Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Chickens

Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are a domesticated avian species derived primarily from the wild red junglefowl, kept worldwide for meat and egg production and serving as an important subject in veterinary, agricultural, and developmental research. As the most numerous domestic bird, the chicken is central to po…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 7 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 12× across the literature 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are a domesticated avian species derived primarily from the wild red junglefowl, kept worldwide for meat and egg production and serving as an important subject in veterinary, agricultural, and developmental research. As the most numerous domestic bird, the chicken is central to poultry science, where the health and productivity of broiler and layer flocks depend on the control of infectious and metabolic disease. Major poultry pathogens studied in chickens include the protozoan parasite Eimeria, the cause of coccidiosis, against which therapeutic agents are evaluated in broilers; avian pathogenic Escherichia coli, including strains carrying carbapenem-resistance mechanisms relevant to antimicrobial-resistance surveillance; and respiratory mycoplasmas such as Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. synoviae, detected by molecular methods in poultry. Food-safety concerns extend to contaminants in animal-derived products, such as aflatoxins, which pose health risks along the poultry food chain, and to the role of poultry within zoonotic and emerging-disease contexts. Beyond production and disease, the chicken is a classic model in developmental and evolutionary biology, exemplified by studies of conserved developmental regulators such as Hox genes in vertebrate brain formation. As both a food-producing animal and a research organism, the chicken is examined for its husbandry, infectious-disease control, food safety, antimicrobial resistance, and contribution to comparative biology, reflecting its agricultural and scientific significance.

Research published in this journal

7 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 7 articles above have been cited 12 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Chickens, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in International Journal of Ornithology.

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.