It’s the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creature in this world.
Werner Herzog
.
Thai chickens
.
The original chicken was a species of pheasant from Thailand.
.
Although the red junglefowl is now widespread across all southern Asia, genetic analysis of one subspecies only found in Thailand – Gallus gallus gallus – has confirmed it as the progenitor of all domesticated species
.
No one knows how or when chickens arrived in Britain.
.
There is a legend that Phoenician tradesmen introduced them but it seems likely they were carried here by Iron Age tribes migrating from the East
.
In 54BC, Julius Caesar was impressed that the ancient Britons bred birds for fighting, rather than meat.
.
Big chickens
.
In 2003, in the United States’ Rockies, the 68 million-year-old fossilised femur bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex was found to still contain flexible collagen.
.
When the DNA of this protein was sequenced, its closest match was found to be that of the chicken, further bolstering the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, rather than other branches of the reptile family.
.
This has also led to speculation as to how dinosaurs reproduced.
.
Did they, like chickens and most birds, use the “cloacal kiss” (pressing their bottoms together)?
.
Or, like snakes and lizards, or did they have phalluses that everted (popped out)?
.
Because soft tissue doesn’t survive in the fossil record, it is unlikely we will ever know for sure.
.
Common chickens
.
The chicken is the world’s most populous bird.
.
Precise estimates of the global population are difficult but it is unlikely to be fewer than 20 billion, a fifth of which live in China.
.
Britain’s chicken population in 2005 was 174 million, two thirds of which were “broilers”, i.e. raised for meat not eggs.
.
Despite this, we manage to eat 10 billion eggs a year (or 28 million a day).
.
Tasty chickens
.
Mass-production of chickens and eggs started in about 1800.
.
Eating chicken began as a by-product of egg production.
.
Only chickens too old to produce enough eggs were killed and sold for meat.
.
In the early Sixties, chicken meat was a luxury.
.
It wasn’t until the Seventies that it became the meat of choice for most families.
.
Today it accounts for almost half of all meat eaten in Britain.
.
We eat 23kg per head per year – the equivalent in weight to a seven-year-old child.
.
As a result of selective breeding and hormone treatment, the average broiler now takes 43 days to reach maturity, which is twice as fast as allowing nature to take its course.
.
Ninety-eight per cent of all chickens raised anywhere in the world – even organic ones – come from breeds developed by three American companies.
.
More than half are Cobb 500s, developed in the Seventies by the Cobb Breeding Co.
.
Seventy per cent of Britain’s broilers are processed by just four companies.
.
The largest, Moy Park, based in Craigavon near Belfast, is part of the Brazilian food giant Marfrig, which supplies most of the meat used by McDonald’s.
.
Marfrig “processes” an estimated 3.7 million chickens a day.
.
Colour-coded chickens
.
Most chicken owners will tell you that hens with red/brown earlobes lay brown eggs and those with white earlobes produce white eggs.
.
This is a useful rule of thumb but there are exceptions.
.
The penedesenca from Spain has white earlobes and lays a dark-brown egg. Silkies have dark-blue earlobes but lay pale-brown eggs, and the South American araucana has red earlobes but lays a blue egg.
.
Vicious chickens
.
Until it was banned in 1835, cockfighting was Britain’s national sport, with every village boasting at least one cockpit.
.
Everyone joined in: there were cockpits in the palace of Westminster and on Downing Street.
.
A good gamecock will fight to the death with no special encouragement.
.
Some bloodlines were legendary: the White Piles bred by Dr Bellsye near Chester in the late 18th century were famous for the “Cheshire drop”, a burst of murderous violence just when the cock looked finished
.
Noisy chickens
.
Danish chickens go gok-gok; German chickens go gak gak; Thai chickens go gook gook; Dutch chickens go tok tok; Finnish and Hungarian chickens go kot kot.
.
The rather superior French hen goes cotcotcodet.
.
Molly Oldfield & John Mitchinson
Werner Herzog
.
Thai chickens
.
The original chicken was a species of pheasant from Thailand.
.
Although the red junglefowl is now widespread across all southern Asia, genetic analysis of one subspecies only found in Thailand – Gallus gallus gallus – has confirmed it as the progenitor of all domesticated species
.
No one knows how or when chickens arrived in Britain.
.
There is a legend that Phoenician tradesmen introduced them but it seems likely they were carried here by Iron Age tribes migrating from the East
.
In 54BC, Julius Caesar was impressed that the ancient Britons bred birds for fighting, rather than meat.
.
Big chickens
.
In 2003, in the United States’ Rockies, the 68 million-year-old fossilised femur bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex was found to still contain flexible collagen.
.
When the DNA of this protein was sequenced, its closest match was found to be that of the chicken, further bolstering the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, rather than other branches of the reptile family.
.
This has also led to speculation as to how dinosaurs reproduced.
.
Did they, like chickens and most birds, use the “cloacal kiss” (pressing their bottoms together)?
.
Or, like snakes and lizards, or did they have phalluses that everted (popped out)?
.
Because soft tissue doesn’t survive in the fossil record, it is unlikely we will ever know for sure.
.
Common chickens
.
The chicken is the world’s most populous bird.
.
Precise estimates of the global population are difficult but it is unlikely to be fewer than 20 billion, a fifth of which live in China.
.
Britain’s chicken population in 2005 was 174 million, two thirds of which were “broilers”, i.e. raised for meat not eggs.
.
Despite this, we manage to eat 10 billion eggs a year (or 28 million a day).
.
Tasty chickens
.
Mass-production of chickens and eggs started in about 1800.
.
Eating chicken began as a by-product of egg production.
.
Only chickens too old to produce enough eggs were killed and sold for meat.
.
In the early Sixties, chicken meat was a luxury.
.
It wasn’t until the Seventies that it became the meat of choice for most families.
.
Today it accounts for almost half of all meat eaten in Britain.
.
We eat 23kg per head per year – the equivalent in weight to a seven-year-old child.
.
As a result of selective breeding and hormone treatment, the average broiler now takes 43 days to reach maturity, which is twice as fast as allowing nature to take its course.
.
Ninety-eight per cent of all chickens raised anywhere in the world – even organic ones – come from breeds developed by three American companies.
.
More than half are Cobb 500s, developed in the Seventies by the Cobb Breeding Co.
.
Seventy per cent of Britain’s broilers are processed by just four companies.
.
The largest, Moy Park, based in Craigavon near Belfast, is part of the Brazilian food giant Marfrig, which supplies most of the meat used by McDonald’s.
.
Marfrig “processes” an estimated 3.7 million chickens a day.
.
Colour-coded chickens
.
Most chicken owners will tell you that hens with red/brown earlobes lay brown eggs and those with white earlobes produce white eggs.
.
This is a useful rule of thumb but there are exceptions.
.
The penedesenca from Spain has white earlobes and lays a dark-brown egg. Silkies have dark-blue earlobes but lay pale-brown eggs, and the South American araucana has red earlobes but lays a blue egg.
.
Vicious chickens
.
Until it was banned in 1835, cockfighting was Britain’s national sport, with every village boasting at least one cockpit.
.
Everyone joined in: there were cockpits in the palace of Westminster and on Downing Street.
.
A good gamecock will fight to the death with no special encouragement.
.
Some bloodlines were legendary: the White Piles bred by Dr Bellsye near Chester in the late 18th century were famous for the “Cheshire drop”, a burst of murderous violence just when the cock looked finished
.
Noisy chickens
.
Danish chickens go gok-gok; German chickens go gak gak; Thai chickens go gook gook; Dutch chickens go tok tok; Finnish and Hungarian chickens go kot kot.
.
The rather superior French hen goes cotcotcodet.
.
Molly Oldfield & John Mitchinson
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