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Chickens
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and widespread domesticated animals in the world. Chickens are primarily kept for their meat and eggs, though they are also kept as pets. As of 2023, the global chicken population exceeds 26.5 billion, with more than 50 billion birds produced annually for consumption. Specialized breeds such as broilers and laying hens have been developed for meat and egg production, respectively. A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year. Chickens are social animals with complex vocalizations and behaviors, and feature prominently in folklore, religion, and literature across many societies. Their economic importance makes them a central component of global animal husbandry and agriculture. Nomenclature Terms for chickens include: * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laying Hen
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers. In the United States, the national organization overseeing poultry production is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the UK, the national organization is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Intensive and alternative According to the World Watch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry meat, and 68 percent of eggs are produced intensively.''State of the World 2006'' World Watch Institute, p. 26 One alternative to intensive poultry farming is free-range farming using lower stocking densities. Poultry producers routinely use nationally approved medications, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural References To Chickens
There are numerous cultural references to chickens in myth, folklore, religion, and literature. Chicken, Chickens are a sacred animal in many cultures, being deeply embedded in belief systems and religious worship practices. Roosters are sometimes used for a divination practice called ''Alectryomancy'', a word deriving from the Greek for "rooster" and "divination". This would sometimes involve sacrificing a sacred rooster during a ritual cockfight to communicate with the gods. Ancient Greece and Rome In Greek mythology, Alectryon (mythology), Alectryon was the guard of Ares, waiting beside his door and alerting him if anyone came near while he was sleeping with Aphrodite, wife of Hephaestus. However, Alectryon once fell asleep, and Helios, the sun, saw the two lovers and alerted Hephaestus. In anger over Alectryon's incompetence, Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster for his disobedience, thus fulfilling his promise to Ares for eternity. The rooster was one of Helios' sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicken As Food
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or Pig, hogs—chicken meat (commonly called just "chicken") and chicken Chicken eggs, eggs have become prevalent in numerous cuisines. Chicken can be prepared in a vast range of ways, including baking, grilling, barbecuing, frying, boiling, and roasting. Since the latter half of the 20th century, prepared chicken has become a staple of fast food. Chicken is sometimes cited as being more healthy than red meat, with lower concentrations of cholesterol and saturated fat. The poultry farming industry that accounts for chicken production takes on a range of forms across different parts of the world. In developed country, developed countries, chickens are typically subject to intensive farming methods while less-developed areas raise chickens using more traditional farming techniques. The United Nations estimates there to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Junglefowl
The red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), also known as the Indian red junglefowl (and formerly the bankiva or bankiva-fowl), is a species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ... of Tropics, tropical, predominantly Terrestrial animal, terrestrial bird in the fowl and pheasant family, Phasianidae, found across much of Southeast Asia, Southeast and parts of South Asia. The red junglefowl was the primary species to give rise to today's many breeds of domesticated chicken (''G. g. domesticus''); additionally, the related grey junglefowl (''G. sonneratii''), Sri Lankan junglefowl (''G. lafayettii'') and the green junglefowl, Javanese green junglefowl (''G. varius'') have also contributed genetic material to the gene pool of the modern chicken. Molecular evidence, derived from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egg As Food
Humans and other hominids have consumed eggs for millions of years. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especially chickens. People in Southeast Asia began harvesting chicken eggs for food by 1500 BCE. Eggs of other birds, such as ducks and ostriches, are eaten regularly but much less commonly than those of chickens. People may also eat the eggs of reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Fish eggs consumed as food are known as roe or caviar. Hens and other egg-laying creatures are raised throughout the world, and mass production of chicken eggs is a global industry. In 2009, an estimated 62.1 million metric tons of eggs were produced worldwide from a total laying flock of approximately 6.4 billion hens. There are issues of regional variation in demand and expectation, as well as current debates concerning methods of mass production. In 2012, the European Union banned battery husbandry of chickens. History Bird eggs have been valuable foodstuffs since prehistor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broiler
Breed broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaughter weight at approximately 14 weeks of age. Typical broilers have white feathers and yellowish skin. Broiler or sometimes broiler-fryer is also used sometimes to refer specifically to younger chickens under , as compared with the larger roasters. Due to extensive breeding selection for rapid early growth and the husbandry used to sustain this, broilers are susceptible to several welfare concerns, particularly skeletal malformation and dysfunction, skin and eye lesions and congestive heart conditions. Management of ventilation, housing, stocking density and in-house procedures must be evaluated regularly to support good welfare of the flock. The breeding stock (broiler-breeders) do grow to maturity but also have their own welfare concerns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first Domestication, domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the History of agriculture, first crops. During the period of ancient societies like ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms. Major changes took place in the Columbian exchange, when Old World livestock were brought to the New World, and then in the British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century, when livestock breeds like the English Longhorn, Dishley Longhorn cattle and Lincoln (sheep), Lincoln Longwool sheep were rapidly improved by agriculturalists, such as Robert Bakewell (agriculturalist), Robert Bakewell, to yi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chick (young Bird)
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capon
A capon (from , genitive ''cāpōnis'') is a male chicken that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by forced feeding. History The origins of caponised chickens are contested. They were known in ancient China as well as in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. An early record of caponisation is found under the Roman Republic: the Lex Fannia of 162 BC forbade fattening hens to conserve grain rations, so the Romans instead castrated roosters, which resulted in a doubling of size. It was also practiced later throughout medieval times, with gastronomic texts describing capons as preferred poultry since the ordinary fowl of the farmyard was regarded as peasant fare and "popular malice crediting monks with a weakness for capons." In the early 20th century, France was internationally renowned for maintaining a strong caponisation tradition with widespread and establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junglefowl
Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus ''Gallus'' in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. One of the species in this genus, the red junglefowl, is of historical importance as the direct ancestor of the domestic chicken, although the grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl are likely to have also been involved. The Sri Lankan junglefowl is the national bird of Sri Lanka. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4–6 million years ago. Although originating in Asia, remains of junglefowl bones have also been found in regions of Chile, which date back to 1321–1407 CE, providing evidence of possible Polynesian migration through the Pacific Ocean. The junglefowl are omnivorous, eating a variety of leaves, plant matter, invertebrates such as slugs and insects, and occasionally small mice and frogs. These are large birds, with colourful plumage in males, but are nevertheless difficult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
