Chicken

The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a large and round short-winged bird, domesticated from the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs.

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Description

Chickens are birds with round bodies, unfeathered legs in most breeds and short wings. Chickens and their flight muscles are too heavy to allow them to fly more than short distances. Size and coloration can vary widely between breeds. They weigh about 1.3 ounces. Modern varieties however grow much faster; by day 35 a "Ross 708 broiler" may weigh 4 pounds as against the 2.3 pounds of a heritage chicken of the same age.

Chickens are omnivores, they scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects, and animals as large as lizards, small snakes and young mice. A chicken may live for 5 to 10 years, depending on the breed.

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Details

• Domain: Eukaryota
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Galliformes
• Family: Phasianidae
• Genus: Gallus
• Species: G. gallus
• Subspecies: G. g. domesticus

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