# Big chickens!



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/chickens-four-times-bigger-than-they-used-to-be-study-1.2041561

*Chickens four times bigger than they used to be: study*



> Chickens have really beefed up their size since the 1950s.
> 
> According to a recent University of Alberta study, chickens today are four times bigger than they were 60 years ago.
> 
> ...


Thought this was an interesting little study.


----------



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

What is crazy is that I was just going to post this! So I say chickens are getting smaller.

I wonder how big a buffalo wings would be on a mega-chicken?










http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...nosaurs-feathers-animals-science-new-species/



> A newly discovered dinosaur species that paleontologists have dubbed the "chicken from hell" is among the largest feathered dinosaurs ever found in North America.
> 
> The 11-foot-long (3-meter-long), 500-pound (225-kilogram) Anzu wyliei is an oviraptorosaur-a family of two-legged, birdlike dinosaurs found in Central Asia and North America. These dinosaurs ranged in size from a few pounds to over a metric ton, according to a study published March 19 in the journal PLOS ONE.
> 
> ...


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Very interesting - I thought growth hormones were to blame.


----------



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

LincTex said:


> Very interesting - I thought growth hormones were to blame.


I had thought the same thing for a very long time - but - with that report, the farmers have been breeding better birds kind of the way that dog-breeders have been breeding stronger breeds from what would be considered "ancient stocks" of domesticated and wild dogs.

It kind of makes sense that it would happen with some of the intensive breeding programs that are used by farmers to increase their yield.


----------

