Chicken Type

There are many kinds of Chicken, the different chicken can see through the combs type. The anatomy of a chicken is rather similar. There are eight distinctive types of combs on chickens and roosters: rose, strawberry, silkiest, single, cushion, buttercup, pea, and V-shaped.

The Rose is a solid, broad and nearly flat comb on top. It is a low, fleshly comb that concludes in a well-developed tapering spike at the back. It may turn upward as in Hamburg breeds, be nearly horizontal as in Rose Comb Leghorn breeds, or follow the contour of the head as in Wyandotte breeds. The top surface of the main part should be slightly convex and studded with small rounded protuberances. The general shape varies in the different breeds.

The Strawberry is a low comb that is set well-forward. The shape and surface resemble the outer part of half a strawberry with a large end nearest the beak of the chicken. The Strawberry is a low comb that is set well-forward. The shape and surface resemble the outer part of half a strawberry with a large end nearest the beak of the chicken.

The Silkiest is an almost round, somewhat lumpy comb, inclined to be greater in width than length; covered with small corrugations on top and crossed with a narrow transverse indentation slightly to the front of the comb. Sometimes two or three small rear points are hidden by a crest, others are without points. Generally they are considered to be genetically a rose comb changed by a rose comb.

The Single comb is a moderately thin, fleshy formation of smooth soft surface texture, firmly attached from the beak along the top of the skull with a strong base. The top portion shows five or six rather deep serrations or distinct points, the middle points being higher than the back or front, forming a semi-oval shape when viewed from the side. The comb is always upright and much larger and thicker in males than in females. It may be lopped or upright in the female. This depends on the breed. The comb is divided into three sections: the front, the middle and that extending past the rear base of the skull, the posterior or blade.

The Cushion is a solid low, moderately small comb; smooth on top, the front, rear and sides are nearly straight with rounded corners. It has no spikes.

The Buttercup consists of a single leader from base of beak to a cup-shaped crown set firmly on the centre of the skull and completely surmounted by a circle of regular points. The cavity within the circle of points is deep, the texture of the comb is fine.

The Pea is a medium length, low comb, the top of which is marked with three low lengthwise ridges, the centre one is slightly higher that the outer ones. The outer ones are either undulated or marked with small rounded serrations. This is a breed characteristic that is found in Brahmas, Buckeyes, Cornish, Cubalayas and Sumatras.
The V-Shaped comb is formed of two well defined horn like sections that are joined at their base, as in breeds such as Houdans, Polish, Crevecoeurs, LeFleche and Sultans.

Both the male and female have distinctive wattles, a fleshy piece of hanging skin under their beak and combs. These organs help to cool the bird by redirecting blood-flow to the skin. In males, the combs are often more prominent, though this is not the case in all varieties.

The largest chicken egg on record weighed over 12 ounces and measured 14 inches round.

The heaviest chicken is 22 lbs. (10 kg approx.) and belonged to Grant Sullens of West Point, California, USA. This breed of chicken is a' White Sully'. It is known to have a very mean temper as it has been reported to have killed two cats and wounded a dog.

Chicken Feed

Chicken feed is vary from small to adult chicken, for small chicken need more calorie for their growth, and for their health need protein and vitamin. In nature such as domestic chickens will consume 30% of their calories from grass, if allowed to truly "free range." Since grass is very low in calories, another thing chicken’s need is animal protein. Chickens are omnivores, just like the humans they've kept company with for all these millennia.

The feed composition for chicken also as a nature will arrange by their selves, but if people look after in a cage, this composition may be neglected. This condition can make the chicken immunity to certain diseases will decrease. Mass-producers of poultry are certainly leery of disease, which might bring about the destruction of their entire laying flock.

But, strictly vegetarian-fed chickens are potentially undernourished. An all-vegetarian diet is not natural for them ~ they need animal protein. The ideal is for a chicken to be free to roam grasslands that are not denuded by too many animals in one place, finding myriad bugs and eating lots of wild plants. If supplemented with grains, and especially with fish meal, these chickens will be the healthiest around, and live and lay eggs for many, many years.

Chickens that are free to consume as much living grass as they want, along with the myriad other living things in a natural grassland or meadow, give significant health benefits to the consumer today, just as this poultry diet has done for the thousands of years of domestication of the chicken. Meat and eggs from grass-fed poultry, which is very low in fat, have high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. Eggs from "pastured" (another form of "grass-fed") poultry, high in omega-3 fatty acids, will lower one's "bad cholesterol" and raise the "good cholesterol." More and more consensus is emerging that grass-fed or pastured poultry eggs are good for the heart, and that not only should they not be avoided, they should be specifically included in the diet.

There are two main kinds of fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6. We need approximately equal amounts of the O-3's and the O-6's in our bodies. But, because of not allowing our feed animals to eat grass (even cows don't eat much grass any more ~ they eat largely corn), we are getting huge proportions of Omega-6 fatty acids, and very little Omega-3.

When we are oversupplied with Omega-6, our "bad cholesterol" rises, and our "good cholesterol" stays low. When we get equal amounts of Omega-3's and -6's, the good cholesterol rises and the bad cholesterol drops. But our diets have been so high in Omega-6 for so long, we really need to focus almost exclusively on eating Omega-3-rich foods to balance the levels out.

Poultry, however, needs some grain in the diet. It is very difficult to raise 100% grass-fed poultry. Tests show that even greatly-reduced-grain ration in poultry diets, supplemented with very large free-range grass consumption, still produces meat that is relatively high in Omega-6's compared to the meat and milk of grass-fed ruminants.