III.

Origins

Domestic fowl probably originated in Southeast Asia. Charles Darwin considered them descendants of a single wild species, the red jungle fowl, which is found in the wild state from India through southeast Asia to the Philippines. Genetic analyses have shown that every breed of domestic chicken can be traced to the red jungle fowl. Scientists estimate that they were domesticated roughly 8000 years ago in what is now Thailand and Vietnam.

The chicken was one of the first domestic animals to be mentioned in recorded history. It is referred to in ancient Chinese documents that indicate that this “creature of the west” was introduced into China about 1400 bc. Fowl are depicted in Babylonian carvings of about 600 bc and are mentioned by early Greek writers, notably by the playwright Aristophanes about 400 bc. The Romans considered chickens sacred to Mars, their god of war. Since ancient times the rooster has been a symbol of courage—it was so regarded by the Gauls, for example. In Christian religious art the crowing cock has symbolized the resurrection of Christ. The cock was the emblem of the first French Republic.

Today domestic fowl, which form by far the most important class of poultry, are distributed virtually all over the world. In the United States the current trend is toward specialization, some poultry raisers producing hatching eggs, others eggs for table use, and others raising chickens to market as broilers. See Poultry Farming.