Chicken Stats

• Life span: 10 to 11 years
• Heart rate: 220 to 360 beats per minute
• Respiratory rate: 12 to 37 breaths per minute
• Temperature: 103.6 to 109.9 degrees F
• Water intake: 210 to 400 milliliters per day
• Urine volume: 100 to 200 milliliters per kilogram of weight per day
• Gastrointestinal transit time: Approximately 4 hours
• Blood volume: 6 to 12 milliliters per 1/10 kilogram of weight

Chicken Reproduction

• Puberty: 4½ to 5 months
• Age at laying: Approximately 6 months
• Clutch size: 5 to 8
• Incubation: 21 days
• Birth weight: 30 to 80 grams
• Independence of chicks: 3 months of age

Chicken Anatomy

• Legs: Featherless in most breeds; can propel body up to 9 mph
• Nails: Sharp; used for scratching in dirt, grasping to perch
• Wings: Short flight feathers, limited lifting ability
• Tail: Short in hens, fuller in roosters; used for balance in flight and perching
• Ears: Sizable hole on either side of head, covered by feathers; fleshy earlobe just below ear hole
• Eyes: Set on the side of the head for a 360-degree view; sole means of identifying food; color vision superior to that of humans
• Beak: Jawbone covered with lightweight keratin sheath; used to pick up food, grooming and fighting
• Nostrils: Located on top of beak; poor sense of smell
• Mouth: No dentition; tongue used to push feed to back of mouth for swallowing
• Comb: Fleshy protuberance on the top of chicken’s head containing nerve endings and blood vessels; larger on roosters than on hens
• Wattle: Fleshy protuberance hanging below a chicken’s beak; contains nerve endings and blood vessels; and matches the comb color; larger on roosters than on hens