Roosters can usually be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage of long flowing tails and shiny, pointed feathers on their necks ('hackles') and backs ('saddle'), which are typically of brighter, bolder colours than those of females of the same breed. Ĭhicken may also mean a chick (see for example Hen and Chicken Islands). In older sources, chicken as a species were typically referred to as common fowl or domestic fowl. Yardbird: a chicken (southern United States, dialectal) Ĭhicken was originally a term only for an immature, or at least young, bird.In the poultry industry, a pullet is a sexually immature chicken less than 22 weeks of age. Pullet: a young female chicken less than a year old.Dunghill fowl: a chicken with mixed parentage from different domestic varieties.Cockerel: a young male chicken less than a year old.Chook / tʃ ʊ k/: a chicken (Australia/New Zealand, informal).Capon: a castrated or neutered male chicken.Īn adult male is a called a cock or (in the United States) a rooster and an adult female is called a hen. Fowl have been known in Egypt since the mid-15th century BC, with the "bird that gives birth every day" having come from the land between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia, according to the annals of Thutmose III.
From ancient India, the chicken spread to Lydia in western Asia Minor, and to Greece by the 5th century BC. Genetic studies have pointed to multiple maternal origins in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, but the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa originated from the Indian subcontinent. There are numerous cultural references to chickens – in myth, folklore and religion, and in language and literature. There are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans now keep chickens primarily as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) and as pets.Ĭhickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion as of 2018, up from more than 19 billion in 2011. Originally raised for cockfighting or for special ceremonies, chickens were not kept for food until the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd centuries BC). An adult female bird is called a hen and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. A male that has been castrated is a capon. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird, and a younger male may be called a cockerel. The chicken ( Gallus domesticus) is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia.
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