Facts about Chickens

Facts About

Did you Know? List of Facts about Chickens
Facts are statements which are held to be true and often contrasted with opinions and beliefs. Our unusual and interesting facts about Chickens, trivia and information, including some useful statistics about animals will fascinate everyone from kids and children to adults.

Interesting Facts about Chickens are as follows:

  • Fact 1 - Definition: The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domestic fowl bred for meat or eggs. Gallinaceous birds are described as heavy-bodied ground-feeding domestic or game birds including Turkeys, grouse, quail, pheasant and chickens

  • Fact 2 - The chicken is the most populous bird in the world. Over 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs

    • Chickens farmed for meat are called broiler chickens, those farmed for eggs are called egg laying hens

  • Fact 3 - It is believed that chickens were first domesticated over 10,000 years ago in the far east
  • Fact 4 - Males chickens are referred to as 'cockerels or cocks' in the UK and 'roosters' in the US and Canada
  • Fact 5 - Castrated roosters are called capons
  • Fact 6 - Female chickens, over a year old, are called hens, and younger females are called pullets
  • Fact 7 - Lifespan between 5 - 10 years, however, a free range meat chicken will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks
  • Fact 8 - Domestic chickens are not capable of long distance flight unlike birds
  • Fact 9 - A group of chickens is called a flock
  • Fact 10 - Coxcomb - A coxcomb is the the fleshy red crest on the head of the domestic fowl
  • Fact 11 - The direct ancestor of the domestic chicken is believed to be the Red Jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) which is a tropical member of the Pheasant family
  • Fact 12 - Over 29 million eggs are eaten every day in the UK
  • Fact 13 - Chicken diseases: Chickens are susceptible to parasites including lice, mites, ticks, fleas and intestinal worms

    • Bird Flu is a virus known as Avian Influenza

  • Fact 14 - "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Answer: Recent studies show that the chicken came first, because of the methodology of evolution. An egg cannot occur unless a a chicken is able to lay that egg
  • Fact 15 - Chickens are omnivores, this means they eat both vegetables and meat
  • Fact 16 - Chickens are the closest living relative of the dinosaur called the tyrannosaur
  • Fact 17 - Ameraucana and Araucana can lay eggs colored in shades of green or blue, depending on the breed

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