Gallus gallus

About

Tiny chicky chicken

Domestic Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) come in all colors and sizes. With over 500 recognized breeds in the world, this is one of the domesticated species with the most variety. White fluffy "Silkies" and big black "Brahmas" seem to have nothing in common, but they do infact stem from the same jungle forest-dwelling bird, the Indian Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus). The wild species, which shows an impressive plumage and flies very well, is still around.

In 2023, over 50 billion chicken a year were bred for human consumption. They can either be bred for their meat or for eggs. A modern breed bred for meat will grow so fast that, if kept alive over the age of 4 months, it will suffocate itself by sheer weight. A hen bred for laying eggs will lay over 300 eggs per year. Both are quite unnatural traits. The original chicken reaches a weight of up to 1.5kg, about half the size of a meat chicken, and has a laying period of about two weeks in a year during which the hen will try to hatch her eggs. Neither very young, nore older hens, will lay any eggs.

Domesticated chicken make easy to keep pets and can be put on an omnivore diet. When trained for even a small amount of time and kept with one responsible rooster in their flock, they are able to use automated coops which open and close their doors at set times.

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Observations

In captivity

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Pets

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Mixed Observations

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