What is a Chicken? A Look at the Bird We Love to Eat Genomic studies estimated that the chicken was domesticated 8,000 years ago in Southeast Asia and spread to China and India 2,000 to 3,000 years later. The chicks imprint on the hen and subsequently follow her continually. Eggs of chickens from the high-altitude region of Tibet have special physiological adaptations that result in a higher hatching rate in…