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[spoiler]CHICKEN[/spoiler][spoiler]The chicken (Gallus gallus, sometimes G. gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago.[1] Until this discovery, conventional wisdom held that the chicken was domesticated in India.[1]
Some genetic research has suggested that the bird likely descended from both Red and the Grey Junglefowl (G. sonneratii). Although hybrids of both wild types usually tend toward sterility, recent genetic work has revealed that the genotype for yellow skin present in the domestic fowl is not present in what is otherwise its closest kin, the Red Junglefowl. It is deemed most likely, then, that the yellow skin trait in domestic birds originated in the Grey Junglefowl.[2]
The chicken is one of the most common and widespread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003,[3] there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, with both their meat and their eggs consumed.
Contents [hide]
1 Terminology
2 General biology and habitat
3 Courting
4 Breeding
5 Artificial incubation
6 Chickens as food
7 Chickens as pets
8 Chickens in agriculture
8.1 Distribution
9 Issues with mass production
9.1 Humane treatment
9.2 Human concerns
9.2.1 Antibiotics
9.2.2 Arsenic
9.2.3 Growth hormones
9.2.4 E. coli
9.2.5 Avian influenza
9.2.6 Efficiency
10 Chicken diseases
11 Chickens in religion
12 Chickens in history
12.1 Chickens in South America
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
Terminology

In the U.S.A., Canada and Australia, adult male chickens are known as roosters; in the UK they are known as cocks.[citation needed] Males under a year old are cockerels.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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



Hen and chicks searching for food in Kosovo
Chickens are omnivores.[7] In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice.[8]
Chickens in nature may live for five to eleven years depending on the breed.[9] In commercial intensive farming, a meat Chicken generally lives only six weeks before slaughter.[10] 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.[11] The world's oldest chicken, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, died of heart failure when she was 16 years.[12]


The male can be differentiated from the female by its comb
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)ââ,¬â€�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.[citation needed] Both the adult male and female have wattles and combs, but in most breeds these are more prominent in males.


Wild Red Junglefowl- Male at 23 Mile near Jayanti in Buxa Tiger Reserve in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India.
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 breederââ,¬â€�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.[citation needed]
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 hensââ,¬â€�especially younger birdsââ,¬â€�to an existing flock, can lead to violence and injury.[13]
Hens 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.


Skull of a chicken three weeks old. Here the opisthotic bone appears in the occipital region, as in the adult Chelonian. bo = Basi-occipital, bt = Basi-temporal, eo = Opisthotic, f = Frontal, fm = Foramen magnum, fo = Fontanella, oc = Occipital condyle, op = Opisthotic, p = Parietal, pf = Post-frontal, sc = Sinus canal in supra-occipital, so = Supra-occpital, sq = Squamosal, 8 = Exit of vagus nerve.
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 to call 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..."[14]
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.
Breeding


This section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007)


Chicken eggs vary in color depending on the hen, typically ranging from bright white to shades of brown and even blue, green, and recently reported purple (found in South Asia) (Araucana varieties).
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 ââ,¬â€œ 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 ââ,¬â€œ 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.


A day-old chick
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 leaves 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. She leads them to food and water ââ,¬â€œ she will call them to edible items, but rarely feeds them directly. She continues to care for them until they are several weeks old, when she will gradually lose interest and eventually start to lay again.
Modern egg-laying breeds rarely go broody, and those that do often stop part-way through the incubation. However, some "utility" (general purpose) breeds, such as the Cochin, Cornish and Silkie, do regularly go broody, and they make excellent mothers, not only for chicken eggs but also for those of other species -- even those with much smaller or larger eggs and different incubation periods, such as quail, pheasants, turkeys or geese. Chicken eggs can also be hatched under a broody duck, with varied success.
Artificial incubation

Chicken egg incubation can successfully occur artificially as well. Nearly all fertilized Chicken eggs will hatch after 21 days of good conditions - 99.5 Ã,°F (37.5 Ã,°C) and around 55% relative humidity (increase to 70% in the last three days of incubation to help soften egg shell). Eggs must be turned regularly (usually three to eight times each week) during the first part of the incubation. If the eggs aren't turned, the embryo inside will stick to the shell and may hatch with physical defects. Some incubators turn the eggs automatically. This turning mimics the natural process ââ,¬â€œ an incubating hen will stand up several times a day and shift the eggs around with her beak. However, if the egg is turned during the last week of incubation the chick may have difficulty settling in the correct hatching position.
Many commercial incubators are industrial-sized with shelves holding tens of thousands of eggs at a time, with rotation of the eggs a fully automated process. Home incubators are boxes holding from half a dozen to 75 eggs; they are usually electrically powered, but in the past some were heated with an oil or paraffin lamp.
Chickens as food

Main article: Chicken (food)
The meat of the chicken, also called "chicken," is a type of poultry meat. Because of its relatively low cost, chicken is one of the most used meats in the world. Nearly all parts of the bird can be used for food, and the meat can be cooked in many different ways. Popular chicken dishes include fried chicken, chicken soup, Buffalo wings, tandoori chicken, butter chicken, and chicken rice. Chicken is also a staple of fast food restaurants. Commercially produced chicken usually has a fairly neutral flavor and texture,[citation needed] and is used as a reference point for describing other foods; many are said to "taste like chicken" if they are indistinctive.
Chickens as pets


The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
Chickens can make good companion animals and can be tamed by hand feeding, but roosters can sometimes become aggressive. Some have advised against keeping them around very young children. Some people find chickens' behaviour entertaining and educational.
While some cities in the United States allow chickens as pets, the practice is not approved in all localities. Some communities ban only roosters, allowing the quieter hens. The so called "urban hen movement" harks back to the days when chicken keeping was much more common, and involves the keeping of small groups of hens in areas where they may not be expected, such as closely populated cities and suburban areas. City ordinances, zoning regulations or health boards may determine whether chickens may be kept.[5] A general requirement is that the birds be confined to the owner's property, not allowed to roam freely. There may be strictures on how far from human dwellings a coop may be located, etc.[15]
Chickens are generally low-maintenance. The major challenge is protecting the birds from predators such as dogs, raccoons and foxes. A bird left out at night is likely to be killed by a predator. Chickens are usually kept in a roost at night and a pen in the day (unless they are free-range). The floor is covered with bedding such as straw or wood shavings, which, with the high-nitrogen droppings, can go into a compost pile.
Roosters are not required, as hens still lay eggs, but these eggs are not fertilized by the rooster therefore they will not hatch. Fresh egg yolks are "perky" and float above the white. Yolk color varies. According to Gail Damerow's handbook, "Egg yolks get their color from xanthophyll, a natural yellow-orange pigment in green plants and yellow corn, and the same pigment that colors the skin and shanks of yellow-skinned hens. The exact color of a yolk depends on the source of the xanthophyll." A subsequent table ascribes raw yolks colored "orange to dark yellow" to "green feed, yellow corn."[16]
If hens are allowed to forage or are fed additional greens, their eggs may differ from USDA standards. Barb Gorski, a Pennsylvania farmer of pastured poultry, had some of her chicken eggs analyzed under the USDA-supported Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. According to the laboratory results, "Eggs of the pastured chickens contained 34% less cholesterol, 10% less fat, 40% more vitamin A, twice as much omega-6 fatty acid, and four times as much omega-3 fatty acid as the USDA standard."[17]
While the bulk of a pet chickens' diet should be a balanced commercial mix, for household chickens "green feed" can be as simple as poison-free, short grass clippings from lawn mowing. Chickens will forage for chickweed and other plants, seeds, and insects.
Chickens can also consume pulverized eggshells or otherwise unused food, such as meal leavings and old (but not rotted) produce. Damerow recommends leftover baked goods, fruit, or vegetable peelings, excess milk in modest amounts; advises against making such scraps the sole diet, or including raw potato peels "which chickens can't easily digest..." or "...anything spoiled or rotten...strong-tasting foods like onions, garlic, or fish."[18]
In Asia, chickens with striking plumage have long been kept for ornamental purposes, including feather-footed varieties such as the Cochin from Vietnam, the Silkie from China, and the extremely long-tailed Phoenix from Japan. Asian ornamental varieties were imported into the United States and Great Britain in the late 1800s. Distinctive American varieties of chickens have been developed from these Asian breeds. Poultry fanciers began keeping these ornamental birds for exhibition, a practice that continues today. Individuals in rural communities commonly keep chickens for both ornamental and practical value. Zoos sometimes use chickens instead of insecticides to control insect populations.[citation needed]
Chickens in agriculture



A free range rooster on a farm

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.
In the United States, chickens were raised primarily on family farms until roughly 1960. Originally, the primary value in poultry keeping was eggs, and meat was considered a byproduct of egg production.[19] Its supply was less than the demand, and poultry was expensive. Except in hot weather, eggs can be shipped and stored without refrigeration for some time before going bad; this was important in the days before widespread refrigeration.
Farm flocks tended to be small because the hens largely fed themselves through foraging, with some supplementation of grain, scraps, and waste products from other farm ventures. Such feedstuffs were in limited supply, especially in the winter, and this tended to regulate the size of the farm flocks. Soon after poultry keeping gained the attention of agricultural researchers (around 1896), improvements in nutrition and management made poultry keeping more profitable and businesslike.
Prior to about 1910, chicken was served primarily on special occasions or Sunday dinner. Poultry was shipped live or killed, plucked, and packed on ice (but not eviscerated). The "whole, ready-to-cook broiler" wasn't popular until the Fifties, when end-to-end refrigeration and sanitary practices gave consumers more confidence. Before this, poultry were often cleaned by the neighborhood butcher, though cleaning poultry at home was a commonplace kitchen skill.
Two kinds of poultry were generally offered: broilers or "spring chickens," young male chickens, a byproduct of the egg industry, which were sold when still young and tender (generally under 3 pounds live weight); and "fowls" or "stewing hens," also a byproduct of the egg industry, which were old hens past their prime for laying.[20] This is no longer practiced; modern meat chickens are a different breed. Egg-type chicken carcasses no longer appear in stores.


Battery chickens
The major milestone in 20th century poultry production was the discovery of Vitamin-D (named in 1922),[21] which made it possible to keep chickens in confinement year-round. Before this, chickens did not thrive during the winter (due to lack of sunlight), and egg production, incubation, and meat production in the off-season were all very difficult, making poultry a seasonal and expensive proposition. Year-round production lowered costs, especially for broilers.
At the same time, egg production was increased by scientific breeding. After a few false starts, such as the Maine Experiment Station's failure at improving egg production,[22] success was shown by Professor Dryden at the Oregon Experiment Station.[23]
Improvements in production and quality were accompanied by lower labor requirements. In the Thirties through the early Fifties, 1,500 hens was considered to be a full-time job for a farm family. In the late Fifties, egg prices had fallen so dramatically that farmers typically tripled the number of hens they kept, putting three hens into what had been a single-bird cage or converting their floor-confinement houses from a single deck of roosts to triple-decker roosts. Not long after this, prices fell still further and large numbers of egg farmers left the business. This marked the beginning of the transition from family farms to larger, vertically integrated operations.
Robert Plamondon[24] reports that the last family chicken farm in his part of Oregon, Rex Farms, had 30,000 layers and survived into the Nineties. But the standard laying house of the surviving operations is around 125,000 hens.

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[Travis]

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[Houdini]

Thank you for another wonderful thread. Locked.