the history of the chicken

From their origins in Southwest Asia chickens have spread to all corners of the world due in great part to their usefulness to man.

Charles Darwin considered chickens as all being descendants of a single wild species, the red jungle fowl, G.gallus, which is found in a wild state from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines. Chickens are considered to have been domesticated for at least 4,000 years.

4,000 years ago the Egyptians built brick incubators which could hold 10,000 chicks at a time.

The chicken is mentioned in ancient Chinese documents which in around 1,400BC.

Chickens are also depicted in Babylonian carvings of around 600BC and mentioned by early Greek writers, notably the playwright Aristophanes in 400BC.

The Romans considered chickens to be sacred to Mars, the God of War.