When you see a chicken running it's quite easy to imagine that you are watching a relative of Tyranosaurus Rex galloping towards an unsuspecting worm. In fact chickens can trace their origins all the way back to the time dinosaurs roamed the earth and since then they have proved so useful and successful that in terms of numbers they are the most successful bird species in the world.
The earliest chickens probably appeared around 5000BC and roamed the foothills of the Himilayas in south and southwest Asia. Known as Gallus Gallus this chicken had a strong beak and sharp claws and was quite capable of looking after itself. It wasn't until sometime between 3000 and 2000BC that Gallus Domesticus came onto the scene. Otherwise known as the Red Jungle Fowl (see second image) this is thought to be the predecessor of all our domestic chickens.
The huge variety of breeds of chicken available today really started when humans left land behind and set out to explore the world by sea. In the 16th century the Portuguese explorer Magellen (see third image) landed on the southwestern coast of South America and was delighted to find chickens which laid eggs with blue shells. Called Araucana after the Arauca Indians who bred them, Magellen couldn't resist stocking up his ship with several of the unique birds to take back to Europe. Chickens were evidently a very popular souvenir for the early tourists to bring back.
In this way it didn't take long for the chicken to catch on in a big way and they started popping up all over the place. From America to Japan, chickens were most definitely in fashion.
Under the Roman Empire, the Europeans started to breed chickens for meat and eggs but it wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that breeding for looks really took off. This is thought to be because Queen Victoria of Great Britain became interested in chickens when another explorer brought her some Cochin chickens back from China (see fourth image). The Victorians went chicken crazy. They organised clubs, competitions, exhibitions and paid hundreds of pounds at auction for the finest birds. Queen Victoria loved her chickens so much she actually banned the sport of cockfighting in 1849, the last picture on the right is of a Victorian chicken called the bonecrusher!
The last twenty years have seen many changes to the system of food production. Sadly the philosophy of 'more for less' has prevailed, often resulting in a drop of standards in animal welfare. However, more and more people are beginning to express interest in the ethical origin of their food. Buying organic is an excellent start, but why not go that one step further and keep your own chickens!
