Amazing Facts About Chickens
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Chickens in General
~Chickens can run up to nine miles an hour!

~The longest record of flight made by a chicken was 301.16 feet!

~The longest time recorded of a chicken flying was 18 seconds!

~The longest a chicken has ever lived was over 23 years old!

~Chickens experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which means they have frequent dreams just like we do!

~A rooster takes 18-20 breaths a minute and hens 30-35!

~A chickenʼs body temperature runs at 102-103 degrees F!

~A chickenʼs heart beats 280-315 times a minute!

~Chickens have more then 30 types of vocalizations distinguishing different threats!

~Never “debeak” your chickens no matter what information you find! This is an act of cruelty and causes stress and pain on the chicken.

~It is possible for a chicken to live without his head! (In fact, a chicken lived for over 18 months without his head!)

~Some ways to sex chicks include: Watching their legs as the age, (males will develop larger, thicker legs than females) watching their combs and wattles (these will also grow bigger) and look at their wings within the first 48 hours of hatching. If their wings feathers are the same in length they are probably male and if they are uneven they are females!

~Chickens are able to recognize over 100 individuals ranging from other chickens, humans and predators!

~Roosters will give their lives when protecting their hens and flock members!

~Chickens are omnivores meaning they eat both meat and plants!

~Currently there are 25 billion chickens around the world!

~There are more chickens than any other bird type!

~There are more then 450 million chickens in the United States alone!

~There are more chickens in the world than there are people! In fact there are enough chickens in the world that every person can have at least six!

~Chickens love to eat eggs and chicken!

~The waste one chicken produces in her full life time can supply a 100 watt bulb for 5 hours!

~Sometimes roosters are not at the top of the pecking order!

~Chickens eat grass like we do spaghetti!

~Scientists believe that a roosters wattles are what make him most attractive to hens!

~The chicken was once considered a sacred animal, symbolizing the sun!

~Baby chickens are called chicks, female chicks less than one year but more than 5 weeks are called pullets while males are called cockerels!

~Male chickens older than one year are called roosters!

Female chickens older than one year are called hens!

~Chickens recognize each other by voices and combs!

~Chickens love herbs!

~Chickens were first domesticated in India!

~A chicken loses feathers when stressed!

~Before crowing, roosters sometimes flap their wings to push oxygen into their lungs!

~Chickens have a wide variety of comb shapes ranging from: Rose, buttercup, single, pea, strawberry (also called squashed tomato head!), walnut, cushion and V-shaped!

~Chickens have more bones in their neck than giraffes! (Giraffes have lots of muscles instead of bones.)

~Roosters preform a dance called “tidbitting” where they pick up and drop food crumbles while making a happy sound in order to attract females!

~Chickens play with each other and sometimes their owners too!

~In a flock without a rooster, a hen will often "become the rooster" and start crowing, mounting other hens and stop laying!

~Chickens are calmer at night and act as if they are zombies while in the dark!

~The fear of chickens is called “Alektorophobia!”


All About Eggs and Hens
~Hens are extremely affectionate and caring mothers, in fact the Bible tells us that Jesus compares the similarities of a henʼs love for her brood and Godʼs love for us!

~An egg is very nutritious! The only nutrient it lacks is vitamin C!

~Chicken breeds who are known for often going broody are usually the most friendly of chicken breeds!

~The heaviest egg ever laid was by a leghorn which weighed one pound and had a double yolk and double shell!

~Broody hens lose weight and sometimes become sick while brooding as they rarely eat or drink

The egg white of a fresh egg will be thick and very gloopy.

~Not all hens will lay eggs due to very narrow pelvises or various reproductive issues!

~The chalazae are located on the top and bottom of the egg. They are long, twisty cords which connect the shell and hold the yolk in place. The fresher the egg the more prominent the chalazae

~The exterior albumen is the narrow, fluid layer next to the shell membrane

~The middle albumen is the thick, white layer of dense matter known as the egg white

~The vitelline membrane is the clear coating enclosing the egg yolk.

~The germinal disk is a small circular spot on the surface of the yolk. This is where the sperm enters the egg.

~The air cell is located at the bottom part of the egg. When the egg is laid, it’s very warm. Once it cools down it contracts. The inner shell membrane pulls away from the outer shell membrane and forms an air pocket.

~Hens are highly susceptible to stress which causes them to stop laying!

~There are many abnormal eggs that hens lay!

~Hens do not have an estrus cycle!

~Hens lay eggs usually every 25 hours. About 20 of these hours are spent forming an eggshell. Many studies have shown that the eggshell is formed at night. Hens therefore eat most of their daily calcium in the evenings. (This is not true in every situation.)
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~Eggs start in the ovaries then the yolk will grow larger while being surrounded by albumen (known as the egg white) next it is wrapped in a membrane and enclosed in a shell.

~Hens sometimes lay eggs with blood or meat spots inside. These are safe to eat but usually look unappetizing!

~Crowded nest boxes or not enough nest boxes lead to egg breakage and hen wars! (You need one nest for every 2 hens. The nests should be 12 X 12 X12.)

~Hens normally lay every 25 hours. However, young pullets sometimes lay more than one egg a day!

~Free range hens sometimes hide their eggs in their own nests!

~Cooked eggs are very healthy for laying hens. Never feed them raw eggs or they may start eating their own!

~Blood circulating herbs such as lavender, cayenne, rose petals and garlic all are good to use to when a hen is broody as this will help keep their blood flowing even while they aren't moving!

~The largest chicken egg ever recorded weighed 12 ounces, measured 12.25 inches around and had nine yolks!

~The average hen lays 300 eggs per year!

~Around 75% of an egg is water!

~In 1925 hens laid an average of 150 eggs per year. Then in 1979, the world record was set by a white leghorn who laid 364 eggs in 371 days!

~The greatest number of yolks to of ever be found in one egg, was nine!

~An eggshell is 94% calcium so obviously producing one drains calcium from a henʼs body which is why they must have extra calcium provided!

~A hen needs to eat about four pounds of food in order to produce one dozen eggs!

~The color of an egg shell has nothing to do with the taste or nutritional value!

~Hens will lay fewer and fewer but larger and larger eggs as they age!

~Eggs separate better when cold but beat better when at room temperature!

~An egg with a red “bullʼs eye” inside it indicates fertility!

~Hens communicate with their un-born chicks by clucking softly while sitting on the eggs. Then when the chicks hatch, they will know which hen is their mother by the sound of her voice which they heard while in the egg!
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~Sometimes instead of a brood, a batch of chicks is called a peep!

~More then one chick can come from one egg!

~Broodiness is contagious to other hens!

~A broody hen turns her eggs approximately 50 times a day!

Chicken Breed Facts
~The chicken breed with the longest crow (of the rooster) is the Kosovo. Their crow lasts at least 20 seconds!

~The best chicken flier is the Sumatra, who has been seen flying seventy feet across a river!

~The tallest breed is the Malay. They can grow to be as tall as 2-2.5 feet!

~The only chicken breed with a pure white face, is the Spanish.

~Queen Victoria was one of the first people to keep Cochin chickens!

~The smallest chicken breed is the Serama, who weighs no more than 11 ounces! One serama hen weighed 12 ounces and was only a little taller than a Coca Cola can!

~The most commonly kept chicken is the Leghorn!

~The chicken with the longest tail is the Onagadori, whoʼs tail can be longer than 32 feet!

~Easter Eggers are not a real breed!

~The Speckled Sussex becomes more speckled each time they molt!
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~The breed whoʼs hen lays the darkest color eggs is the Maran. The eggs are known to be the color of dark chocolate!

~The heaviest breed is the Jersey Giant, who weighs more than 13 Ibs!

Places known for chickens
~Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio are the leading egg producing states

~North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Arkansas are the leading producers of meat birds


-Special thanks to Yahoo!-Facts on Chickens, OneKind-chicken facts, The Easy Chicken for Beginners-Chicken Facts, Best Fun Facts.com, Swampy Acres Farm/chicken facts, City Girl Farming, peta.org/10 surprising chicken facts, Community Chickens-13 fun facts, Squidoo- Funny Chicken Facts, http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com, ffanewhorizons.org/farm facts about chickens and eggs, Backyard Poultry issue volume # 3 June/July 2012 and Vegan Peace- Animals Facts.