The
chicken is a domesticated species that arose from the red junglefowl, originally from Southeast Asia. They have also partially hybridized with other wild species of junglefowl.
Rooster and
cock are terms for adult male birds, and a younger male may be called a
cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called a
hen, and a sexually immature female is called a
pullet. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food or as pets. Traditionally, they were also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places. Chickens domesticated for meat are broilers, and for eggs, they are layers.