Chickens

Chickens came from the jungles of Asia. People started keeping chickens more than 5,000 years ago. Today most chickens live on farms. There are more than 60 chicken breeds.

Some chickens are brown, black, or white. Others have many colors. Chickens have a red comb on their heads. They also have a red wattle.

Chickens mostly eat grains. They also eat bugs such as crickets and grasshoppers. They eat stones, too. The stones help chickens break up the food.

Sometimes chickens are called poultry. Female chickens lay eggs. Many chickens live in cages on factory farms. They sometimes live in coops.

Female chickens are called hens. Roosters are male chickens. We call baby chickens chicks. They hatch from eggs.

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Chicken Classification: Bird
Natural Life Span: 5 to 7 years
Poultry Farms in the United States: 234,000
Average Height A chicken is taller than a basketball.
Average Weight A chicken is heavier than a textbook.

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