Is there such a thing as wild chickens??

[trunkman]

I was wondering if there is such a thing as wild chickens, I figure if there is wild turkeys there must be wild chickens right? Does anybody know?

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Wild chickens seem to have been common in India and East Asia (China, Thailand, and Vietnam) long ago, and that is where chickens were first domesticated (tamed), maybe around 7000 BC.
(according to http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy/chicken.htm )

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

hummmm? good question. a game bird is crazy but not wild...

 

[Bunnylady]

From what I've heard and read, the domestic chicken is thought to have been developed from the Red Junglefowl of Asia, much as the dog is descended from the wolf or the cat from an African wild cat.

 

[ihvpower]

I say Junglefowl as well, and the Roosters are so pretty.

 

[jaimslee4u]

There was a post not too long ago about someone actually catching a pair of chickens that seemed to be feral. I have no idea were it was posted but I assume at some point within the genetic history they might have been part of someones flock.

 

[willkatdawson]

Quote:
Yes, Yes there are. They're living in my yard.

 

[gritsar]

Miami, Florida is overrun with feral chickens.

 

[5acrehome]

I caught 8 chickens in my yard with so many variations to breeding they looked to have 8 or 9 different types of breed in them. they were feral but have taken to a coop like any other chicken but the rooster is very very dominate. only had to cut down the tree they were roosting in to catch them one cold winter night last year

 

[billfields]

But feral wouldn't be the same as wild in the sense that wild turkeys are wild....basically the feral chickens are like feral cats or dogs---unhandled domesticated chickens (or cats or dogs....or horses for that matter---all the "wild" horses in North America are in fact feral horses). I think folks are correct with the Red Jungle Fowl...you would have to look in Asia I suppose to find true "wild" ones. But are Araucanas not suppose to have been from some centuries old South American strain? I know very little about them. Is there suppose to some sort of wild bird from the Americas in their ancestry or were they from transplanted stock?

(edited for spelling)