Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting useful animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.
The chicken is a large and round short-winged bird, domesticated from the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia around 8,000 years ago. Most chickens are raised for food, providing meat and eggs; others are kept as pets or for cockfighting.
Debeaking, beak trimming, or beak conditioning is the partial removal of the beak of poultry, especially layer hens and turkeys although it may also be performed on quail and ducks. Most commonly, the beak is shortened permanently, although regrowth can occur. The trimmed lower beak is somewhat longer than the upper beak. A similar but separate practice, usually performed by an avian veterinarian or an experienced birdkeeper, involves clipping, filing or sanding the beaks of captive birds for health purposes – in order to correct or temporarily to alleviate overgrowths or deformities and better allow the bird to go about its normal feeding and preening activities. Amongst raptor-keepers, this practice is commonly known as "coping".
A capon is a male chicken that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by forced feeding.
Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, thereby technically making this an enclosure, however, free range systems usually offer the opportunity for the extensive locomotion and sunlight that is otherwise prevented by indoor housing systems. Free range may apply to meat, eggs or dairy farming.
Gold Kist was a large chicken producing company in the southern United States. It was founded in 1933 by D.W. Brooks, a University of Georgia agronomy instructor as the Cotton Producers Association, a cooperative to help farmers in Carrollton, Georgia, market cotton. It soon grew and diversified into fields such as fertilizer and retailing farm supplies. It soon entered the poultry business. In 1998 it exited the agronomy business to focus on protein products, primarily chicken but also pork. In 2004, with the approval of its membership, it converted from being a cooperative to a for-profit stock-ownership company, listed on NASDAQ. In 2006, Gold Kist was acquired by Pilgrim's Pride.
Chick culling or unwanted chick killing is the process of separating and killing unwanted chicks for which the intensive animal farming industry has no use. It occurs in all industrialised egg production, whether free range, organic, or battery cage. However, some certified pasture-raised egg farms are taking steps to eliminate the practice entirely. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled each year in the egg industry. Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those in breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industry and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide, and maceration using a high-speed grinder. Maceration is the primary method in the United States. Maceration is often a preferred method over carbon dioxide asphyxiation in western countries as it is often considered as "more humane" due to the deaths occurring immediately or within a second.
Battery cages are a housing system used for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artillery battery. Although the term is usually applied to poultry farming, similar cage systems are used for other animals. Battery cages have generated controversy between advocates for animal welfare and industrial producers.
In poultry keeping, yarding is the practice of providing the poultry with a fenced yard in addition to a poultry house. Movable yarding is a form of managed intensive grazing.
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
The poulet de Bresse or volaille de Bresse is a French chicken product which has appellation d'origine contrôlée status, and which was registered as a Protected Designation of Origin under EU and UK law as Volaille de Bresse / Poulet de Bresse / Poularde de Bresse / Chapon de Bresse. It may be produced only from white chickens of the Bresse Gauloise breed raised within a legally-defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France.
Poultry farming is a part of the United States's agricultural economy.
Chick sexing is the method of distinguishing the sex of chickens and other hatchlings, usually by a trained person called a chick sexer or chicken sexer. Chicken sexing is practiced mostly by large commercial hatcheries to separate female chicks or "pullets" from the males or "cockerels". The females and a limited number of males kept for meat production are then put on different feeding programs appropriate for their commercial roles.
The Bresse Gauloise is a French breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the historic region and former province of Bresse, in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne and Franche-Comté, in eastern France. Because of legal restrictions on the use of the name, only white chickens raised within that area may be called "Bresse"; outside it, they are given the name "Gauloise"; the breed name combines both. Four colours are recognised for the Bresse Gauloise, three of them linked to areas within Bresse: the Bresse de Bourg is "grey" (silver-pencilled); the Bresse de Bény is white; the Bresse de Louhans is black; and a blue variety has recently been created. White Bresse de Bény chickens and capons raised in the area of Bresse have appellation d'origine contrôlée status and are marketed as poulet de Bresse; they are regarded as a premium product and command higher prices than other chickens.
The broiler industry is the process by which broiler chickens are reared and prepared for meat consumption. Worldwide, in 2005 production was 71,851,000 tonnes. From 1985 to 2005, the broiler industry grew by 158%.
Coucou de Rennes is a French breed of chicken.
The Pictave is an endangered French breed of bantam chicken. It is named for the Pictavi, the tribe which gave its name to the former Province of Poitou, now part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is a true bantam, and has no full-sized counterpart; it is the only true bantam of France. Cocks weigh about 800 grams and hens about 600 g. It was created in the twentieth century by Raymond Lecointre, who used the hens to incubate his pheasant eggs and raise the chicks.
Slovenian Barred Hen is a traditional breed of domestic chicken, originating in Slovenia. This breed was developed on the Biotechnical Faculty of University of Ljubljana some decades ago. Animals of the Slovenian Barred Hen are barred black and white layer hens, used primarily for production of commercial crossbreeds sold under the trademark Prelux.
Slovenian Brown Hen is a traditional breed of domestic chicken, originating in Slovenia. It was developed at the end of the 20th century at the Biotechnical Faculty of University of Ljubljana. Animals of this breed are brown coloured layer hens that are also used as parents for commercial crossbreeds sold under the trademark Prelux.
Prelux are commercial chicken crossbreeds of the Slovenian origin, that are being sold under the eponymous trademark by the Biotechnical Faculty of University of Ljubljana. The name is an abbreviation for the Slovenian phrase prevojski luxuriranci, with a word luxuriranci referring to luxuriance (heterosis) or outbreeding enhancement of hybrid offspring, and adjective prevojski referring to the Slovenian settlement Prevoje, where selective breeding was once performed. This name was given to quality layer hens, that are being obtained by crossbreeding three Slovenian traditional breeds of layer hens; Slovenian Barred, Slovenian Brown and Slovenian Silver Hen. The most known and best-selling layer hens of the trademark Prelux are Prelux-Č, Prelux-G and Prelux-R. A part of the selection is also a meat type chicken (broiler), Prelux-BRO.
