Poultry

In the early 1900s, it was a common belief in the American South that a rooster contributed to peace in the barnyard.

By 3900 B.C., chickens were present in Iran, by about 2400 B.C. in Turkey and Syria, and by 2000 B.C., they had reached Spain. They arrived about 1400 B.C. in Egypt, where they were called “the bird that gives birth every day” – in allusion to the prolific egg-laying of the species. In West Africa, Iron Age farmers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana were keeping domesticated chickens from about 500 A.D.

From Southeast Asia, sailors brought chickens to the Polynesian islands about 1300 B.C., and in Chile, remains of domesticated chickens, dating from c. 1350 A.D., have been excavated. Before these excavations, it was believed that the first chickens to arrive in the Americas were brought by Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. Chickens arrived in Australia with the First Fleet, bringing settlers to the continent in 1788.

Today, the chicken is the most numerous and widespread domestic animal, with a total population of more than 19 billion. Chickens are kept primarily as a source of food, both meat and eggs.

Roosters can be very aggressive. Below is an excerpt from the memoirs of my father, Jens Christen Pedersen: “The caretaker of Tåning co-op shop had humour. He kept chickens at the other side of the road, including a handsome rooster. One day he told me to bring the sweepings from the warehouse to the chickens. Usually he did that himself, but I soon found out why he wanted me to do it. When I entered the chicken yard, the rooster at once jumped on me, so that I had to retreat in a hurry and close the door. Meanwhile, the caretaker was bent double with laughter.”

It is often said that chickens are stupid, but I have a true story which shows that chickens are able to reason. In 1980, Thomas Læssøe was working in Nature Reserve Vorsø, Horsens Fjord, Denmark. They had chickens, which were ushered into the hen house every evening, and the door was closed, so that fox or marten couldn’t get in.

One evening, after dark, Thomas was working at the typewriter, when he heard a pecking sound from the window. Looking up, he saw a hen outside, looking in. When he went outside, the hen came running round the house corner to be let into the hen house. It seems that it had been too late to be let in with the other hens.

Thus, the hen must have been reasoning like this: “There is light in this window. Light is connected with those two-legged creatures that let us into the hen house. If I peck on the window, one of these creatures will probably come and let me in.”

Mallards were first domesticated at least 4,000 years ago, in Southeast Asia. In Ancient Egypt, ducks were captured in nets and then bred in captivity, and domestic ducks are frequently depicted in Egyptian wall paintings in graves and elsewhere. At an early stage, ducks were also farmed by the Romans. The Beijing duck (formerly called Peking duck), a distinct breed in China, also descended from the mallard.

In many places, white domestic ducks developed, probably being favoured in preference to darker breeds, as they were easy to spot, in case they should stray. Domestic ducks have also lost the territorial behavior of the mallard, being less aggressive. Despite these differences, domestic ducks are still very closely related to the mallard, the two forms producing fertile offspring. These semi-tame ducks, which are often found in city parks, come in all plumages, varying from pure white to ‘almost-wild-mallard-type’.

Ducks are mainly farmed for their meat and eggs, and for their down. In some countries, the blood from slaughtered ducks is used as an ingredient in various dishes. Some breeds have been developed for ornamental reasons and are often exhibited in competitions.

The name Muscovy duck has nothing to do with the Grand Principality of Moscow, founded in 1283 (in English often called the Muscovy), although the spelling of the duck’s name, with a capital M, could easily lead to this misconception. The name is thought either to be a corruption of musk duck, due to its musky smell, or derived from the Spanish word mosquito, named after the Mosquito Coast in Central America, where Spanish conquistadors first encountered this duck.

The earliest known domestication of the Muscovy duck took place in the Mochica culture, southern Peru, and in coastal Ecuador, by about 50 to 80 A.D. In Bolivia, it is known as a domestic animal from about 600 A.D., and in Central America from about 750 A.D. With the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s, the Muscovy duck was taken to Europe, and from there it has spread around the world.

The plumage colour of the domestic Muscovy duck is more variable than in its wild cousin, many of the domestic ducks being pure white.

Feral populations of the Muscovy duck have been established in the United States and southern Canada, as well as in New Zealand, Australia, and various places in Europe.

The greylag goose was first domesticated in Egypt, maybe as far back as 1500 B.C., and spread from here to Europe and West Asia. Today, about 80 breeds of this domestic goose are known. The swan goose, which is readily identified by the large knob at the base of the bill, was first domesticated in China, maybe as early as 1000 B.C. The domesticated form, which is often called Chinese goose, comes in about 20 breeds.

Today, both forms of domestic geese are found worldwide, and as the greylag goose and the swan goose are rather closely related, hybrids between the two domestic forms often occur.

Domestic geese are kept for meat and eggs, and for their excellent down, used in quilts, down jackets, sleeping bags, and other items.

Wild greylag geese, Lake Hornborga, Sweden. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

 

Domesticated swan geese with goslings, Sauraha, southern Nepal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

 

However, the bird was domesticated at a very early stage and has since been brought to almost every corner of the planet. Over time, more than a thousand breeds have evolved. In numerous cities around the world, birds have escaped to form huge feral populations. Feeding these birds is often a very popular occupation, despite the fact that they are a nuisance, dropping their guano everywhere, and maybe also spreading contagious diseases.

A specialized type of domestic pigeons are so-called homing pigeons, which are a bred for navigation and speed. They originally developed through selective breeding to carry messages to their home place, tied to one of their legs. It is believed that they were able to find their way mainly through sensitiveness to the magnetic field of the Earth. Today, this variety is used in the sport of pigeon racing, which is very popular in many countries.

The specific name stems from Theodore Gaza’s work from 1476, Aristotelis de natura animalium, in which he translates the Greek word for dove, peleia (probably derived from pellos, ‘dark-coloured’), into livia, derived from the Latin livens (‘lead-coloured’), ultimately from livere (‘being bluish’).