Chicken (Animal)

CHICKENS IN HISTORY

The common chicken does not exist on the wild, they are the result of the domestication of another species of bird called the "Red Junglefowl" that lives in South Asia. They look like chickens except they live on trees and can actually fly.

According to archaeological records, chickens were first domesticated in the cities of the Indus Valley in about 3000 BC.

Until the late 18th century, a male chicken was generally referred to as a cock, a young cock was a cockerel. The word rooster originated in the United States in 1774, and the term is widely used throughout North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

In the early 1910s, the New Zealand town of Brightwater had five electric street lights powered by a hydroelectric generator which was auto-controlled by a flock of chickens. At night, the chickens would go inside their coop and their weight would close an electric circuit, turning on the street lights.

Until the 1920s, people raised chickens primarily for the eggs. That changed in 1923, when Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware, ordered 50 chicks for her backyard flock—but received 500 by mistake. Undeterred, the entrepreneurial Steele sold the excess birds four months later at 62 cents a pound, effectively hatching the broiler chicken industry.

Mike the Headless Chicken was a Wyandotte rooster who lived in Fruita, Colorado. On September 10, 1945, his owner, Lloyd Olsen, was chopping off Mike's head for dinner when the axe missed the jugular vein and spinal cord. Mike survived the incident and was able to live for another 18 months without his head.

Mike became a celebrity and was exhibited in sideshows around the country. He was able to eat, drink, and even crow, although his voice was much weaker than it had been before. He died of a stroke in March 1947 at the age of 18 months.

The exact reason why Mike was able to survive without his head is unknown. Some experts believe that the base of his neck was able to clot quickly, preventing too much blood from loss. Others believe that the nerves in his neck were able to regenerate. Whatever the reason, Mike's story is one of the most bizarre and fascinating in medical history.

In 1946, a local poultry farmer offered 100 chicks for each homer the Nashua Dodgers hit. Newcomer Roy Campanella hit 14 in his first season and shipped to his father, who promptly began a thriving farming business on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

In December 1997, Hong Kong faced a significant outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, commonly known as bird flu. The government took drastic measures to control the spread of the virus by ordering the culling, disinfection, and burial of approximately 1.25 million chickens. This action was taken to prevent the further transmission of the virus from poultry to humans.  The H5N1 bird flu virus is known for its high mortality rate in both birds and, in some cases, humans. The culling of chickens, which began on December 29, 1997, was a crucial step to eliminate the source of the virus and protect public health. 

The UN estimated there were nearly 16 billion chickens in the world in 2002, with China having the most.

In 2004, the chicken became the first bird to have its genome sequenced. Genetic differences in strains of chicken are monitored by the International Chicken Genome Consortium.

Chickens are now frequently bred according to predetermined breed standards set down by governing organizations. The first of such standards was the British Poultry Standard, which was first published in 1865 by the original Poultry Club of Great Britain. The current edition, published in 2008, is the sixth in the current numbering.

FUN CHICKEN FACTS

The world's average stock of chickens is estimated to be 25 billion, meaning there are about three and a half times as many chickens as there are people in the world. It is thought there are more chickens than any other bird species.

In Brunei, there are 40 times as many chickens as people.

Chickens outnumber people in the US state of Delaware more than 200-1.

The world’s oldest chicken, according to the Guinness Book of Records, died of heart failure aged 16- normally they live for six to eight years.

Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated on a farm in Colorado on September 10, 1945; he survived another 18 months as part  of sideshows before choking to death in Phoenix, Arizona.

Research has shown that a chicken can learn to recognize the faces of over 100 individuals.

The chickens' beak, with numerous nerve endings, is used to explore, detect, drink, preen, and defend.

The dangly bit on a rooster’s chin is a wattle. Wattles seem to play a role in courtship behaviour.

Chickens have a third eyelid, called a nictitating membrane. They are fully developed and can be actively controlled.

Chickens can see long distance and close-up at the same time in different parts of their vision. They can also see a broader range of colors than humans.

Research has shown that chickens can distinguish between over 100 different faces of people or animals.

Hens talk to their chicks in soft tones while they are still in the egg, and chicks can be heard peeping back from inside the shell.

Chickens have earlobes, and the color of a hen's eggs corresponds to the earlobe color.  A chicken with red earlobes will produce brown eggs, and a chicken with white earlobes will produce white eggs.

Nine egg yolks have been found in one chicken egg.

Baby chickens use their right eye to look for food and their left eye to look out for predators.

A group of chickens is called a brood or peep.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken lasted 13 seconds.

Chickens can travel up to nine miles an hour.

Chickens are used to detect diseases that spread via mosquito. They don’t get ill from the ailments and don’t develop high enough levels of the conditions to spread them, but the we can still check for the diseases in their blood. They are also called ‘Sentinel Chickens.’

Ayam Cemani is a completely black breed of chicken from Indonesia. Its beak, tongue, comb, wattles, and even its meat, bones and organs appear black thanks to excess pigmentation caused by fibromelanosis.

Cemani rooster By Kangwira - my farm

Alektotophobia is the fear of chickens. American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth is terrified of the birds.

Freshman students at Izumo Agricultural and Forestry High School, in Izumo, Japan take a six month “Class of Life” course during which they help hatch and raise chickens, before killing and eating  them.

Source Treehugger.com, Readers Digest, Daily Mail, Daily Express