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For what purpose are we designing the chicken?

If we're designing it as a food animal, I'd maximize the meat area and try to minimize the rest. I'd reduce the amount of body fat naturally carried. If possible, I'd take a page from "Top Secret"[1] and make the bird perform photosynthesis.

If we're designing a good prey, I'd make it smaller and give it better wings for flight.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Top-Secret-John-Reynolds-Gardiner/prod...

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Is very low fat necessarily optimal? I think excessively fatty birds are a problem, but depending on use, I suspect a non-zero percentage of fat is desirable. Though I have no idea what the optimal amount would be. But in plenty of food applications, grease is good.

If anything, you'd want a chicken with skin which excretes fat so you can avoid putting butter on it, although that would make it quite a bit more difficult to catch.

self-buttering chicken makes me drool at my desk. Would that make it a cow-chicken hybrid though (assuming it's butter from cow's milk anyway)

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