A Chickens! Educational Sidebar: A Lesson in Chicken Terminology

It's time for everyone to benefit from my recent (and not so recent) learnings on chickens, chicken bones, and the like. Later I may discuss more advanced topics but, first, a lesson in chicken terminology. While all fowl of the species Gallus gallus are called chickens there are more specific names for specific types. All young chickens are called chicks (that's easy). A male chicken is a cock (or rooster) or a cockerel, depending on its age. Similarly, a female chicken is called a pullet or a hen. The age at which a pullet becomes a hen and a cockerel becomes a cock depends on what type of chicken is being raised. Purebred poultry producers have very age-specific definitions. A chicken is a cockerel or pullet if it is less than one year of age. After one year of age, the chicken is referred to as a hen or cock. In the commercial industry a female chicken is called a hen after it begins egg production (around five months of age). A sexually mature male chicken (again, around five months of age) is referred to as a rooster. A capon is a castrated male chicken - these are valued for their meat as the lack of testosterone and slower ageing giving more time for weight and fat gain makes for better flavour. Speaking of flavour, different types of chickens are called different names based on their market purpose. Broiler chickens are reared for meat rather than for eggs. The broiler industry began in the late 1950's when strains were selectively bred for meat production. Layers are reared for eggs. The most popular chicken breed for this (and in general) is the Leghorn (as in Foghorn Leghorn). This chicken breed (pictured to the right) originates from The Port of Leghorn in Italy (woohoo!) and arrived in Britain in the late 1800s in the white form followed by the brown, and was a favorite of settlers because of it's high egg yield and relatively good meat. Good stuff, I hope everyone will look forward to future posts about archaeology related avian identification and other issues.