Chicken Wikipedia

The chicken is perhaps the most widely domesticated fowl, raised worldwide for its meat and eggs. In the United States alone, more than 8 billion chickens are slaughtered each year for meat, and more than 300 million chickens are reared for egg production. More than 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of meat and eggs. These domesticated chickens spread across Southeast and South Asia where they interbred with local wild species of junglefowl, forming genetically and geographically distinct groups. It is estimated that chickens share between 71 and 79% of their genome with red junglefowl. Domesticated chickens freely interbreed with populations of red junglefowl.

Cheats rotisserie chicken with roast potatoes and corn on the cobs

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. Only hens that could no longer produce enough eggs were killed and sold for meat. Only in the early 20th century, however, did chicken meat and eggs become mass-production commodities.

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. The time between ovulation and egg-laying is approximately 23–26 hours. The chicken was the first bird species to have its genome sequenced.

• The chicks imprint on the hen and subsequently follow her continually.
• 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.
• As of 2023, the global chicken population exceeds 26.5 billion, with more than 50 billion birds produced annually for consumption.
• Chicken domestication likely occurred more than once in Southeast Asia and possibly India over the most recent 7,400 years, and the first domestications may have been for religious reasons or for the raising of fighting birds.

Other poultry

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). Chickens are descended primarily from the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and are scientifically classified as the same species.

During the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd centuries BC), in the southern Levant, chickens began to be widely domesticated for food. Analysis of the most popular commercial breed shows that the White Leghorn breed possesses a mosaic of divergent ancestries inherited from different subspecies of red junglefowl. Inbreeding of White Leghorn chickens tends to cause inbreeding depression expressed as reduced egg number and delayed sexual maturity. When eggs are placed in a hypoxic environment, chicken embryos from these populations express much more hemoglobin than embryos from other chicken populations. Adult chickens of both sexes have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb or cockscomb, and hanging flaps of skin on either side under their beaks called wattles; combs and wattles are more prominent in males.

Females (mature hens and younger chickens, called pullets) are raised for meat and for their edible eggs. 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. Specialized breeds such as broilers and laying hens have been developed for meat and egg production, respectively. The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated form of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), originally native to Southeast Asia.

Equally important, embryologists can carry out experiments on such embryos, close the egg again and study the effects later in development. A cockfight is a contest held in a ring called a cockpit between two cocks. Certain breeds, such as silkies and many bantam varieties, are generally docile and are often recommended as good pets around children with disabilities.

To add chicken to a word list please sign up or log in. Chickens have been featured in art in farmyard scenes such as Adriaen van Utrecht’s 1646 Turkeys and Chickens and Walter Osborne’s 1885 Feeding the Chickens. The pseudo-riddle „Why did the chicken cross the road?” dates to 1847, or earlier. This involves the sacrifice of a sacred rooster, https://jaya9betting.com/bn/app often during a ritual cockfight, used as a form of communication with the gods. Chickens are featured widely in folklore, religion, literature, and popular culture. For instance, many important discoveries in limb development have been made using chicken embryos, such as the discovery of the apical ectodermal ridge and the zone of polarizing activity.