They appear in ancient Egypt in the mid-15th century BC, with the "bird that gives birth every day" having come from the land between Syria and Shinar, Babylonia, according to the annals of Thutmose III. From ancient India, the chicken spread to the Eastern Mediterranean. Genetic studies have pointed to multiple maternal origin theories within South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, but the clade found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa originated from the Indian subcontinent. There are numerous cultural references to chickens-in myth, folklore, and religion, as well as in language and literature. There are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Chickens domesticated for meat are broilers, and for eggs, they are layers.Ĭhickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion as of 2018, up from more than 19 billion in 2011. Traditionally, they were also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) or as pets. An adult female bird is called a hen, and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. A male that has been castrated is a capon.
Rooster and cock are terms for adult male birds, and a younger male may be called a cockerel.
They have also partially hybridized with other wild species of junglefowl (the grey junglefowl, Ceylon junglefowl, and green junglefowl). The chicken ( Gallus domesticus) is a domesticated species that arose from the red junglefowl, originally from India.
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