Chickens!
If you've ever enjoyed a scrambled egg, a chicken nugget, or even a navy bean pie, you should thank Allah for chickens! Chickens live throughout the earth, except on the cold continent of Antarctica. They can be found on farms, in yards, or living in the wild. Chickens come in many varieties and produce eggs of many colors and sizes.
Chickens don't have teeth. Instead of chewing, they swallow their food and store it in their crop, like bees. From their crop, food moves to a special stomach called the gizzard. Chickens swallow small rocks (called grit) as they eat. Grit helps the gizzard grind food for digestion. Humans have delicate stomachs, not tough gizzards filled with stones. We can not process many of the hard foods that birds eat, like nuts. How to Eat to Live guides us to choose foods that are good for our type of stomach. We must be wise enough to put this knowledge into practice.
Chickens live in flocks (groups). Roosters (adult males) mate with hens (adult females). Hens lay up to one (1) egg per day. When a rooster has fertilized an egg, a chick (baby) will be born in 21 days. Unfertilized eggs are cooked or used for baking.
Chickens don't have teeth. Instead of chewing, they swallow their food and store it in their crop, like bees. From their crop, food moves to a special stomach called the gizzard. Chickens swallow small rocks (called grit) as they eat. Grit helps the gizzard grind food for digestion. Humans have delicate stomachs, not tough gizzards filled with stones. We can not process many of the hard foods that birds eat, like nuts. How to Eat to Live guides us to choose foods that are good for our type of stomach. We must be wise enough to put this knowledge into practice.
Chickens live in flocks (groups). Roosters (adult males) mate with hens (adult females). Hens lay up to one (1) egg per day. When a rooster has fertilized an egg, a chick (baby) will be born in 21 days. Unfertilized eggs are cooked or used for baking.
Did you know?
- Many people raise chickens in their backyards.
- Chickens are housed in coops. Sometimes they are called hen houses.
- The Honorable Elijah Muhammad advises that we may eat chickens that are raised by our standards but warns that chickens are not fit for human consumption. Chicken is not a good food for us.
- The devil has a very brutal and filthy way of raising chickens on factory farms. We should not eat those chickens because they are not raised in the manner our Messenger approved.
- Chickens are not vegetarians. They eat fruit, grains, seeds, nuts, and insects. They will eat their own droppings (waste) if they are not raised carefully.
- Chickens live an average of five (5) to eight (8) years.
- Roosters crow early in morning. If you have a rooster, you will not need an alarm clock!
- Moulting is when a chicken drops its old feathers and grows new ones. This happens about once per year.
- In the Position of Men and Women the Messenger says, "Birds show good examples of love toward each other."
- Chickens can dream.
- Chickens communicate with each other. Chicks can even communicate before they hatch!
- There are more chickens living on earth than humans.
- When some roosters see a hen they like, they dance in a circle with one wing down to impress her.
- Chickens cannot fly over long distances.
Chickens have been domesticated for many thousands of years. Chickens are used for eggs, meat, feathers, and fertilizer. Raising chickens is a good option for many people because they are inexpensive, do not need a lot of space, and their eggs can provide protein for meat-eaters and vegetarians. You can only eat a chicken once, but you can eat its eggs for many years!
For years, the chicken industry has disposed of chicken feathers as waste. All praise is due to Allah, scientists are now finding many uses for chicken feathers. They are being used to make insulation to keep houses warm, jewelry, costumes, diapers, fabric, filters, paper, and plastic. It's incredible what we can make out of feathers!
For years, the chicken industry has disposed of chicken feathers as waste. All praise is due to Allah, scientists are now finding many uses for chicken feathers. They are being used to make insulation to keep houses warm, jewelry, costumes, diapers, fabric, filters, paper, and plastic. It's incredible what we can make out of feathers!