Cluck cluck cluck!

The word chicken technically just refers to the female (also called a hen). The male is called a rooster. These birds are types of poultry: birds that are kept for their eggs, meat or feathers. Other examples of poultry are geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, pheasants, peacocks, quail, ostrich and emus. Pet birds or ornamental birds (like parrots) are not called poultry.

There are two kinds of chickens: laying hens that lay eggs and broilers that are reared for meat. Roosters cannot lay eggs, so they are only destined to become meat. But they do have another job: they need to fertilise the hens, because only a fertilised egg can become a chick.