Ruth brings up something that not everyone may understand. (hi Ruth, welcome). Most of us have started in knowing what a chicken is. "ya can't kid me, that thing is a chicken. Do they bite". After a while we realize there are different kinds of chickens. We learn that the best egg layers are not necessarily good eating and some of them are dangerous. "What do they use those pointy things on their legs for?" "Why am I bleeding?" Given enough time we can even say Appenzeller Spitzhuben "What the heck is that. Does it have wheels?" Now Ruth has brought up "Lines" or "Strains". These are chickens within a breed that have been carefully bred to maintain desired traits. This is very important in the commercial world and many strains have their own names and are protected by patient laws. Some chicken folk really get right down to it and have fancy charts that show the ancestors of their chickens back the "FIRST CHICKEN" (all bow your head please). This all started with Charles Darwin, yeah him. Chuck got interested in chickens because the local sports were making all sorts of wild claims about where chickens came from. He did some good research and came to the conclusion chickens came from Red Jungle Fowl. BTW you can still get them. He counted something like 18 different breeds in the mid 1800's , (Don't hold me to that number but it's close). Now we have hundreds of breeds with a new one every week. We have heritage chickens by folks interested in preserving the old blood lines that are disappearing in favor of more economical birds. We hve designer chickens that match the wall paper. Then there are us "back yard chicken folks" with mutts. Big secret, They are all mutts except for the Red Jungle Fowl.
Ol' George
CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
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