THE DOMESTICS CHICKEN

The domestic chicken is descended primarily from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and is scientifically classified as the same species.Chicken as such it can and does freely interbreed with populations of red jungle fowl.The recent genetic analysis has revealed that at least the gene for yellow skin was incorporated into domestic birds through hybridization with the Grey Junglefowl (G. sonneratii).

Researchers have found chickens' bones in unusual amounts and out of natural jungle range, thus denoting a breeding place. Bones of domestic chickens have been found about 6000-4000 BC in Yangshao and Peiligan, China, while the Holocene climate was not naturally suitable for the Gallus species.Archaeological data is lacking for Thailand and southeast Asia.

CHICKEN

Chickens are bird In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice

Chickens may live for five to eleven years, depending on age In commercial intensive farming, a meat chicken generally lives only six weeks before slaughter. A free range or organic meat chicken will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks. Hens of special laying breeds may produce as many as 300 eggs a year. After 12 months, the hen's egg-laying ability starts to decline, and commercial laying hens are then slaughtered and used in baby foods, pet foods, pies and other processed foods.The world's oldest chicken, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, died of heart failure when she was 16 years old.
The adult rooster can be distinguished from the hen by its comb

Roosters can usually be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage, marked by long flowing tails and shiny, pointed feathers on their necks and backs (the hackles and saddle)—these are often colored differently from the hackles and saddles of females.

However, in some breeds, such as the Sebright, the cock has only slightly pointed neck feathers, the same colour as the hen's. The identification must be made by looking at the comb, or eventually from the development of spurs on the male's legs (in a few breeds and in certain hybrids the male and female chicks may be differentiated by colour). Adult chickens have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb or cockscomb, and hanging flaps of skin either side under their beaks called wattles. Both the adult male and female have wattles and combs, but in most breeds these are more prominent in males.