In the beginning all chickens were game cocks
How much do you know about chickens?
Did you know that the labuyo or the red jungle fowl is not a chicken? Frankly, it is not. Red jungle fowl is the species Gallus gallus, while chicken is its sub species Gallus gallus domesticus.
Did you know that at first all chickens were game cocks?
Yes. Chickens were first domesticated for purposes of cockfighting not for eating. Thus all chickens must have evolved from the game fowl or fighting cock.
Some chickens became breeds of good fighting cocks such as the American Game, Irish Game, English Game. Others evolved into breeds better for laying or for eating such as the leghorns, the RIR, the Jersey Giant and the Cornish Crosses. Still, some chickens remained as simply chickens that looked like chickens and tasted like chickens, they were the indigenous or the native chickens.
Humans began domesticating chickens because they were by nature fighters, they were domesticated for fighting, or chickens were revered for their gallantry.
During the first stage, of domestication the chicken became valued as a religious symbol, but no breeding was done. At the second stage, when cockfighting became popular and wide spread, selective breeding occurred in order to enhance desirable traits that improved fighting skills.
During the third stage, at a time when agriculture and industry were becoming more specialized, selective breeding took a new turn. Traits that can be commercialized such as laying more bigger eggs or growing bigger faster were the focused of breeders’ intentions. These resulted in heritage breeds mostly of the west.
At the last stage, which has happened quite recently, modern industrialized farming methods were applied to chicken breeding with gripping results—the factory chickens.
Now there are so many types of chickens from fighting to eating. Yet all of them were originally fighting fowl.
Let's talk about chickens and money
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