For the culinary use of chickens, see Chicken as food. Male and chicken breast in oven chicken sitting together. Chickens 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.

In 2011 a study in genetic and archaeological evidence conclude that the origin of the modern-day chicken is from Southeast Asia. Dunghill fowl: a chicken with mixed parentage from different domestic varieties. Pullet: a young female chicken less than a year old. In the poultry industry, a pullet is a sexually immature chicken less than 22 weeks of age. In fact, chicken was originally a term only for an immature, or at least young, bird. In older sources, chicken as a species were typically referred to as common fowl or domestic fowl.

Chick is then rarely used to mean chicken, but is mainly used in Merriam-Webster’s “Sense 1b” viz. This section needs expansion with: the origin of the term ‘chicken’ in general. You can help by adding to it. In most breeds the adult rooster can be distinguished from the hen by his larger comb.

In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects, and even animals as large as lizards, small snakes, or sometimes young mice. 10 years, depending on the breed. The world’s oldest known chicken lived 16 years according to Guinness World Records. However, in some breeds, such as the Sebright chicken, the rooster has only slightly pointed neck feathers, the same colour as the hen’s. Chickens may occasionally fly briefly to explore their surroundings, but generally do so only to flee perceived danger.

Chickens are gregarious birds and live together in flocks. They have a communal approach to the incubation of eggs and raising of young. When a rooster finds food, he may call other chickens to eat first. He does this by clucking in a high pitch as well as picking up and dropping the food. This behaviour may also be observed in mother hens to call their chicks and encourage them to eat. A rooster’s crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call and sends a territorial signal to other roosters.