The Term Poultry

The term “poultry” refers to domesticated birds raised for their meat. Various species of poultry include chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowls, and pigeons (squabs). Game birds such as pheasant, wild duck, and quail are also consumed, but few of them reach the marketplace. Not readily available in all parts of the country yet, but starting to be seen, are emu and ostriches, bred for their lower-fat meat.

Humans have been domesticating chickens for over 4,000 years and have found them especially useful, since both their meat and their eggs are consumed. Chicken and turkey continue to increase in popularity at the expense of beef. In the past 40 years, production of broilers (young chickens) in the United States has increased from about 34 million to over 6 billion.