CHICKEN English meaning

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. Archaeological evidence appeared to support domestic chickens in Southeast Asia well before 6000 BC, China by 6000 BC and India by 2000 BC. Exactly when and where the chicken was domesticated was controversial. 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.

Domestication and economic production

• Chickens reached Egypt via the Middle East for purposes of cockfighting about 1400 BC and became widely bred in Egypt around 300 BC.
• The possibility that domestic chickens were in the Americas before Western contact is debated by researchers, but blue-egged chickens, found only in the Americas and Asia, suggest an Asian origin for early American chickens.
• Farmers have developed numerous breeds and varieties to fulfill commercial requirements.
• While the origin is Germanic, it is unclear exactly where the word came from, although it could ultimately have come from an imitation of the sound a chicken makes.

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. Wild junglefowl can fly, whereas domestic chickens and their flight muscles are too heavy to allow them to fly more than a short distance. Subsequent ovulations may occur within an hour after the previous egg was laid, allowing some hens to produce as many as 300 eggs per year.

Sperm transfer occurs by cloacal contact between the male and female, in an action called the 'cloacal kiss’. Chickens have been thought of primarily as providers of food, but their cognition, emotions, and sociality are comparable with other birds and mammals. Chickens are gregarious, living in flocks, and incubate eggs and raise young communally. The body is round, the legs are unfeathered in most breeds, and the wings are short. Chicken can mean a chick, and this was historically the meaning of the word chicken, as in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, where Macduff laments the death of „all my pretty chickens and their dam”.

Under natural conditions, most birds lay only until a clutch is complete; they then incubate all the eggs. 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. In older sources, and still often in trade and scientific contexts, chickens as a species are described as common fowl or domestic fowl.

Farming

Modern varieties however grow much faster; by day 35 a Ross 708 broiler may weigh 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) as against the 1.05 kg (2.3 lb) of a heritage chicken of the same age. Newly hatched chicks of both modern and heritage varieties weigh the same, about 37 g (1.3 oz). While the origin is Germanic, it is unclear exactly where the word came from, although it could ultimately have come from an imitation of the sound a chicken makes. The word chicken comes from Old English cicen (pronounced essentially the same as in Modern English).

The chicken was the first bird species to have its genome sequenced. 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. 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. Chickens are social, inquisitive, intelligent birds, and many people find their behaviour entertaining.

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Descendants of those domestications have spread throughout the world in several waves for at least the last 2,000 years. Chickens belonging to the same age cohort and sex are often kept together in industrial production settings. A flock usually includes one dominant adult male, a few subdominant males, and two or more females that are carefully watched over by the dominant male. Chicks are born covered in down, but they mature quickly, becoming fully feathered after four to five weeks.

In some other countries, flocks are sometimes force-moulted rather than being slaughtered to re-invigorate egg-laying. After 12 months of laying, the commercial hen’s egg-laying ability declines to the point where https://jaya9betting.com/app/ the flock is commercially unviable. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74% of the world’s poultry meat and 68% of eggs are produced this way.

Chickens give different warning calls to indicate that a predator is approaching from the air or on the ground. A male’s crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call, serving as a territorial signal to other males, and in response to sudden disturbances within their surroundings. Chickens are capable of mobbing and killing a weak or inexperienced predator, such as a young fox. Some breeds have a mutation that causes extra feathering under the face, giving the appearance of a beard.