Chicken
Scientific name
- Scientific name
- Gallus gallus
How to say it in other languages
- Arabic
- دجاج الأدغال الأحمر
- Dutch
- Bankivahoen
- French
- Coq bankiva
- German
- Bankivahuhn
- Italian
- Gallo rosso
- Japanese
- セキショクヤケイ
- Korean
- 적색야계
- Portuguese
- Galo-banquiva
- Russian
- Банкивская джунглевая курица
- Spanish
- Gallo bankiva
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Chicken” page and Wikispecies (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nutrition facts: roasted chicken breast
One serving is 0.5 breast, bone and skin removed (86 g).
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per serving | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 165 kcal | 142 kcal | — |
| Protein | 31.0 g | 26.7 g | 53% |
| Total fat | 3.6 g | 3.1 g | 4% |
| Carbohydrate | 0.0 g | 0.0 g | — |
| Fiber | 0.0 g | 0.0 g | — |
| Sugars | 0.0 g | 0.0 g | — |
| Vitamin C | 0.0 mg | 0.0 mg | — |
| Vitamin A | 6 µg | 5 µg | 1% |
| Calcium | 15 mg | 13 mg | 1% |
| Iron | 1.0 mg | 0.9 mg | 5% |
| Potassium | 256 mg | 220 mg | 5% |
| Sodium | 74 mg | 64 mg | 3% |
One serving has about 53% of the Daily Value for protein.
Data: USDA FoodData Central (public domain, CC0) — “Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted”. Percent Daily Values use the FDA’s reference amounts for labels.
Chicken refers to the domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl. It is raised in many places for its meat and eggs. They are usually kept by humans as livestock. Some breeds of chickens can fly for a short distance. Some sleep in trees (if there are trees around).
A male chicken is called a rooster or a cock. A female chicken is called a hen. A young chicken is called a chick. Like other female birds, hens lay eggs. Chicks hatch out of the eggs.
When raising chickens, a farmer needs a chicken coop (like a little house) for the chickens to roost (sleep) in. They also need a run or yard where they can exercise, take dust baths, eat and drink. The chickens also need to be protected from predators such as foxes, coyotes and hawks too. Fences are often used for this.
Chickens are also agriculturally farmed intensively. This lets chicken farms make a lot of chicken meats and chicken eggs.
Eggs
Chickens are well known for their eggs. Many people eat them for their breakfast. The eggs can be prepared in many different ways, such as boiling them, frying them, etc.
Meat
Chicken as food
Because of their low cost, chicken meat (also called “chicken”) is one of the most used kinds of meat in the world. Americans eat 8 billion chickens every year. Some popular dishes with chicken are: Buffalo wings, butter chicken, chicken rice, chicken nuggets, chicken pot pie, chicken soup, fried chicken (see picture), roasted chicken, tandoori chicken.
Cuts
There are different cuts of chicken. Chicken meat can also be bought whole. The leanest part is known as the breast. Sliced pieces of the breast are known as the tenderloin. There are also wings, thighs, and legs (also known as drumsticks).
Chickens and chickenpox
Chickenpox has nothing to do with chickens. When chickenpox was first described, people thought that the pox spots looked like chickpeas placed upon the skin. The Latin word for chickpeas is grana. That is the original word that chickenpox got its name from.
Gaming
In some parts of the world, people breed chickens to fight. They bet money on which of the two birds will win. In many places, this is illegal.
Wario has a pet hen in the Game Boy Color game Wario Land II. Besides the eyelashes, she does not have much difference from real-life hens.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Chicken” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.