Day 119: [https://www.reddit.com/r/youll\_be\_banned/comments/1vbe5xx/fibonacci\_posting\_day\_119/](https://www.reddit.com/r/youll_be_banned/comments/1vbe5xx/fibonacci_posting_day_119/)

Number: 3311648143516982017180081

The **chicken** (***Gallus gallus domesticus***) is the domesticated form of the [red junglefowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Red_junglefowl) (*Gallus gallus*), originally native to [Southeast Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Southeast_Asia). It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is one of the most common and widespread [domesticated animals](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Domesticated_animals) in the world. Chickens are primarily kept for [their meat](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken_as_food) and [eggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Egg_as_food), though they are also kept as [pets](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Pet).[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-1)

  
As of 2023, the global chicken population exceeds 26.5 billion, with more than 50 billion birds produced annually for consumption. Specialized breeds such as [broilers](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Broiler) and [laying hens](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Laying_hen) have been developed for meat and egg production, respectively. A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year. Chickens are social animals with complex vocalizations and behaviors, and [feature in folklore, religion, and literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Cultural_references_to_chickens) across many societies. Their economic importance makes them a central component of global [animal husbandry](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Animal_husbandry).

# Etymology

The word *chicken* comes from [Old English](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Old_English) *ċicen*(pronounced essentially the same as in Modern English). While the origin is [Germanic](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Germanic_languages), it is unclear exactly where the word came from, although it could ultimately have come from an imitation of the sound a chicken makes.[^(\[2\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-2)[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-3)

# Nomenclature

Terms for chickens include:

* *Biddy*: a chicken, or a newly hatched chicken[^(\[4\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-4)[^(\[5\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-5)
* [*Capon*](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Capon): a castrated or [neutered](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Neutered) male chicken[^(\[a\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-6)
* [*Chick*](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chick_(young_bird)): a young chicken[^(\[6\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-7)
* *Chook* [/tʃʊk/](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Help:IPA/English): a chicken (Australia/New Zealand, informal)[^(\[7\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-8)
* *Cock*: a fertile adult male chicken[^(\[8\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-9)[^(\[9\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-10)
* *Cockerel*: a young male chicken[^(\[10\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-11)
* *Hen*: an adult female chicken[^(\[11\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-12)
* *Pullet*: a young female chicken less than a year old.[^(\[12\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-13) In the poultry industry, a pullet is a sexually immature chicken less than 22 weeks of age.[^(\[13\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-14)
* *Rooster*: a fertile adult male chicken, especially in North America. Originated in the 18th century, possibly as a euphemism to avoid the sexual connotation of the word *cock*.[^(\[14\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-15)[^(\[15\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Rawson-16)[^(\[16\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Online_Etymology_Dictionary-17)
* *Yardbird*: a chicken (southern United States, dialectal)[^(\[17\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-berhardt-18)

*Chicken* can mean a *chick*, and this was historically the meaning of the word chicken,[^(\[18\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-19) as in [William Shakespeare](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/William_Shakespeare)'s play [*Macbeth*](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Macbeth), where [Macduff](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Macduff_(Macbeth)) laments the death of "all my pretty chickens and their dam".[^(\[19\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-20) The usage is preserved in placenames such as the [Hen and Chicken Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Hen_and_Chicken_Islands).[^(\[20\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-21) In older sources, and still often in trade and scientific contexts, chickens as a species are described as *common fowl* or *domestic fowl*.[^(\[21\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-22)

# Description

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/File:Rooster_portrait2.jpg)

Chickens are relatively large [birds](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Bird), [active by day](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Diurnality). The body is round, the legs are unfeathered in most breeds, and the wings are short.[^(\[22\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Smithsonian-23) Wild [junglefowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Junglefowl) can [fly](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Bird_flight), whereas domestic chickens and their [flight muscles](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Flight_muscle) are too heavy to allow them to fly more than a short distance.[^(\[23\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-24) Size and coloration vary widely between breeds.[^(\[22\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Smithsonian-23) Newly hatched chicks of both modern and heritage varieties weigh the same, about 37 g (1.3 oz). Modern varieties however grow much faster; by day 35 a Ross 708 [broiler](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Broiler) may weigh 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) as against the 1.05 kg (2.3 lb) of a heritage chicken of the same age.[^(\[24\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Schmidt_Persia_2009-25)

Adult chickens of both sexes have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb or cockscomb, and hanging flaps of skin on either side under their beaks called [wattles](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Wattle_(anatomy)); combs and wattles are [more prominent in males](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Sexual_dimorphism). Some breeds have a [mutation](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Mutation) that causes extra feathering under the face, giving the appearance of a beard.[^(\[25\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-plosg-26)

Chickens are [omnivores](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Omnivore).[^(\[26\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-27) In the wild, they scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects, and animals as large as [lizards](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Lizard), small snakes,[^(\[27\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-28) and young [mice](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Mouse).[^(\[28\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-29)A chicken may live for 5–10 years, depending on the [breed](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Breed).[^(\[29\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-30) The world's oldest known chicken lived for 16 years.[^(\[30\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-31)

Chickens are [gregarious](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Gregarious), living in [flocks](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Herd), and [incubate eggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Egg_incubation) and raise young communally. Individual chickens dominate others, establishing a [pecking order](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Dominance_hierarchy); dominant individuals take priority for access to food and nest sites. The concept of dominance, involving pecking, was described in female chickens by [Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Thorleif_Schjelderup-Ebbe) in 1921 as the "pecking order".[^(\[31\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-32)[^(\[32\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-33) Male chickens tend to leap and use their claws in conflicts.[^(\[33\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-34) Chickens are capable of mobbing and killing a weak or inexperienced predator, such as a young fox.[^(\[34\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-35) Chickens have been thought of primarily as providers of food, but their [cognition](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Cognition), [emotions](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Emotion), and [sociality](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Sociality) are comparable with other birds and mammals.[^(\[35\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-Maring_2017-36)

Crowing (with audio)

A male's crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call, serving as a territorial signal to other males,[^(\[36\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-37) and in response to sudden disturbances within their surroundings. Hens cluck loudly after laying an [egg](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Egg)and to call their chicks. Chickens give different [warning calls](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Warning_call) to indicate that a [predator](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Predation) is approaching from the air or on the ground.[^(\[37\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Chicken#cite_note-38)

^(From the Wikipedia page for Chicken.)

Fibonacci Posting | Day 120