Fall Asleep While Learning About Chickens

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep while learning about chickens. We had chickens growing up and would feed them and collect eggs. Occasionally, the rooster would try to chase us off, but otherwise, it seemed cool to have them around. I don't miss the early morning crowing, but the unlimited egg supply was nice.

Hopefully, this episode gives you all the knowledge you hoped you would ever want about chickens. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

Chicken.

The chicken,

Gallus domesticus,

Is a large and round,

Short-winged bird,

Domesticated from the red jungle fowl of Southeast Asia around 8,

000 years ago.

Most chickens are raised for food,

Providing meat and eggs.

Others are kept as pets or for cockfighting.

Chickens are common in widespread domestic animals with a total population of 26.

5 billion as of 2023,

And an annual production of more than 50 billion birds.

A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year.

There are numerous cultural references to chickens in folklore,

Religion,

And literature.

Chicken can mean a chick,

As in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth,

Where Macbeth laments the deaths of all my pretty chickens and their dam.

The usage is preserved in place names,

Such as the hen and chicken islands.

In older sources,

And still often in trade and scientific contexts,

Chicken as a species are described as common fowl or domestic fowl.

Chickens are relatively large birds,

Active by day.

The body is round,

The legs are unfeathered in most breeds,

And the wings are short.

Wild jungle fowl can fly.

Chickens and their flight muscles are too heavy to allow them to fly more than a short distance.

Size and coloration vary widely between breeds.

Adult chickens of both sexes have a fleshy crest on their heads called a comb or a coxcomb,

And hanging flaps of skin on either side under their beaks called waddles.

Combs and waddles are more prominent in males.

Some breeds have a mutation that causes extra feathering under the face,

Giving the appearance of a beard.

Chickens are omnivorous.

In the wild,

They scratch at the soil to search for seeds,

Insects,

And animals,

As large as lizards,

Small snakes,

And young mice.

A chicken may lay for five to ten years,

Depending on the breed.

The world's oldest known chicken lived for sixteen years.

Chickens are gregarious,

Living in flocks,

And can live for up to a hundred years.

Chickens are gregarious,

Living in flocks,

And incubate eggs and raise young communally.

Individual chickens dominate others,

Establishing a pecking order.

Dominant individuals take priority for access to food and nest sites.

The concept of dominance involving pecking was described in female chickens as the pecking order.

Male chickens tend to leap and use their claws in conflicts.

Chickens are capable of mobbing and killing a weak or inexperienced predator,

Such as a young fox.

A male's crowing is a loud and sometimes shrill call,

Serving as a territorial signal to other males,

And in response to sudden disturbances within their surroundings.

Hens cluck loudly after laying an egg,

And to call their chicks.

Chickens give different warning calls to indicate that a predator is approaching from the air or on the ground.

Water- or ground-dwelling fowls,

Similar to modern partridges,

In the Galiformes,

The order of bird that chickens belong to,

Survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that killed all tree-dwelling birds and their dinosaur relatives.

Chickens are descended primarily from the red jungle fowl and are scientifically classified as the same species.

Domesticated chickens freely interbreed with populations of red jungle fowl.

The domestic chicken has subsequently hybridized with gray jungle fowl,

Sri Lankan jungle fowl,

And green jungle fowl.

A gene for yellow skin,

For instance,

Was incorporated into domestic birds from the gray jungle fowl.

It is estimated that chickens share between 71 and 79 percent of their genome with red jungle fowl.

According to one early study,

A single domestication event of the red jungle fowl in present-day Thailand gave rise to the modern chicken,

With minor transitions separating the modern breeds.

The red jungle fowl is well adapted to take advantage of the vast quantities of seed produced during the end of the multi-decade bamboo seeding cycle to boost its own reproduction.

In domesticating the chicken,

Humans took advantage of the red jungle fowl's ability to reproduce prolifically when exposed to a surge in its food supply.

Exactly when and where the chicken was domesticated remains controversial.

Genomic studies estimate that the chicken was domesticated 8,

000 years ago in Southeast Asia and spread to China and India 2,

000 to 3,

000 years later.

Archaeological evidence supports domestic chickens in Southeast Asia well before 6,

000 B.

C.

,

China by 6,

000 B.

C.

,

And India by 2,

000 B.

C.

A landmark 2020 nature study that fully sequenced 863 chickens across the world suggests that all domesticated chickens originate from a single domestication event of red jungle fowl,

Whose present-day distribution is predominantly in the southwestern China,

Northern Thailand,

And Myanmar.

These domesticated chickens spread across Southeast and South Asia,

Where they interbred with local wild species of jungle fowl,

Forming genetically and geographically distinct groups.

Analysis of the most popular commercial breeds shows that the white leghorn breed possesses a mosaic of divergent ancestries inherited from subspecies of red jungle fowl.

A word for domestic chicken,

Monarch,

Is part of the reconstructed Proto-Austronesian language,

Indicating they were domesticated by the Austronesian people.

Chickens,

Together with dogs and pigs,

Were carried throughout the entire range of the prehistoric Austronesian maritime migrations to islands Southeast Asia,

Micronesia,

Island Melanesia,

Polynesia,

And Madagascar,

Starting from at least 3,

000 B.

C.

From Taiwan.

These chickens might have been domesticated by the Austronesian people from pre-Columbian times to South America via Polynesian seafarers,

But evidence for this is still putative.

The possibility that domestic chickens were in the Americas before Western contact is debated by researchers,

But blue egg chickens,

Found only in the Americas and Asia,

Suggest an Asian origin from early American chickens.

A lack of data from Thailand,

Russia,

The Indian subcontinent,

Southeast Asia,

And Sub-Saharan Africa makes it difficult to lay out a clear map of the spread of chickens in these areas.

Better description and genetic analysis of local breeds threatened by extinction may help with research into this area.

Chicken bones from the Arauco Peninsula in south-central Chile were radiocarbon-dated as pre-Columbian,

And DNA analysis suggested they were related to prehistoric populations in Polynesia.

However,

Further study of the same bones casts doubt on the findings.

Chicken remains have been difficult to date,

Given the small and fragile bird bones.

This may account for discrepancies in dates given by different sources.

Archaeological evidence is supplemented by mentions in historical texts from the last few centuries BC,

And by depictions in prehistoric artworks,

Such as across Central Asia.

Chickens were widespread throughout southern Central Asia by the 4th century BC.

Middle Eastern chicken remains go back to a little earlier than 2000 BC in Syria.

Phoenicians spread chickens along the Mediterranean coast as far as Iberia.

During the Hellenistic period in the southern Levant,

Chickens began to be widely domesticated for food.

The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found in Corinthian pottery of the 7th century BC.

Breeding increased under the Roman Empire and reduced in the Middle Ages.

Genetic sequencing of chicken bones from archaeological sites in Europe revealed that in the High Middle Ages,

Chickens became less aggressive and began to lay eggs earlier in the breeding season.

Chickens reached Egypt by the Middle East for purposes of cockfighting about 1400 BC and became widely bred in Egypt around 300 BC.

Three possible routes of introduction into Africa around the early 1st millennium AD could have been through the Egyptian Nile Valley,

The East African-Roman-Greek or Indian trade,

Or from Carthage and the Berbers across the Sahara.

The earliest known remains are from Mali,

Nubia,

East Coast,

And South Africa and date back to the middle of the 1st millennium AD.

Keeping chickens as pets became increasingly popular in the 2000s among urban and suburban residents.

Many people obtain chickens for their egg production,

But often name them and treat them as any other pet like cats or dogs.

Chickens provide companionship and have individual personalities.

While many do not cuddle much,

They will eat from one's hand,

Jump onto one's lap,

Respond to and follow their handlers,

As well as show affection.

Chickens are social,

Inquisitive,

Intelligent birds,

And many people find their behavior entertaining.

Certain breeds,

Such as silkies and many bantam varieties,

Are generally docile and are often recommended as good pets around children with disabilities.

Chickens are featured widely in folklore,

Religion,

Literature,

And popular culture.

The chicken is a sacred animal in many cultures and deeply embedded in belief systems and religious practices.

Roosters are sometimes used for divination,

A practice called electromancy.

Chickens have been featured in art and farmyard scenes,

Such as Adrian von Utrecht's 1646 Turkeys and Chickens,

And Walter Osborne's 1885 Feeding the Chickens.

The nursery rhyme Cock-a-doodle-doo,

Its chorus line imitating the cockerel's call,

Was published in Mother Goose's Melody in 1765.

The 2000 animated adventure comedy film Chicken Run,

Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park,

Featured anthropomorphic chickens with many chicken jokes.

The Hen and Chicken Islands,

Usually known as the Hen and Chickens,

Lie to the east of the North Auckland Peninsula,

Off the coast of northern New Zealand.

They lie 12 kilometres east of Breamhead and 40 kilometres southeast of Whangarei,

With a total area of 8.

44 square kilometres.

Approximately 18,

000 years ago,

During the last glacial maximum,

When sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present-day levels,

The islands were hilly features surrounded by a vast coastal plain.

Sea levels began to rise 7,

000 years ago,

After which the islands separated from the rest of New Zealand.

These islands were given their European name by Captain James Cook,

Who first sighted them on the 25th of November 1769.

It has been suggested that the name was inspired by an old name for the star cluster usually known as the Pleiades.

Originally owned by the Maori,

They were sold to the New Zealand government in 1883.

The islands were made a scenic reserve in 1908,

Owing to the rarity of their flora and fauna,

And became a wildlife refuge in 1953.

Hen Island had actually passed from Maori hands a few years earlier,

Being bought by Thomas Oothwaite in 1872.

It was bequeathed to the nation by his daughter Issa Oothwaite in 1927,

And it too was named as a scenic reserve.

In June 1940,

The Canadian Australasian ship RMS Niagara sank off the islands after hitting a mine.

Most of the cargo,

Which included gold bullion,

Was later salvaged.

The islands are noted for their bird life,

With colonies of seabirds as well as forest birds,

Which have become scarce or extinct in the mainland.

The islands have been identified as an important bird area by BirdLife International,

Because they are home to a breeding population of about 500 pairs of beecroft petrels.

There are also native reptiles on the islands,

Including tuatara,

Geckos,

And skinks.

Hen Island,

Or Maori Tauranga,

Lies 7 kilometers to the southwest from the rest of the archipelago.

It is also considerably larger than the Chicken Islands,

Or Maratiri,

Which comprise a chain of six small islands running northwest to southeast to the north of Hen Island.

The chain consists of Wareware and Morifenoa Islands,

Together called Northwest Chicken,

Maui Taha,

West Chicken,

Lady Alice Island,

Or Motumuka,

Big Chicken,

And Fatupuke,

Middle Chicken,

And Coppermine Island,

Eastern Chicken.

Tauranga is the largest island by some considerable margin,

Totaling 4.

7 square kilometers.

Long and thin,

It has a length of 6 kilometers and an average width of less than 1,

000 meters.

A remnant of a 4-million-year-old volcano,

The island is dominated by a rocky ridge reaching to about 417 meters at its highest point,

Called the Pinnacles.

Sail Rock,

A stack,

Rises from the ocean 3 kilometers to the south of Hen Island and is a prominent navigational point for yachts.

By the 1800s,

Hen Island was the only place in New Zealand with a surviving population of North Island Saddleback.

The once common species of forest bird found in the North Island was nearly wiped out by the human introduction of mammalian predators,

Such as rats and stoats.

In the 1960s,

Translocations of Saddleback from Hen Island to other island sanctuaries around New Zealand began.

Wareware and Murifenua,

Two small rocky islands with a combined area of 3 hectares.

Mauetaha,

This 20-hectare,

Rugged,

Scrub-covered rock,

Lies 1 kilometer to the south of Murifenua.

It rises to 125 meters.

An unofficial name until 1970 was West Chicken Island.

The New Zealand Department of Conservation and the Ngāti Waiʻiwi have entered into partnership to set up a sanctuary for the Polynesian rat,

Or kiore,

On the islands Mauetaha and Ara Ara.

A spokesman for the Department of Conservation said the department's policy change from eradication would assist scientific research.

Lady Alice Island.

Named after Lady Alice Ferguson,

Wife of Governor-General Sir Charles Ferguson,

It is the largest of the five chickens and is of particular significance because of its flora and fauna.

The island covers 1.

4 kilometers squared and is surrounded by rocky reefs.

It was occupied by Māori until the 1820s and was used as a base for fishermen in the 1890s.

Cattle were introduced at about this time but were removed in the 1920s.

Whātupuke.

Formerly known as Whakahau,

This island is composed of a large eastern section and a peninsula to the southwest.

The coast of the peninsula forms one of the chain's main land features,

A 300-meter-wide bay.

The island covers 1 square kilometer and is steep,

Rising to 234 meters.

Coppermine Island.

Coppermine Island,

Formerly known as Maui Pāne,

Covers an area of 75 hectares.

It is composed of two sections joined by a short isthmus.

As the name suggests,

There are copper deposits on the island,

But attempts at mining them in 1849 and 1898 proved unprofitable.

On chickens,

A comb is a fleshy gross or crest on the top of the head of some gallinaceous birds,

Such as domestic chickens.

The alternative name,

Cock's comb,

With several spelling variations,

Reflects the fact that combs are generally larger on cock birds than on hens.

The comb is one of several fleshy protuberances on the heads of chickens,

The others being the wattles and earlobes,

Which collectively are called caruncles.

In turkeys,

The caruncles are the fleshly nodules on the head and throat.

Chicken combs are most commonly red,

But may also be black or dark purple in breeds,

Such as the silky or seabright.

In other species,

The color may vary from light gray to deep blue or red.

The comb may be a reliable indicator of health or vigor,

And is used for mating assessment in some poultry species.

Comb shape varies considerably depending on the breed or species of bird.

Of the many types and shapes seen in chicken cogs,

The principal ones are the single comb,

Extending in a single line from the top of the base of the beak to the back of the head.

It consists of a solid vertical part with a series of points or a single line of points or serrations.

The size,

Shape,

And number of these and the overall shape of the comb are all variable depending on the breed.

The cup comb or buttercup comb as seen in the Sicilian buttercup,

A cup-shaped comb with spiked edges.

The cushion comb as seen in the chandelier and silky is a compact cushion-shaped mass covered with small protuberances with a shallow transverse groove across it.

The leaf comb or shell comb as seen in the hooden,

Which resembles a butterfly with partially open wings.

The pea comb or triple comb,

Somewhat like three small single combs in a row,

Seen in breeds including the aracana,

Brahma,

Buckeye,

Indian game,

Hicksworth,

Melee,

Sumatra,

Among others.

The raspberry comb as seen in the orloff,

Which roughly resembles half a raspberry cut lengthwise.

The rose comb as seen in the hamburg and wyandotte,

Broad and fairly fast covered with small pointed protuberances with a long backwards facing spike to the rear.

The strawberry or walnut comb as seen in the melee,

Which roughly resembles half a strawberry or walnut.

In hens,

The comb is usually smaller and neater than in the rooster.

There are three known genes affecting comb shape,

Rose comb,

Pea comb,

And duplex comb,

Which has one allele responsible for buttercup combs and another one responsible for v-combs.

A clutch of eggs is a group of eggs produced by birds,

Amphibians,

Or reptiles,

Often at a single time,

Particularly those laid in a nest.

In birds,

Destruction of a clutch by predators or removal by humans,

For example the california condor breeding program,

Results in double clutching.

The technique is used to double the production of a species' eggs,

In the california condor case specifically to increase population size.

Clutch size differs greatly between species,

Sometimes even within the same genus.

It may also differ within the same species due to many factors,

Including habitat,

Health,

Nutrition,

Predation pressures,

And time of year.

Clutch size variation can also reflect variation in optimal reproduction effort.

In birds,

Clutch size can vary within a species due to various features,

While some species are determined in layers,

Laying a species-specific number of eggs.

Long-lived species tend to have smaller clutch sizes than short-lived species.

The evolution of optimal clutch size is also driven by other factors,

Such as parent-offspring conflict.

In birds,

Ornithologist David Lack carried out much research into regulation of clutch size.

In species with altricial young,

He proposed that optimal clutch size was determined by the number of young a parent could feed until fledgling.

In precocial birds,

Lack determined that clutch size was determined by the nutrients available to egg-laying females.

An experimental study in black-branded geese,

Which rarely lay more than five eggs,

Found that the probability of an egg successfully leading to a fledged gosling declined from 0.

81 for two egg clutches to 0.

5 for seven egg clutches,

Whilst the nesting period increased with the increasing number of eggs laid.

This suggests that there is no benefit for female black-brand to lay more than five eggs.

Reviews

Instead of “ cluck, cluck “, it was “snore, snore “😴 😴😁Thank you Ben!

Thank you! I’m glad no harm or “fowl” came to our feathered friends in this! I didn’t realize the little buggers were so aggressive though, who knew?! 😊😊

It’s difficult to rate. But I suppose I ca score it high with only hesring about 3 or 4 minutes.

You've still got it, Benjamin. I wake up the next morning and I don't even remember the topic, let alone the details. But it was fascinating when I was listening in the beginning. Thank you so much!

Since I fell asleep in less than 10 minutes, I didn’t find out which came first: 🐓 or 🥚
But as usual your reading did the trick! Thank you Ben!