The history of chickens has been a baffle. The Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus)is thought to be the first chicken to be domesticated from the wild. The Red Junglefowl is the size of a common pheasant, runs wild in most of Southeast Asia.  

The domesticated chicken today cannot fly. The adult female chicken is called a hen, and the male is called a rooster, and the young ones are called poults. Bantams are miniature chicken, about 1/4 of the size of an normal adult chicken.  There are many different breeds, sizes, and colors of chickens.

Chickens eat, insects, worms, fruit, acorns, grains, snails, table scraps and many other foods. Chickens have a well developed gizzard ( a gizzard is a small part of the stomach that grinds up food with tiny stones it has in there gizzard). A chicken is easy to raise or even breed.

A chicken needs 21 days to hatch. A lot of people think all chickens set on eggs, but the truth is that not all chickens are able to set on eggs. There are chickens such as the Leghorns, etc that can lay up to 365 eggs a year. I have found that bantams are the best setters, since they will only lay 12 eggs or so and go broody. To learn more about hatching eggs click here.

Once a chick is hatched it needs a mother or a brooder. A brooder is simply a heated enclosure in witch fowl are raised without a mother. To learn more about brooding chicks please click here.