Collectively, these and other fleshy protuberances on the head and throat are called caruncles. Identification can be made by looking at the comb, or eventually by 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).Īdult chickens 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. However, in some breeds, such as the Sebright chicken, the rooster has only slightly pointed neck feathers, the same colour as the hen's. Roosters can usually be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage of long, flowing tails and shiny, pointed feathers on their necks (hackles) and backs (saddle), which are typically of brighter, bolder colours than those of females of the same breed. The world's oldest known chicken lived for 16 years, according to Guinness World Records. The average chicken may live for 5–10 years, depending on the breed. In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects, and even animals as large as lizards, small snakes, or sometimes young mice. Biology and habitatĬhickens are omnivores. Roosting is the action of perching aloft to sleep at night. a roosting bird) originated in the mid- or late 18th century as a euphemism to avoid the sexual connotation of the original English cock, and is widely used throughout North America. the young of any bird.Īccording to Merriam-Webster, the term rooster (i.e. Chick is then rarely used to mean chicken, but is mainly used in Merriam-Webster's "Sense 1b" viz. "a cooked chook" or "she keeps chooks") which enables chicken to commonly retain its original sense of a young or recently hatched bird. In Australian vernacular English the word chook provides the generic term for the species (e.g. In older sources, and still often in trade and scientific contexts, chicken as a species are typically referred to as common fowl or domestic fowl. In fact, chicken was originally a term only for an immature, or at least young, bird.
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