Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes birds that are killed for their meat, such as the young of pigeons but does not include similar wild birds hunted for sport or food and known as game. The word "poultry" comes from the French/Norman word poule, itself derived from the Latin word pullus, which means small animal.
The chicken, a subspecies of the red junglefowl, is a type of domesticated fowl, originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird. A younger male may be called a cockerel; a male that has been castrated is a capon. The adult female bird is called a hen. "Chicken" was originally a term only for an immature, or at least young, bird, but thanks to its usage on restaurant menus has now become the most common term for the subspecies in general, especially in American English. In older sources common fowl or domestic fowl were typically used for this.
Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4–6 million years ago.
A feral animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated specimens.
The Araucana is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do so.
The red junglefowl is a tropical bird in the family Phasianidae. It ranges across much of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. Red junglefowl are the primary ancestor of the domestic chicken ; the grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl have also contributed genetic material to the gene pool of the chicken.
The Sri Lankan junglefowl, also known as the Ceylon junglefowl or Lafayette's junglefowl, is a member of the Galliformes bird order which is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is the national bird. It is closely related to the red junglefowl, the wild junglefowl from which the chicken was domesticated. However, a whole-genome molecular study rather show that Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl are genetically sister species than with the red junglefowl. Sri Lankan junglefowl and red junglefowl diverged about 2.8 million years ago whereas, time of divergence between the Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl was 1.8 million years ago.
The grey junglefowl, also known as Sonnerat's junglefowl, is one of the wild ancestors of the domestic chicken together with the red junglefowl and other junglefowls.
The green junglefowl, also known as Javan junglefowl, forktail or green Javanese junglefowl, is the most distantly related and the first to diverge at least 4 million years ago among the four species of the Junglefowl. Hybridization with domestic chicken has also been reported. Green junglefowl is a medium-sized bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae.
The Dominique, also known as Dominicker or Pilgrim Fowl, is a breed of chicken originating in the United States during the colonial period. It is considered America's oldest breed of chicken, probably descending from chickens brought to New England from southern England during colonial times. By the 19th century, they were widely popular and were raised in many parts of the country. Dominiques are a dual purpose breed, being valued for their meat as well as for their brown eggs. They weigh 6 to 8 pounds at maturity. In earlier times, their feathers were much sought after as stuffing for pillows and mattresses.
Sex-links are crossbred chickens whose color at hatching is differentiated by sex, thus making chick sexing an easier process. Sex-links come in several varieties. As hybrids of laying or dual-purpose breeds infused with extra vigor via heterosis, sex-links can be extremely good egg-layers which often produce 300 eggs a year or more depending on the quality of care and feed. The color of their eggs vary according to the mix of breeds, and blue-green eggs are possible.
Gamebird hybrids are the result of crossing species of game birds, including ducks, with each other and with domestic poultry. These hybrid species may sometimes occur naturally in the wild or more commonly through the deliberate or inadvertent intervention of humans.
The Java is a breed of chicken originating in the United States. Despite the breed's name, a reference to the island of Java, it was developed in the U.S. from chickens of unknown Asian extraction. It is one of the oldest American chickens, forming the basis for many other breeds, but is critically endangered today. Javas are large birds with a sturdy appearance. They are hardy, and are well-suited for both meat and egg production, especially by small-scale farms, homesteads, and backyard keepers.
The Iowa Blue is a breed of chicken that originated near Decorah, Iowa in the early 20th century. Despite its name, the breed is not actually blue according to poultry standards. It is an exceedingly rare fowl, and is not recognized for showing by the American Poultry Association. They are a dual-purpose breed laying brown eggs and known to be good foragers.
Feral chickens are derived from domestic chickens who have returned to the wild. Like the red junglefowl, feral chickens will roost in bushes in order to avoid predators at night.
The Ayam Cemani is an uncommon breed of chicken from Indonesia. They have a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation (fibromelanosis), making the chicken mostly black, including feathers, beak, and internal organs. The Cemani is a very popular gamecock for cockfighting in Bali. This is due to the fact that their thighs have much more muscle compared to other chickens which leads to them being much faster.
Ayam Pelung or Pelung Chicken is a poultry breed from Cianjur, Indonesia. The males (roosters) are considered to be "singing chickens", with contests being frequent in the Pelung area for the most melodious crowing. A full grown male may weigh 5-6 kg and stand up to 50 cm tall.
Solid black plumage color refers to a plumage pattern in chickens characterized by a uniform, black color across all feathers. There are chicken breeds where the typical plumage color is black, such as Australorp, Sumatra, White-Faced Black Spanish, Jersey Giant and others. And there are many other breeds having different color varieties, which also have an extended black variety, such as Leghorn, Minorca, Wyandotte, Orpington, Langshan and others.
The Ayam Kampong or Ayam Kampung is the chicken breed reported from Indonesia. The name means simply "free-range chicken" or literally "village chicken". In Indonesia, the term ayam kampung refer to indigenous chickens that are raised using traditional free range production techniques by almost every household in the village. It is a diverse population which resulted from the uncontrolled cross-breeding of red jungle-fowl, indigenous Southeast Asian chickens and exotic chickens of various types imported in the late 1800s by European, mainly Dutch and British, settlers.
