The chicken is a type of domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the red junglefowl.
Domestication of the chicken dates back to at least 2000 B.C. and their ancestry can
be traced back to four species of wild jungle fowl from Southeast Asia.
However, the Red jungle fowl is the most commonly found wild species in the world today and
is considered the main ancestor of the domestic chicken.
The sport of cockfighting had tremendous influence not only in the domestication of the chicken
but also on the distribution of fowl throughout the world.
After centuries of selection and breeding for numerous extremes, chickens now exist
in many colors, sizes and shapes.
For that reason, stay with us as we are counting down the 10 of the most beautiful chickens
in the world.
Number 10.
The Sebright is a British breed of bantam chicken.
It is named after Sir John Saunders Sebright, who created it as an ornamental breed by selective
breeding in the early nineteenth century.
Despite their popularity, Sebrights are often difficult to breed, and the inheritance of
certain unique characteristics the breed carries has been studied scientifically.
As a true bantam, all Sebrights are very small in stature; males weigh an average of 22 ounces
(625 grams) and females 20 oz (570 g).
Their short backs, proportionally large breasts, and downward-pointing wings combine to create
an angular, jaunty look.
Because of that, they are largely ornamental chicken, they lay tiny, white eggs and are
not kept for meat production.
Number 9.
The Sundheimer is a Chickens breed from Sundheim, which is a town in the Kehl am Rhein rural
district of southwestern Germany.
It was originally developed to be a good meat bird, but it has also good laying abilities.
The breeds involved in developing the Sundheimer aren't known, but mainly they are light-feathered
local chickens in the area.
The Sundheimer has a single comb, red earlobes, and whitish-yellow legs with light feathering,
which extends to cover the outer toe.
They are tame birds indeed, that grow and fatten rapidly, and provide meat of high quality.
The Sundheimer is available only in the columbian color-variety.
Number 8.
The Booted Bantam or Dutch Booted Bantam, is a bantam breed of chicken.
Its name is derived from the extravagant feathering on the feet and hock joints, which are called
vulture hocks or "sabels" in Dutch.
Males usually weigh in at around 850 grams (30 ounces) and females 750 grams (27 ounces).
Almost exclusively an exhibition chicken raised by poultry fanciers, they appear in more than
a twenty colour varieties.
Long kept as pets in addition to being shown, Booted Bantams are usually friendly and calm.
They are good foragers, and are said to do less damage to garden plants because of their
heavily feathered feet.
However, most breeders keep their Booted Bantams confined and on soft bedding in order to maintain
these feathers.
Number 7.
The Onagadori is a historic Japanese breed of chicken, characterised by an exceptionally
long tail.
It was bred in the seventeenth century in Kochi Prefecture, and was designated a Japanese
National Natural Treasure in 1952.
The principal characteristic of the Onagadori is its exceptionally long tail, which exceeds
1.5 metres, and has been known to reach 12 m.
The tail consists of about 16-18 feathers, which under the right conditions never moult,
and grow rapidly, gaining some 0.7-1.3 m per year.
Three colour varieties are recognised: black-breasted white, black-breasted red, and white.
Genetic study suggests that the black-breasted white was the original type, and that the
others were created by cross-breeding with birds of other breeds.
Number 6.
The Sumatra is a breed of chicken native of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
These chickens were originally imported from Sumatra in 1847 to the U.S. and Europe as
fighting cocks for the purpose of entertainment, but today the breed is primarily kept for
exhibition.
They are primarily an ornamental breed kept for their attractive plumage.
Most often they are a lustrous black with a green sheen throughout the body and tail.
However, the breed comes in blue and white varieties, as well as the unstandardised splash,
a natural result of breeding blue chickens.
This breed is considered a primitive one; as it retains a strong flying ability, unlike
most modern chicken breeds.
Number 5.
Serama originate in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, apparently through the crossing
of Japanese and Malaysian bantams.
Other stories of the birds derived from a gift of some small chickens by the King of
Thailand to a local sultan in ancient times.
The breed was first exhibited in 1990, but it was hit hard by the Asian bird flu epidemic
in 2004 when many birds were culled amid government concerns.
There are no written standards for the breed in its native country.
However, they do now have an overall guide on scoring and judging for competitions in
Malaysia.
Many breeders have a style or type that they breed to, but often breeders keep several
"styles".
Hence there is quite a lot of diversity in Malaysia, but an overall theme of a small
brave chicken with a persona of fearless warrior or toy soldier.
Number 4.
The grey junglefowl, also known as Sonnerat's junglefowl, is one of the wild ancestors of
domestic fowl together with the red junglefowl and other junglefowls.
A gene from the grey junglefowl is responsible for the yellow pigment in the legs and different
body parts of all the domesticated chicken.
A more recent study revealed multiple grey junglefowl genomic regions introgressed the
genome of domestic chicken with evidence of some domestic chicken genes also found in
the grey junglefowl.
Endemic to India, the male grey junglefowl has a black cape with ochre spots and the
body plumage on a grey ground colour is finely patterned.
The elongated neck feathers are dark and end in a small, hard, yellowish plate, where this
peculiar structure makes them popular for making high-grade artificial flies.
In fact, as grey junglefowl have been bred domestically in England since 1862, their
feathers have been commercially supplied from domestic UK stocks for fly tying since 1978.
Number 3.
Phoenix chicken is a beautiful bird which is typically raised as an ornamental breed.
It is a long tailed chicken breed originating in German, where Hugo du Roi who was the first
president of the National German Poultry Association created the Phoenix chicken in the late nineteenth
century.
The Phoenix chicken has a pheasant-like appearance, and they are notable for their exceptional
long tail.
The tail may reach 90 cm or more as this breed is derived from cross-breeding of imported
long-tailed Japanese birds similar to the Onagadori with other breeds.
There are many color varieties of the Phoenix chicken and their plumage color vary depending
on the variety.
Number 2.
The Sri Lankan junglefowl, also known as the Ceylon junglefowl, is endemic to Sri Lanka,
where it is the national bird.
It is closely related to the red junglefowl, the wild junglefowl from which the chicken
was domesticated.
However, a whole-genome molecular study rather show that Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl
are genetically sister species than with the red junglefowl.
Sri Lankan junglefowl and red junglefowl diverged about 2.8 million years ago whereas, time
of divergence between the Sri Lankan junglefowl and grey junglefowl was 1.8 million years
ago.
The main characeristics of this bird are the comb with a yellow centre, along with the
golden feathers of the mane descending from head to base of spine.
The Sri Lankan junglefowl are island species that have evolved side by side with their
similarly stranded island predators and competitors.
Uniquely complex anti-predator behaviors and foraging strategies are integral components
in the long evolutionary story.
Number 1.
The green junglefowl, also known as Javan junglefowl, forktail or green Javanese junglefowl,
is the most distantly related and the first to diverge at least 4 million years ago among
the four species of the Junglefowl.
The colouration of the green junglefowl is sexually dimorphic.
The male's plumage is dark and blackish at a distance.
A closer view reveals an iridescent mantle of gleaming scales reminiscent in colour and
pattern to those seen in the ocellated turkey and green peafowl.
Each scale is vivid blue at its base and moves through various shades of gold and bronzed
green.
Specialized plumes framing the throat of the male green junglefowl are highly light-reflective
and appear violet at the proximal and sky blue at the distal edges.
The green junglefowl is being maintained and increasingly bred in captivity as its genetic
diversity is disappearing.
This is because these birds are bred with domestic chickens by many people, producing
a hybrid known as the bekisar.