The Sussex Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a small European landfowl featured in the Barnyard Animal Pack DLC for Planet Zoo.
Zoopedia Description[]
General[]
Population In Wild: Unknown
The Sussex chicken is a breed of the domesticated chicken (or Gallus domesticus). It is named after its place of origin, the region of Sussex on the Southeastern coast of England. Sussex chickens are a medium-sized breed with a sturdy body and a broad back. The feathers on their neck, called hackles, and feathers on the tail are darker than the rest of the body (often black), while the body plumage may be white, grey, tan, red, or brown. The head is adorned with a comb on top and wattles below the beak. Sussex chickens are sexually dimorphic. Roosters have a larger comb, longer wattles, and longer tail feathers than hens, and are also larger and heavier. A male Sussex chicken is around 50cm tall with an average weight of 4.3kg, while a female stands about 38cm tall with a weight of 3.3kg.
Research suggests that the domestication of the chicken took place around 8,000 years ago, when humans in Southeast Asia began taming red junglefowl, likely in the region of northern Thailand, southern China, or Myanmar, where the species presently occurs. The Sussex chicken was developed in England and was one of the most common breeds kept throughout the country up until the 20th century, when more specialised breeds were created. It is now mostly kept as a pet. It is common and does not require any conservation attention.
Social[]
Chickens live in flocks with a social hierarchy, a pecking order, which is established by fighting and keeps groups stable. Flocks can become quite large, if given enough space, provided that enough resources are made available for the chickens. Males may compete over access to females, though larger flocks may support several roosters.
Reproduction[]
Sussex chickens lay eggs year round, as such there is no distinct mating season. When a rooster wants to mate with a hen, he will approach her and perform a mating dance around her, often with spread wings and puffed feathers. The hen will either run away if not interested, or crouch down to allow him to mount. If there are too few females in a flock, roosters will fight over access to them.
The hen will begin laying fertilised eggs daily about a day after mating, until she has laid around 10 eggs. Often, chickens lay their eggs in nests that already contain eggs; therefore, a flock will often share a few communal nesting locations. She will then stop laying eggs and enter broodiness, meaning she will focus solely on incubating the eggs and will rarely leave the nest to take care of her needs. After 3 weeks, the chicks will begin hatching within 2 days of each other. The hen protects her chicks for about 2 months, and then they become independent from their mother.
Chickens reach sexual maturity as early as 6 months old, at which point hens can be fertilised by males and begin laying eggs. Roosters may be fertile a little later, though the exact time of their maturity is not known.
Animal Care[]
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Grains and Seeds Ā· Chopped Fruit Ā· Insects | |
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Zoopedia Fun Facts[]
- The Sussex chicken was formally recognised as a breed in 1902, although it was developed several decades earlier.
- All breeds of domestic chickens likely stem from a single domestication event of red junglefowl in Southeast Asia. Trade and subsequent breeding with other wild fowl have distributed chickens throughout the world and given rise to many distinct regional breed.
- Sussex chickens are one of the oldest chicken breeds in the United Kingdom.
- A ācoronationā variety of the Sussex chicken almost went extinct. These white chickens have blueish-grey hackles rather than black, and were developed for the coronation of Edward VIII. Their combination of colours ā white feathers, red comb, and blue hackles ā were meant to represent the colours of the Union Jack.
- Most breeds of domesticated chicken come in two size categories: standard and bantam, a smaller variety. The name stems from the Indonesian city of Bantam, where live poultry was supplied for long sea voyages. The smaller fowl sold in the city were useful for limited space on ships, and as such became known as bantam.
Gallery[]
