Chicken Stats

Use these quick facts to better understand how your chickens operate.

By Audrey Pavia

Courtesy Hemera/Thinkstock

Chicken Physiology

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

Give us your opinion on Chicken Stats.

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Great quick info. Just need to add viable egg laying years.

Galadriel, Lothlorien, ME
Posted: 8/16/2012 12:05:08 AM

Awesome info. You need a share button for Facebook!

www.ourlittlecoop.com

Emily, antioch, IL
Posted: 4/28/2012 3:17:53 PM

Good info.

Chris, Kannapolis, NC
Posted: 8/20/2011 9:47:17 PM

I was hoping for more I guess, like how they interact with each other. weather requirements, the fact that they are good for the soil and natural bug killers. These are all fact that look like they were taken off of any old site.

andrea, appleton, WI
Posted: 2/15/2011 8:16:48 PM

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