WHAT IS POULTRY?
Poultry is a common term and it indicates all the domesticated birds which are reared for the production of eggs and/or meat for the economic benefits of human beings. The most important poultry species are chicken or fowl, duck, quail, turkey, guinea fowl, peafowl, etc.
CHICKEN POULTRY MEANING
The term ‘poultry’ most often used as synonymous with chicken as it accounts for more than 90% of the total poultry population in India and our poultry industry is mainly chicken-oriented.
UNITED STATES DEFINITION OF POULTRY
In the United States, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act defines the term “poultry” to include birds that are deemed to be major animal species (chickens and turkeys). In a broader sense, the term “poultry” also encompasses avian species
that are “minor” animal species.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) defines “minor” animal species by exclusion, meaning that the “major” animal species have been identified and all others are deemed “minor. Major animal species are dogs, cats, horses, cattle, swine, chickens, and turkeys.
Therefore, examples of “minor” poultry would include ducks, geese, game birds, pigeons, and so on.
“poultry” is deemed to refer to any avian species that have the potential for its meat, eggs, offal (entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food), by-products (i.e., feathers), or manure to directly or indirectly enter or influence any portion of the human food chain.
United States of America Food and Drug Administration’s definitions of species and classes of chickens and turkeys
SPECIES | CLASS | DEFINITION |
CHICKENS | Egg | from in ovo until hatching |
Layer hens | Hens that produce eggs for human consumption | |
Chicks | chickens from the day of hatch until they are able to survive in ambient temperature (no longer brooded). | |
Broiler Chickens (or fryers or frying chickens | Meat-type chickens normally grown to a market age of 35 to 49 days and market weights between approximately 4 and 7 lb (1.80 and 3.2 kg). | |
Roasters (or roasting chickens) | Meat-type chickens grown to market weigh between approximately 6 and 9 lb (2.7 and 4.1 kg). | |
Replacement Chickens | Chickens intended to become laying hens or breeding chickens | |
Breeding Chicken | Sexually mature male and female chickens of any type intended for the production of fertile eggs; the eggs are not intended for human consumption. | |
Turkeys | Egg | from in ovo until hatching |
Layer hens | Hens that produce eggs for human consumption | |
Poults | Turkeys from the day of hatch until they are able to survive in ambient temperature (no longer brooded). | |
Growing Turkeys | Turkeys grown for meat purposes to a market age of approximately 17 (female) or 22 (male) weeks; may be further divided into heavy or light turkey strains | |
Finishing Turkeys | Turkeys intended for meat production during the last 2 to 4 weeks of growth. | |
Replacement Turkeys | Turkeys intended to become laying hens or breeding turkeys | |
Breeding Turkeys | Sexually mature male or female turkeys intended to produce fertile eggs; their eggs are not intended for human food us |

TAXONOMY OF POULTRY
The term taxonomy of poultry is a broader term which covers the all poultry population from ancient time to presents development of the poultry. for better understand, we divided the term POULTRY following categories-
- Species
- Class
- breed
- Variety
- Strain
SPECIES
It is a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding and considered the basic unit of taxonomy.
Poultry species with scientific names
The important poultry species in Indian poultry industry are-
- (i) Chicken/fowl – Callus domesticus (reared for egg and meat).
- Duck – Anas platyrhynchos (mainly reared for egg and to some extent meat).
- Quail- Cotumix coturnzx japonia (mainly reared for meat and also egg).
- (iv) Turkey – Meleagris gallopavo (mainly reared for meat).
CLASS
It indicates a group of breeds developed in a particular geographical area.The breeds of chicken are classified into four classes-
- American class
- English class,
- Mediterranean class
- Asiatic class.
BREED
A group of birds that are similar in shape, size, and body conformation, and descendants of common ancestry is known as a breed. All the birds of a breed have more or less the same genetic makeup with a common morphological and
physiological setup. The examples of some breeds of chicken are-
- New Hampshire
- Australorp,
- Aseel
- Sussex,
VARIETY
It is the sub-division of a breed distinguished mainly by colour of plumage, type of comb, etc.For example-
- Leghorn breed of chicken has 12 varieties, like white, brown, and buff-colored plumage, and single and rose type comb, etc.
STRAIN
It indicates a group of birds with some special characters within a breed or variety. It is developed by a breeder by introducing some economic characters like egg size, growth rate, feed efficiency, laying ability, mortality, etc.
Nowadaysstrain is more popular than the breed concept. for example-
- Anak-2000
- Hubbard
- Caribro-91
- Vencob,
- Starbro
- Shaver Brown
- Hy-line layer
- Hubbard classic
- Isa Brown and white layer
- Hubbard Efficiency plus (EP)
- Ross broiler strain
- Lohman Meat
Important Classes, Breeds and Varieties of Chicken/Fowl
CLASS | BREED | VARIETY |
American | Rhode Island Red | Single comb, Rose comb. |
New Hampshire | ||
Plymouth Rock | White, Buff, Barred, Silver, penciled, Patridge, Columbian, Blue. | |
Wyandotte | White, Buff, Black, Silver laced, Golden laced, Silver penciled. | |
English | Australorp | |
Cornish | White, Buff, Dark, White laced, Red. | |
Sussex | Light, Red, Speckled. | |
Orpington | White, Buff, Black, Blue. | |
Mediterranean | Leghorn | White, Buff, Black, Silver, Red, Black-tailed, Red Columbian, Rose comb (White, Brown), Single comb (White, Black, Buff). |
Minorca | Black, White, Buff, Rose comb (Black, White). | |
Ancona | Single comb, Rose comb. | |
Asiatic | Brahma | Light, Buff, Dark. |
Cochin | White, Buff, Black, Patridge. | |
Langshan | White, Black. | |
Indigenous Fowl of India | Aseel | Nhurie (white), Peela (golden yellow), Khagar (black), Yakuth (black and red), Chitta (black and white), Subja (white and golden), Reza (light red). |
Kadaknath | – | |
Bursa | – | |
Chittagong/Malay | – | |
Naked neck | – |
General Characteristics Of Chicken Breed
Now we can discuss some chicken breeds with their special characteristics. every breed has distinguishing feathers which unique individually.
White Leghorn- General characteristics of this breed
Origin | Leghorn village of Italy. It is a breed of Mediterranean class. |
General appearance | Small and very compact, small head with well-set comb and wattle, long back, prominent breast, tail lowered down, it is the neatest of all birds. |
Plumage Color | White, evenly distributed over the entire body surface. |
Standard weight | Cock 2.7 kg, Hen- 2.0 kg |
Skin Color | Yellow |
Earlobe Color | Yellowish white |
Shank | yellow and clean |
Beak color | Yellow |
Eggshell color | White |
Commercial Importance | Egg-type bird. All the commercial hybrid layers are derived from this breed. |

Rhode Island Red (RIR)
Origin | It is originated in the Rhode Island state of America. It is a breed of American class. |
General Apearence | Long rectangular body, broad and deep breast, flat back, massive look. |
Plumage Color | Brownish red and well glossed. Main tail feathers and sickle feathers (in males) are black. In females, hackle (neck feather) shows slight black marking at the base. |
Standard weight | Cock-3.8 kg, Hen 3.0 kg |
Skin Color | Yellow |
Earlobe color | Radish |
Shank | Yellow and Clean |
Beak Color | Black |
Eggshell color | Brown |
Commercial Importance | Dual purpose for egg and meat. More resistant to diseases than other exotic breeds. Used for upgrading the local/ deshi stock. |

New Hampshire Chicken Breed
Origin | It is originated in New Ha1l1pshire state of America. It is a breed of American class. This breed is developed form RIR through selective breeding. |
General Appearance | Less rectangular than RIR. |
Plumage Color | Chestnut red. The main tail feathers are black. In females, lower neck feathers are distinctly tipped with black. |
Standard Weight | Cock-3.8 kg, Hen- 3.0 kg |
Skin Color | Yellow |
Earlobe color | Reddish |
Shank | Yellow and clean |
Beak color | Yellow |
Eggshell color | Brown |
commercial Importance | Dual purpose for egg and meat. |

Australorp chicken Breed
Origin | This breed is developed in Australia from Black Orpington. It is an English breed. |
General Appearance | Very fleshy, body slopes gradually towards tail, deep body, closely feathered, long back, more upright and less massive look. |
Plumage colour | Black, plumage is lustrous greenish-black in all the sections of the body. |
Standard weight | Cock 3.8 kg, Hen 3.0 kg |
Skin colour | White |
Colour of earlobe | Red |
Shank | Black or dark slate-colored, clean. |
Egg shell color | Brown |
Commercial importance | Dual purpose for egg and meat. They can maintain themselves in wet and heavy rainfall areas. |

Light Sussex Breed
Origin | This breed is originated in the Sussex country of England. It is a light variety of Sussex breed of English class. |
General Appearance | Deep body with very good fleshing quality, broad shoulder. |
Plumage Color | White plumage with black-streaked feathers on the neck and tail. |
Standard Weight | Cock 4.0 kg, Hen 3.0 kg |
Skin color | White |
Earlobe color | Red |
Shank | White-colored, clean. |
Beak colored | Colored |
Eggshell color | brown |
Commercial Importance | Meat type |

HYBRID CHICKEN
Nowadays pure breeds of chicken are not generally used for the commercial production of egg or meat. First, the pure breeds are replaced by breed crosses, and now breed crosses are replaced by strain crosses.
Some important breed crosses are-
Austra – white | The Australorp male is crossed with White Leghorn female to produce this breed cross. |
Rhodo – white | The Rhode Island Red male is crossed with a White Leghorn female to produce this breed cross. White plumage is dominant with occasional blackish feathers. |
Sussex – hampshire | The Sussex male is crossed ‘with Hampshire female to produce this breed cross. |
Red- rock | The Rhode Island Red male is crossed with Barred Plymouth Rock to produce this breed cross. The male progenies are barred and females are black. |
Some important Strain crosses are-
Broiler strains | B – 77 Caribro – 91 Giriraja IBB – 83 Hubbard, Vencob, Anak – 2000, C habro, etc. |
Layer strains | HH – 260 BH -78 ILl – 80 hybrid Carigolden – 92 (BV – 300, Starcross – 288 (white/brown egg) |
Reference
Backyard poultry medicine And Surgery,
Edited by B, Greencre and Morishita
Follow UsManual On Avian Production And Management
DR Ghosh And Samanta