Article for 2011 Jun 30

2011

Appendix

This was a monthly series of articles each focussing on a particular avian species I find interesting, though “Caledonia Gulls” features several species and is in poem form.

Jun 30 Thu “Chick lit.”

Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are domesticated versions of red Jungle-Fowl (Gallus gallus). The colours of red jungle-fowl are more vivid than those of DCs. DCs and RJFs are some of the few birds that have a comb and two wattles, which are used for attracting mates (like a peacock’s tail). The comb is the red thing on the top of the head that looks a bit like a hair-comb. The wattles are under the chin and also red.

The longest lifespan recorded of a DC is thirty years. However most female DCs in commercial farms aren’t best at laying eggs if they’re older than about-eighteen-months-old, so they tend to be killed. Female DCs (hens) start laying eggs at about six-months-old.

DCs can’t fly well.

DCs have twenty-four taste-buds. Humans have nine thousand.

The heart-rate of a male DC is about 286 beats per minute, and for a female DC it’s 312.

“Snow chicken” is an informal name for the ptarmigan, a grouse that lives on snowy mountains.

The photos below show female DCs, hens. Male DCs are called cockerels, cocks, chanticleers, or roosters. The word “chanticleer” is rarely used today; it comes from the French for “clear song” and is the name of a character is one of “The Canterbury Tales”.