A domesticated fowl originated from Southeastern Asia, the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a subspecies of the red junglefowl. A rooster, often known as a cock, is a male adult bird. A younger male is known as a cockerel, whereas a castrated male is known as a capon. Hen refers to the adult female bird. “Chicken” was once exclusively used to refer to a young or immature bird, but it has now become the most popular name for the subspecies in general, notably in American English, due to its use on restaurant menus. In the past, this was usually done with common or domestic fowl.

Chickens were not maintained for sustenance until the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd century BCE) when they were first reared for cockfighting or special festivities. Humans currently maintain chickens largely as pets and as food sources (eating both their flesh and eggs).

Chickens are one of the most prevalent and widely used domestic animals, with a population of 23.7 billion in 2018, up from over 19 billion in 2011. Chickens outnumber all other birds on the planet. Chickens appear in a variety of cultural contexts, including myth, folklore, and religion, as well as language and literature.

Multiple maternal origins have been identified in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, but the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is thought to have originated in the Indian subcontinent. By the 5th century BCE, the chicken had migrated from ancient India to Lydia in western Asia Minor, and then to Greece. According to Thutmose III’s annals, fowl have been known in Egypt from the mid-15th century BCE. The “bird that gives birth every day” hails from the area between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia.

Chickens are omnivores, meaning they eat everything. They scrape at the dirt in the wild to look for seeds, insects, and even larger creatures like lizards, tiny snakes, and baby mice.

Depending on the breed, a chicken can live for five to 10 years. According to Guinness World Records, the world’s oldest known chicken was a hen that died of heart failure at the age of 16 years.

Long flowing tails and glossy, pointed feathers on their necks (hackles) and backs (saddle) distinguish roosters from hens. Roosters’ plumage is often brighter and bolder than that of females of the same breed. In certain breeds, like the Sebright chicken, the rooster’s neck feathers are only slightly pointed and the same color as the hen’s. The male may be identified by looking at his comb or, finally, by the growth of spurs on his legs (in a few breeds and in certain hybrids, the male and female chicks may be differentiated by colour). Adult chickens have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb, or cockscomb, and wattles, which are skin flaps that dangle from each side of their beaks. Caruncles refer to these and other fleshy protuberances on the head and throat as a group. Adult males and females both have wattles and combs, but males in most breeds have them more prominently.

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