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Chicken can reach 27 inches in length and around 5.5 pounds of weight. Males are larger than females.
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Chicken can be uniformly colored: white, bluish, reddish or black, or covered with multicolored plumage, depending on the variety. Males have shinier and more brightly-colored plumage compared with females.
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Chicken has short beak, fleshy crest (comb) on top of the head and flaps of loose skin under the beak (wattles). Comb and wattles, known together as caruncles, are larger and more prominent in males. Males also have much longer tails.
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Chicken has excellent eyesight and ability to see all colors (full-colored vision).
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Chicken is able to fly only short distances. It spends most of its time on the solid ground, where it constantly pecks soil in search for food.
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Chicken is active during the day (diurnal bird). It sleeps during the night and dreams just like humans (based on the rapid eye movement that can be seen during the sleep).
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Chicken is an omnivore. Its diet is based on the seed and insects.
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Chicken has very good memory and ability to recognize about 100 different members of its own species. It can also recognize different people.
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Chicken is gregarious bird that lives in large groups (flocks). Each group has clearly established hierarchy with clearly defined position of each bird. Dominant, highly ranked birds, have better sources of food. Females often feed close to the dominant male (cockerel) to ensure their own safety.
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Chickens produce around 30 different calls for communication. They use different alarm calls to inform other members of the group about different types of danger (potential predators on the ground or in the air).
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Rooster produces loud, shrill call, known as crowing, to announce occupation of a certain territory.
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Hen produces around 300 eggs per year. Depending on the variety of chicken, eggs can be white, brown, pink, greenish or bluish-colored.
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Hen rolls her eggs in the nest up to 50 times per day and talks to the chicks while they are still inside the eggs. Incubation period lasts 21 days.
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Hen fiercely guards her offspring and teaches her chicks what's good for eating and what's not. Hen is extremely affectionate and she feels empathy for her chicks.
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Chicken has an average lifespan of 5 to 10 years.
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