BASC105B_Terminologies

• Broiler: Meat type chicken grown to 35 days and weighing 1.5 - 2.0 kgs
• Pullet: A young hen, especially one less than one year old
• Layer: Egg type chicken, lays eggs at 5 months old
• Fryer: Meat type chicken harvested when they reach 0.8 to 1.2 kgs
• Brooding: The process of providing supplemental heat to broiler chicks from hatching up to the time they have grown sufficient feathers to control their own body temperature
• Flock: A group of poultry, generally of the same age, that are hatched, housed, managed, and sold together as one unit
• Incubation: The process where chicks are obtained from fertile eggs, key for the development of laying pullets and broiler chickens
• Down Feather: The first covering/feather of a chick for insulation
• Plumage: Collective feathered covering of a bird for protection, insulation, adornment, and to streamline body contours
• Dubbing: Cutting of comb, wattles, or earlobes to leave the head smooth
• Quill: The hollow, horny basal part of the stem of a feather
• Debeaking: The removal of part of the top and bottom beak of a bird
• Primaries (wing): The longest feathers of the wing, growing between pinions and secondaries, hidden when the wing is folded
• Snood: Fleshy protuberance above a male turkey’s bill, sometimes covering the bill
• Caruncles: Fleshy bumps on the turkey's head and neck
• Secondaries (wing): Longer wing feathers growing from the middle section, exposed when the wing is folded under
• Web of Feet: Toes connected by skin to help when swimming
• Web of Wing: Wings formed by membranes extended between digits
• Beak: The projecting mouth of the chicken and turkey, consisting of upper and lower mandibles
• Bill: The projecting mouth part of waterfowls, consisting of upper and lower mandibles
• Oviposition: The act or process of depositing or laying eggs
• Cock: A male chicken over one year of age
• Cockerel: A young male of the domestic chicken
• Fowl: Domesticated birds kept for eating or producing eggs
• Keel Bone: The dark-looking breastbone that runs along the middle of the chicken’s activity
• Molting: The natural process of shedding and renewing feathers
• Battery Cages: A housing system used primarily for egg-laying hens
• Candling: A means of identifying infertile and early dead embryos
• Spur: A sharp horn-like protrusion that can grow on the legs of chickens, used for fighting and self-defense
• Backyard Broiler Farm: Farms that produce not more than 1,000 broilers per harvest
• Large Commercial Broiler Farm: Farms that produce 100,000 or more broilers per harvest
• Straight Run Chick: A chick that comes from a hatch that has not been sexed
• Non-Broody: A hen who will not hatch eggs
• Dual Purpose: Chickens that can be raised for both eggs and meat
• Preening: A bird’s way of grooming its feathers to keep them in the best condition
• Strutting: Walking with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others
• Pecking Order: The basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry where each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation
• Perching: Considered an integral part of chicken behavior, stimulating diversification of locomotion
• Gaggle: A group of geese