Poultry

Poultry were domesticated by man thousands of years ago, and have been a continuously evolving and expanding food source ever since. Chickens are the most widely kept form of poultry, with over 50 billions chickens being raised globally each year. Depending on what definition is being adhered to, the term "poultry" can refer to any number of birds being raised for meat, eggs, feathers, or hides. There is some crossover between birds that have become domesticated, and those that are still hunted as wild game. The information in this section is a reference to birds where their human consumption comes from a majority of domesticated stock raised from poultry farming.