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Chickens |
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Chicken eggs vary in colour
depending on the hen, typically ranging from bright white to shades of brown
and even blue, green, and recently reported purple (found in South Asia).
The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found on Corinthian pottery
of the 7th century BC. The poet Cratinus (mid-5th century BC, according to
the later Greek author Athenaeus) calls the chicken "the Persian alarm". In
Aristophanes's comedy The Birds (414 BC) a chicken is called "the
Median bird", which points to an introduction from the East. Pictures of
chickens are found on Greek red figure and black-figure pottery.
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Mabel and Josie
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Snowy
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Chickens can make loving and gentle companion animals. In Asia, chickens
with striking plumage have long been kept for ornamental purposes, including
feather-footed varieties such as the Cochin and Silkie from China and the
extremely long-tailed Phoenix from Japan. Asian ornamental varieties were
imported into the United States and Great Britain in the late 1800s. Poultry
fanciers then began keeping these ornamental birds for exhibition, a
practice that continues today. From these Asian breeds, distinctive American
varieties of chickens have been developed.
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