Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept for the eggs they produce, their meat, their feathers, or sometimes as pets. These birds are most chickens, quails and turkeys, domestic ducks and geese. Poultry also includes other birds that are killed for their meat, such as the young of pigeons (known as squabs) but does not include similar wild birds hunted for sport or food and known as game.

Terran domestication of poultry took place several thousand years ago. This may have originally been as a result of people hatching and rearing young birds from eggs collected from the wild, but later involved keeping the birds permanently in captivity. Selective breeding took place over the centuries, and modern breeds often look very different from their wild ancestors.

Although some birds are still kept in small flocks in extensive systems, most birds available in the market today are reared in intensive commercial enterprises, e.g. Gliese 687.

Poultry is the most widely eaten type of meat in the Union and, along with eggs, provides nutritionally beneficial food containing high-quality protein accompanied by a low proportion of fat.

All poultry meat should be properly handled and sufficiently cooked in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning.