Elsevier

Poultry Science

Volume 38, Issue 2, 1 March 1959, Pages 321-326
Poultry Science

Articles
A History of the Domestic Chicken from Antiquity to the 19th Century

https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.0380321Get rights and content
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Abstract

IN CONTEMPLATING our domestic species of today, many interesting questions arise; how much has human manipulation altered the species? how were these changes effected, and with what rapidity? This paper attempts to trace the dispersal of the chicken from its point of origin; to learn something of the selective practices of bygone societies and to study the development of poultry husbandry and breeding methods up to the nineteenth century.

THE HISTORY OF ITS DISTRIBUTION

It is generally assumed that the domestic chicken belonging to the Mediterranean breeds is descended from either one or all four species of Jungle Fowl inhabiting South Eastern Asia, although in the case of the heavy Asiatic breeds, the relationship is less clear-cut (Hutt, 1949). The exact date of its domestication, however, cannot be ascertained with certainty. Fossil and subfossil remains of the chicken have been reported from several places. Lambrecht (1933) cites several cases in …

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