as pheasants and grouses do.

Origin[]

Chickens descend from the wild Red Junglefowl, that still lives in Southeast Asia. Junglefowls were domesticated and now they live as farm animals in all the world. The Red Junglefowl is smaller than the majority of the domestic chickens races. Domestic chickens are also much heavier than junglefowls and it is more difficult for them to take off.

Gallery[]

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