says a female ostrich is a hen says a female emu is a hen what we call chicken eggs are actualy fowl eggs what we call chicken for eating is the meat or whole body of young fowl any of various birds of the order galliformes the common widely domesticated chook gallus gallus are in the category of fowl so if you really want to refer to the common chicken stock you might say gallus gallus or perhaps the breed of gallus gallus as per there are a lot of breeds