A chicken is a type
of domesticated bird which is usually raised as a type of poultry.
It is believed to be descended from the wild Asian Red Junglefowl,
Gallus gallus.In the wild, junglefowl sleep in trees. Chickens
are omnivores and will feed on small seeds, herbs and leaves,
grubs, insects and even small mammals like mice, if they can get
them. Domestic chickens are not capable of flying for long distances.
They are, however, generally capable of flying for short distances,
over fences etc., especially in order to flee danger, but also
simply in order to explore the neighborhood. Because of the risk
of flight, chickens raised in the open air generally have one
of their wings clipped by the breeder — the tips of the
longest feathers on one of the wings are cut, resulting in unbalanced
flight, which the bird won't sustain for more than a few meters.
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History - Baby
chickens (chicks)The first pictures of chickens in Europe are
found on Corinthian pottery of the 7th century BC. The poet Kratinos
(middle of the 5th century BC, Athenaios 374d) calls the chicken
"the Persian alarm". In Aristophanes's comedy The Birds
(414 BC) a chicken is called "the Median bird", which
points to an introduction from the East. Pictures of chickens
are found on Greek red figured and black figured pottery. (Gr:
órnis, hen; alektryón, cock) An early domestication
of chickens in New Guinea is probable, since the word for domestic
chicken (*manuk) is part of the reconstructed Proto-Austronesian
language (see Austronesian languages). Chickens, together with
dogs and pigs, were the domestic animals of the Lapita culture,
the first Neolithic culture of Oceania.
All of The Above Images Come From The USDA
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