Chicken Types

Have you ever wondered what are the various chicken types while chewing on that juicy KFC chicken leg? Well, if you haven’t, here’s a brief overview of the various different types of chicken that are domesticated and reared for various purposes.

What would chronic non-vegetarians like us do without KFC’s finger lickin’ good chicken recipes and edibly tempting chicken portions? It’s harder than hard to imagine! Before proceeding on to the various chicken types, let us get a little intimate with what chicken is and why these birds are reared. Chickens are domesticated birds that belong to the family of fowls. Fowls belong to two major categories, such classification being based upon two different biological orders - land fowl and water fowl. The domesticated chicken, as we know them, belong to the order of land fowl and are a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. Chickens constitute the largest population of all terrestrial birds owing to their wide rearing by humans, chiefly for food purposes - as we all know, eggs and meat of these poultry birds serve as nutritious and delicious foods for us! Let’s take a brief look at what are the major different chicken types and chicken breeds.

Chicken Breed Types

Chicken types are primarily classified on the basis of two major parameters - place of origin and human utility. On the basis of human utility, there are four major categories under which chicken breeds are classified - egg laying, meat providing, both purposes (eggs as well as meat) and fighting/ exhibition. Let’s take a look at what all chicken types are included under each category.

Egg Laying Chicken Breeds

Poultry owners have been raising chickens for eggs since ages. The following breeds of chicken are used solely for the purpose of their eggs:

Ameraucana

Leghorn

Ancona

Marans

Araucana

Orloff

Austrian Painted

Penedesenca

Barnevelder

Sicilian Buttercup

Campine

Catalana

White Faced Black Spanish Fowl

Easter Egger

Welsummer

Egyptian Fayoumi

Lakenvelder

Norwegian Jaerhone

Twentse

These chickens are mostly light weight breeds and mostly do not hatch broods.

Chicken Breeds Reared For Meat

The following different types of chicken, often collectively known as broilers, are highly prized for their delicious flesh and raising chickens for meat is as much a science as cooking a tender dish of it!

Cornish Rock

Bresse

Jersey Giant

Cornish Game

Ixworth

Meat and Eggs Both

The following breeds of chicken are raised for their eggs as well as delicious meat:-

Brahma

Norfolk Gray

Australorp

Naked Neck

New Hampshire

Brakel

Orpington

Buckeye

California Grey

Plymouth Rock

Poltava

Chantecler

Rhode Island Red

Cubalaya

Red Shaver

Rhode Island White

Derbyshire Redcap

Scots Dumpy

Dorking

Dominiques

Faverolles

Scots Grey

Holland

Sussex

Iowa Blue

Winnebago

Java

Wyandotte

Marsh Daisy

Jersey Giant

Duels/ Poultry Shows

The following fowls are reared in line with the hobby poultry breeders who prepare their chicken for exhibitions, poultry shows and duels. For such people, raising chickens is all about fancy, exhibition and owner's pride!

Nankin

Asil

American Game

Old English Game

Pekin

Polish

Phoenix

Appenzeller

Blue hen of Delaware

Rosecomb

Frizzle

Ducth Bantam

Shamo

Sultan

Croad Langshan

Yokohama

Sumatra

Japanese Bantam

Malay

Serama

Silkie

Hamburg

Cochin

Barbu de Watermael

Le Fleche

Modern Game

Booted Bantam

These are the major exhibition poultry breeds among many others that are extensively bred for non-consumption purposes. That was a classification chicken types based upon their purpose of rearing and domestication. The following chicken types are classified based upon their places of origin round the globe. Some such area-specific classified breeds along with their region of rearing are:

United States Native Fowls

Iowa Blue

American Game

Java

Brahma

Ameraucana

Delaware

Wyandotte

Holland

Jersey Giant

Plymouth Rock

Buckeye

New Hampshire

California Grey and California White

Dominique

Lamona

Winnebago,

Rhode Island Red and Rhode Island White

American Game

United Kingdom Crowers

Dorking

Cornish Game

Marsh Daisy

Scots Dumping

Ixworth

Rosecomb

Sussex

Muffled Old English Game

Ixworth

Orpington

Old English Game

Modern Game

Norfolk Grey

Japanese Poultry Fowls

Ko-Shamo

Phoenix

Chabo

Yokohama (but of course!!)

Tomaru

Choicest Chinese Fowls

Cochin

Nankin

Silkie

Pekin (no points for guessing this one!)

Croad Landshan

Netherlands' Noted Breeds

Booted Bantam

Welsummer

Polish

Dutch Bantam (well, well, what else would you expect?)

North Holland Blue

Barnevelder

Hamburg

Those were some of the main chicken types that are reared all around the globe for various purposes, as enumerated under breeds as per human utility. Next time you sink your teeth into that juicy, deep fried chicken breast or the deliciously smoky roasted chicken leg, you’ll surely wonder which of the chicken breeds has been served in the platter before you that is gratifying your gustatory and olfactory senses with mouth watering aroma and would-sell-your-soul-to-the-devil-for taste and tenderness! Besides, there are the health perks as well, chicken being a major source of lean dietary protein, fiber and Vitamin D! Chicken is the reason why I cannot turn vegetarian no matter how hard I try - you see, it’s almost an insult not to taste the wholesome flesh cooked with culinary dexterity! Besides, as KFC puts it, it’s finger lickin’ good!