Chicken

Posted December 22nd, 2007 by Anonymous

The chicken ( Gallus gallus ) is a type of domesticated fowl, believed to be descended from the wild Indian and south-east Asian Red Junglefowl.

The chicken is one of the most common and wide-spread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, from both their meat and their eggs.

Etymology

Adult male chickens are known as roosters (in the U.S., Canada and Australia); in the UK they are known as cocks . Males under a year old are cockerels . Castrated roosters are called capons (though both surgical and chemical castration are now illegal in some parts of the world). Females over a year old are known as hens , and younger females are pullets . In Australia and New Zealand (also sometimes in Britain), there is a useful generic term chook (rhymes with "book") to describe all ages and both genders.. Babies are called chicks , and the meat is called chicken .

Chicken was originally the word only for chicks, and the species as a whole was then called domestic fowl , or just fowl . This use of "chicken" survives in the phrase "Hen and Chickens," sometimes used as a UK pub or theatre name, and to name groups of one large and many small rocks or islands in the sea (see for example Hen and Chicken Islands).

General biology and habitat

Chickens in nature may live for five to eleven years depending on the breed . In commercial intensive farming, a meat chicken generally lives only six weeks before slaughter. A free range or organic meat chicken will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks. Hens of special laying breeds may produce as many as 300 eggs a year. After 12 months, the hen's egg-laying ability starts to decline, and commercial laying hens are then slaughtered and used in baby foods, pet foods, pies and other processed foods.

Roosters can usually be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage, marked by long flowing tails and shiny, pointed feathers on their necks and backs (the hackles and saddle ) – these are often colored differently from the hackles and saddles of females.

However, in some breeds, such as the Sebright, the cock has only slightly pointed neck feathers, the same colour as the hen's. The identification must be made by looking at the comb, or eventually from the development of spurs on the male's legs (in a few breeds and in certain hybrids the male and female chicks may be differentiated by colour). Adult chickens have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb or cockscomb , and hanging flaps of skin either side under their beaks called wattles . These organs help to cool the bird by redirecting blood flow to the skin . Both the adult male and female have wattles and combs, but in most breeds these are more prominent in males.

Domestic chickens are typically fed commercially prepared feed that includes a protein source as well as grains, and for laying hens, a source of calcium carbonate for eggshells. Chickens often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice. Cannibalism may occur, usually under overcrowded conditions, and in intensive commercial egg and meat production this is controlled by trimming the beak (removing two thirds of the top half and occasionally one third of the lower half of the beak).

Domestic chickens are not capable of long distance flight, although lighter birds are generally capable of flying for short distances such as over fences or into trees (where they would naturally roost). Chickens will sometimes fly to explore their surroundings, but usually do so only to flee perceived danger. Because of the risk of escape, chickens raised in open-air pens often have one of their wings clipped by the breeder — the tips of the longest feathers on one of the wings are cut, resulting in unbalanced flight which the bird cannot sustain for more than a few meters, and it is thus discouraged from flying at all.

Chickens are gregarious birds and live together as a flock. They have a communal approach to the incubation of eggs and raising of young. Individual chickens in a flock will dominate others, establishing a "pecking order," with dominant individuals having priority for access to food and nesting locations. Removing hens or roosters from a flock causes a temporary disruption to this social order until a new pecking order is established. Adding hens, especially younger birds, to an existing flock, can lead to violence and injury.

Chickens will try to lay in nests that already contain eggs, and have been known to move eggs from neighbouring nests into their own. Some farmers use fake eggs made from plastic or stone (or golf balls) to encourage hens to lay in a particular location. The result of this behavior is that a flock will use only a few preferred locations, rather than having a different nest for every bird.

Hens can also be extremely stubborn about always laying in the same location. It is not unknown for two (or more) hens to try to share the same nest at the same time. If the nest is small, or one of the hens is particularly determined, this may result in chickens trying to lay on top of each other.

Contrary to popular belief, roosters do not crow only at dawn, but may crow at any time of the day or night. Their crowing – a loud and sometimes shrill call – is a territorial signal to other roosters. However, crowing may also result from sudden disturbances within their surroundings. Hens cluck loudly after laying an egg, and also call to their chicks.

In 2006, scientists researching the ancestry of birds "turned on" a chicken recessive gene, talpid2 , and found that the embryo jaws initiated formation of teeth, like those found in ancient bird fossils. John Fallon the overseer of the project stated that chickens have "...retained the ability to make teeth, under certain conditions..."

Courting

When a rooster finds food he may call the other chickens to eat it first. He does this by clucking in a high pitch as well as picking up and dropping the food. This behavior can also be observed in mother hens, calling their chicks. In some cases the rooster will drag the wing opposite the hen on the ground, while circling her. This is part of chicken courting ritual. When a hen is used to coming to his "call" the rooster may mount the hen and proceed with the fertilization.

Going broody

Under natural conditions most birds lay only until a clutch is complete, and they will then incubate all the eggs. Many domestic hens will also do this – and are then said to go broody . The broody hen will stop laying and instead will focus on the incubation of the eggs (a full clutch is usually about 12 eggs). She will sit or set fast on the nest, protesting or pecking in defense if disturbed or removed, and she will rarely leave the nest to eat, drink, or dust-bathe. While brooding, the hen maintains the nest at a constant temperature and humidity, as well as turning the eggs regularly during the first part of the incubation. To stimulate broodiness, an owner may place many artificial eggs in the nest, or to stop it they may place the hen in an elevated cage with an open wire floor.

At the end of the incubation period (about 21 days), the eggs, if fertile, will hatch. Development of the egg starts only when incubation begins, so they all hatch within a day or two of each other, despite perhaps being laid over a period of two weeks or so. Before hatching the hen can hear the chicks peeping inside the eggs, and will gently cluck to stimulate them to break out of their shells. The chick begins by pipping – pecking a breathing hole with its egg tooth towards the blunt end of the egg, usually on the upper side. It will then rest for some hours, absorbing the remaining egg-yolk and withdrawing the blood supply from the membrane beneath the shell (used earlier for breathing through the shell). It then enlarges the hole, gradually turning round as it goes, and eventually severing the blunt end of the shell completely to make a lid. It crawls out of the remaining shell and its wet down dries out in the warmth of the nest.

The hen will usually stay on the nest for about two days after the first egg hatches, and during this time the newly-hatched chicks live off the egg yolk they absorb just before hatching. Any eggs not fertilized by a rooster will not hatch, and the hen eventually loses interest in these and leave the nest. After hatching the hen fiercely guards the chicks, and will brood them when necessary to keep them warm, at first often returning to the nest at night

Random Chicken thoughts from members.

Intrepid foodblogger, Chicken Fried tries out Lou Malnati's Frozen Deep Dish Pizza. Is it as good as the real thing?

Maybe it was all the lead we consumed in Chinese products. Maybe it was the Hollywood writers' strike. Maybe it was the publication of "Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul." Whatever the reason, 2007 was a year that demanded — verily, it cried out in the wilderness – for some sort of retrospective that would round up a lot of stupid stuff.

Another canine cruising the chicken coop, the Bush Admin's Don Todd turns the tools intended to protect union members against the unions themselves.

Les McCann and Eddie Harris, "Live" at the 1969 Montreux Jazz festival. President he's got his war Folks don't know just what it's for Nobody gives us rhyme or reason Have one doubt, they call it treason We're chicken-feathers, all without one nut -- God damn it Tryin' to make it real -- compared to what?

So not only will the aliens think we're all fat, they'll think we're ruled by an old chicken entrepreneur.

Chicken - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biology, history, and information concerning the chicken and its care.

Chicken (food) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chicken is the meat derived from the domestic chicken . It is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is frequently prepared as food in a large number of ways.

Subservient Chicken

Manitoba Chicken Producers

A farmer-run, supply management group that ensures Manitoba farmers produce enough chicken for market. Offers recipes, nutrient profile, and information on raising chickens.