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A dual-purpose chicken is a type of chicken that may be used in the production of both eggs and meat. [42] In the past, many chicken breeds were selected for both functions. However, since the advent of laying and meat hybrids, industrial chicken breeding has made a sharp distinction between chickens with either function, [ 43 ] so that certain ...
Originally, the primary value in poultry keeping was eggs, and meat was considered a byproduct of egg production. [2] A United States Department of the Interior census in 1840 found American farmers had a total combined poultry flock valued at approximately $12 million ($366 million in today's dollars).
Chicken and duck eggs on sale in Hong Kong. Poultry is the second most widely eaten type of meat in the world, accounting for about 30% of total meat production worldwide compared to pork at 38%. Sixteen billion birds are raised annually for consumption, more than half of these in industrialised, factory-like production units. [58]
In the United States alone, more than 8 billion chickens are slaughtered each year for meat, [77] and more than 300 million chickens are reared for egg production. [78] The vast majority of poultry is raised in factory farms. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74% of the world's poultry meat and 68% of eggs are produced this way. [79]
Healthy poultry require a sufficient amount of protein and carbohydrates, along with the necessary vitamins, dietary minerals, and an adequate supply of water. [2] Lactose-fermentation of feed can aid in supplying vitamins and minerals to poultry. [3] Egg laying hens require 4 grams per day of calcium of which 2 grams are used in the egg.
Egg producers carefully consider cultural issues, as well as commercial ones, when selecting the breed or breeds of chickens used for production, as egg color varies between breeds. [116] Among producers and breeders, brown eggs often are referred to as "tinted", while the speckled eggs preferred by some consumers often are referred to as being ...
Since 2003, the live chicken price is determined by a “live price formula” established by the Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal that includes the price of chicks, feed and producer margin. [1] Broiler hatching egg production consists of 270 producers generating about $188.3 million in 2005.
Chickens in multiple-occupancy battery cages. Battery cages are a housing system used by factory farms for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artillery battery. Although the term is usually applied to ...