Poultry farming is the raising of domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese, for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food. Poultry are farmed in great numbers with chickens being the most numerous. More than 50 billion chickens are raised annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs.[1] Chickens raised for eggs are usually called layers while chickens raised for meat are often called broilers.[1] In the US, the national organization overseeing poultry production is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the UK, the national organization is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
