Chicken lovers delight in accumulating chicken trivia. Below is some information gathered from www.fairoakschickenfestival.com. People magazine has written about the 300 or so feral chickens of Fair Oaks Village, east of Sacramento along the American River. The town will have its first chicken festival in September.

• Chickens can fly, but not for long distances. The world’s record for a nonstop chicken flight is 230 yards.

• Chickens are much better on the ground than in the air. They can run at 9 mph.

• Which came first - the chicken or the egg? National Geographic magazine quotes scientists as saying that because reptiles were laying eggs thousands of years before chickens appeared, the first chicken must have come from an egg laid by a bird that was not quite a chicken. Thus, the egg came first.

• A rooster will attack anything, including humans, he thinks will harm his hens.

• There are four places in the United States with the word “chicken” in their names: Chicken, Alaska; Chicken Bristle in both Illinois and Kentucky; Chicken Town, Penn.

• There are approximately 450 million chickens in the United States.

• Fear of chickens is called alektorophobia.

• As many as nine yolks have been found in one chicken egg.

• It generally takes 24 to 26 hours for a hen to lay an egg. The record for the most eggs laid in one day by a single hen is seven.

• A chicken’s heart beats 280 to 315 times per minute.

• A chicken can have four or five toes on each foot.

• If there is not a rooster in a flock of hens, one hen often assumes the role, stops laying eggs and crows.

• The chicken is the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

• Chickens were domesticated about 8,000 years ago.

• All domestic chickens can be traced genetically to Gallus domesticus, the Red Jungle Fowl.

• An ordinance in Gainesville, Ga., prohibits eating chicken with a fork.

A glossary of terms about chickens

Beard. The feathers bunched under the beaks of such breeds as Ameraucana, Faverolle and Houdan.

Biddy. Affectionate word for a hen.

Candle. To examine the contents of an intact egg with a strong light source.

Chooks. Popular Australian term for chickens.

Clutch. 1) A batch of eggs that are hatched together, either in a nest or in an incubator (from the Old Norse word klekja, meaning to hatch), also called a “setting.” 2) All the eggs laid by a hen on consecutive days, before she skips a day and starts a new laying cycle.

Dam. Mother.

Dusting. Chickens’ thrashing around in the dirt to clean their feathers and discourage body parasites.

Grit. Sand and small pebbles eaten by a chicken and used by its gizzard to grind up grain and plant fiber.

Hackles. A rooster’s cape feathers.

Incubation period. The time it takes for the egg to hatch, normally about 21 days.

Keel. The breastbone, which resembles the keel of a boat.

Pecking order. The social rank of chickens.

Pullet. A female chicken younger than a year old.

Roost. The place where chickens spend the night; the act of resting on a roost; also called “perch.”

Rooster. A male chicken; also called a “cock.”

Scratch. 1) The habit chickens have of scraping their claws against the ground to dig up tasty things to eat. 2) Any grain fed to chickens.

Sire. Father.

Vent. The outside opening of the cloaca, through which a chicken emits eggs and droppings from separate channels.

Wattles. The two red or purplish flaps of flesh that dangle under a chicken’s chin.

Whiskers. Muffs.