Significance, protection and domestication of birds.

The meaning of birds

During the feeding period, many birds regulate the number of insects and small rodents, restrain the increase in the number of insect pests of agricultural crops and forests, carriers of causative agents of dangerous diseases of animals and humans. The great tit, for example, eats such a mass of insects in a day, which is equal to the mass of its body. During the rearing period, she flies to the nest with food 350–400 times a day.

Birds of prey hunt small rodents and regulate their numbers.

Birds participate in pollination of plants, distribution of fruits and seeds. They eat weed seeds, peck juicy fruits of cherries, mountain ash, blueberries, raspberries and other plants. The seeds of these plants are protected by dense membranes, they are not digested in the digestive organs of birds and remain viable. Birds constantly move and carry seeds with droppings.

Eating acorns, the jay stores them for the winter, hiding them in the forest litter, often taking the acorns away from the oak. However, she does not always eat her reserves, and oaks grow from the surviving acorns in new places.

Birds (and the eggs they lay) are a source of food for animals and humans; down of birds serves as a heater for clothing and household items.

Bird protection

Every person can and should take care of birds. The most affordable ways to take care of the preservation of birds in nature are to make and hang artificial nests: nest boxes, crabs, titmouses, in which titmice, flycatchers, redstarts, swifts and other birds settle, as well as planting hedges of thorny bushes around the gardens.

In winter, especially in severe frosts, birds may not have enough food. By arranging feeders, we save birds from hunger and help them get through a difficult time.

Domestication of birds

Of all the birds, people have tamed and domesticated a small number of species, and above all to get meat, eggs, feathers and down.

People have tamed the first birds long ago. In ancient India, wild bank hens were domesticated. A wild turkey from the forests of North America was domesticated by Mexican Indians. The breeds of domestic ducks originate from the mallard duck, and the goose breeds from the gray goose and dry-footed goose, which were domesticated in China, Europe and Ancient Egypt.

Chickens are in the first place in poultry breeding. Domestic chickens are early maturing, have tender, tasty meat, and lay a lot of eggs (up to 200-300 eggs per year).
Currently, there are many breeds of chickens. According to their economic value, they are usually divided into egg, meat and general use (mixed productivity chickens).

Chickens are raised in poultry farms. The eggs are placed in automated incubators. They maintain the temperature and humidity necessary for the normal development of embryos. After three weeks, the eggs hatch into chickens.