This will touch on chickens, but there is so much information about them that this only scratches the surface. This is only taking a look at the most basic chicken information that you need to get started.

First and foremost, you have two main types of chickens: heritage and production.

Heritage chickens are the old style chickens, the old breeds, that were either originally bred from the Jungle Fowl or from a combination of the original breeds that were bred from Jungle Fowl. These chickens are what people think of when they think of a 'chicken'. They chase bugs, fight among themselves, take dirt baths, are good at predator evasion, are very hardy, have medium to excellent foraging abilities, are duel purpose (they're good layers and get big enough for the dinner table), can be trained pretty quickly, and are far smarter than anyone wants to admit (30+ vocalizations have been documented and I've IDed a minimum of two more from my birds, aka, they talk to each other and they talk to you). Two of the most popular heritage birds are Heritage Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons. I also have Barnevelders (a heritage breed from Holland). A few other popular heritage breeds are Australorps (Australian Orpingtons), Silkies (best known for their hair-like feathers), and the Jersey Giant (the largest of all duel purpose breeds).

Production chicks are the newer breeds that sacrificed EVERYTHING for pure production. These birds are pretty stupid compared to heritage breeds (poor instincts, but can learn if you mix them) and they are never duel purpose. The two most common production breeds are the Cornish Rock, which goes by a few different names, including 'Frankenchicken', because they grow so fast they have to be culled by 8-10 weeks to prevent them from dying on their own from heart issues (chicken breasts you buy in the store all came from ~8 week old Cornish Rocks), and the Leghorn, which is a tiny bird (4.5 lbs) that lays an extra large egg, and they are also prone to health issues due to how often they lay such big eggs. Another very popular production breed are the ISA Browns, which are a production chicken that was bred from Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites but are sex-linked, aka, you can tell the male/female chicks apart at hatch via coloration. There's also a Production Rhode Island Red that is smaller than the Heritage RIR that lays bigger eggs but doesn't have enough body weight to be duel purpose. There's a few other production chickens, but I stay away from them in general. As stated before, they're not as smart, which makes them a bit more aggressive, they have far more health issues, and they lack many of the other heritage characteristics such as being able to forage for themselves. All this means that they're far harder to care for than their heritage cousins.

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