CHICKEN
Our modern domesticated chickens are all descendants of the red jungle fowl of India and Southeast Asia. They have been domesticated for at least 4,000 years.
4,000 years ago the Egyptians built brick incubators which could hold 10,000 chicks at a time.
More than half of all chicken entrees ordered in restaurants are for fried chicken.
Chicks are separated into male and female by chicken sexers. They hold each chick by hand up to a 300 watt bulb to determine if it is male or female (the females are kept for egg laying). A typical chicken sexer examines 1,000 chicks per hour, 80,000 per day, with 99% accuracy.
(I wonder what it’s like on career day at school for their kids?)
The average American eats over 80 pounds of chicken each year.
The average domestic laying hen lays 255 eggs per year.
It takes about 4 1/2 pounds of feed for a chicken to produce a dozen eggs.
Whats old is new. In 1950 approximately 80% of chickens were 'free range', by 1980 only 1% were 'free range.' Today it is back up to 12%.
A frying pan 10 feet in diameter that holds 800 chicken quarters was built for the Delmarva Chicken Festival in 1950.
In 2002 32.2 billion pounds of chicken was produced in the U.S. american meat institute
Per Capita Consumption of Chicken in U.S. (2003): Chicken 81.5 lbs National Turkey Federation
World Chicken populations: (2000, AMI)
China - 3.6 billion
US - 1.7 billion
Indonesia - 1 billion
Brazil - 950 million
Mexico - 476 million
It is against the law to eat chicken with a fork in Gainesville, Georgia, the 'Chicken Capital of the World.'
The Blue Hen chicken, noted for its fighting ability, is the official state bird of Delaware.
The chicken is a descendant of the Southeast Asian red jungle fowl first domesticated in India around 2000 B.C. Most of the birds raised for meat in America today are from the Cornish (a British breed) and the White Rock (a breed developed in New England). Broiler-fryers, roasters, stewing/baking hens, capons and Rock Cornish hens are all chickens.
COLOR OF SKIN Chicken skin color varies from cream-colored to yellow. Skin color is a result of the type of feed eaten by the chicken, not a measure of nutritional value, flavor, tenderness or fat content. Color preferences vary in different sections of the country, so growers use the type of feed which produces the desired color.
DARK BONES Darkening around bones occurs primarily in young broiler-fryers. Since their bones have not calcified completely, pigment from the bone marrow can seep through the porous bones. Freezing can also contribute to this seepage. When the chicken is cooked, the pigment turns dark. It's perfectly safe to eat chicken meat that turns dark during cooking.
PINK MEAT When chicken has reached 165 °F as measured using a food thermometer, it should be safe to eat. The pink color in safely cooked chicken is due to the hemoglobin in tissues which can form a heat-stable color. Smoking or grilling may also cause this reaction, which occurs more in young birds.
COLOR OF GIBLETS Giblet color can vary, especially in the liver, from mahogany to yellow. The type of feed, the chicken's metabolism and its breed can account for the variation in color. If the liver is green, do not eat it. This is due to bile retention. However, the chicken meat should be safe to eat.
FATTY DEPOSITS Chickens may seem to have more fatty deposits or contain a larger "fat pad" than in the past. This is because broiler fryer chickens have been bred to grow very rapidly to supply the demand for more chicken. Feed that is not converted into muscle tissue (meat) is metabolized into fat. However, the fat is not "marbled" into the meat as is beef or other red meat, and can be easily removed. Geneticists are researching ways to eliminate the excess fat
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