Poultry

• Cock/Rooster

  Mature male that has not been castrated
• Cockerel

  Young male chicken
• Tom

  Intact male turkey
• Hen

  Female bird
• Broody Hen


  Hen that wants to sit with eggs until they hatch and care for them
• Recycled Hen


  Hen taken out of production, forced to molt, and put back into reproduction
• Pullet

  Immature female
• Chick

  Young chicken
• Poult


  Young TURKEY of either sex
• Broilers

  Meat of any sex

  • 6-8 weeks
  • Marketed at 4 lbs
• Layers

  Oviposition

  • Process of laying eggs
  • Beak trimming
  • Removal of ⅛ - ¼ of upper beak
• What breed is this?

  Leghorn

  Northern Italy

  Most numerous breed in US

  Red wattle and earlobes

  Primarily layers

  Rarely broody

  
• What breed is this?

  New Hampshire Red

  • US
  • Developed from Rhode Island
  • Rapid growth, fast feathering, and early maturing
  • Dual purpose chicken
  • Meat and eggs

  
• What breed is this?

  Rhode Island Red

  • US
  • Deep red color (brown)
  • Dual purpose
  • Broody - most eggs strains have eliminated this

  
• What breed is this?

  Plymouth Rock

  • Also in white (White Plymouth Rock)
  • US
  • Great for homesteads
  • Hardy, docile, and broody
  • Dual purpose
  • Barred Rock

  
• What breed is this?

  Whitish Corn

  • England
  • Broad well-muscled body
  • Leg set wide
  • "Ultimate meat bird"

  
• What breed is this?

  Bantam

  • Indonesia
  • Small chicken
  • ½ to ⅔ size of regular chicken

  Mainly ornamental/pets

  Can be good in production as well

  
• What breed is this?

  Silkie

  • China
  • Fluffy plumage
  • Feels like silk/satin
  • Exceptionally broody
  • Can be used to hatch other bird's eggs
  • one of the most docile birds!

  
• What breed is this?

  Wyandotte

  • US and Canada
  • Originally named American Sebright
  • Rose combs
  • Dual purpose

  
• What breed is this?

  Australorp

  • Australia
  • Beettle-green shade of black

  
• Best egg layers

  Comet

  • Crossbred between White Rock Hen and New Hampshire Rooster
  • Rhode Island Red
  • Leg horn
• Best Broilers

  Cornish

  • And crosses
  • White Rock
• What turkey is this?

  Broad Breasted White Turkey

  • US
  • Developed from White Holland and Broad Breasted Bronze
  • Most widely used turkey in US
  • Meat
  • Must be AI

  
• Production

  Primary: Meat and eggs

  • Secondary: Feathers and down (small soft insulating feathers, 90% are imported)
  • Liver
• Growth in the industry

  Consumption

  • Production: flock health, nutritional improvements, processing efficiency.
  • Boiler Industry: efficiency of broilers
• Market classes and grades

  Grades A, B, C

  • Indicates tenderness
  • Must be displayed on package or wing of bird
  • Grade A: plump meaty bodies, clean skin, free of bruises, no broken bones, feathers, cuts and discoloration, and typically sold as retail.
  • Grade B and C: typically further processed, and if sold, retail, grade not identified
• Marketing

  Free range - Birds access to enclosed pen outside

  • Natrual - Minimal process/no additive
  • Fresh - Not been frozen
  • Hormone free - Illigal to use in US
  • Antibiotic free - None used in feed/water
  • Organic - No antibiotics/pesticieds/chemicals in feed/treatments
• Eggs

  Natural

  • Liquid
  • Flash frozen
  • Dried
  • Sizes
  • Jumbo
  • X-large
  • Large
  • Medium
  • Small
  • PeeWee
• Egg grades

  Graded by candling

  • Bright light shown through egg
  • Shows imperfection/damage
  • AA
  • A
  • B
• Egg Quality Standards

  Exterior

  • Shell cleanliness
  • Shell soundness
  • Shape
  • Interior: Albumen thickness, yolk condition, air cell size, and bloodspots
• Reproduction; pt. 1

  Sexual maturity: Pullet lays first egg; 18-22 weeks

  Period of production: 28 days; 13 periods make up year of production

  Production peak: max rate of production during 13 periods, and reaches 90-94%; 1st 8 weeks
• Reproduction; pt. 2


  1 egg produced ~ every 24 hours

  • Hens lay without rooster present
  • Cycle determine by the length of daylight (photo-period)
  • Females determine sex of chick
  • ZW and ZZ vs. XX and XY
  • Hens onlly have one mature/functioning ovary
  • Yolk develops in ovary
  • Papilla in male cloaca
  • Transfers sperm to female
  • Stored in folds of oviduct for 30 days
• Embryonic Development

  Chick develops in egg outside of hen; very rapid compared to other livestock

  Blastoderm: where embryo develops if fertilized and incubated

  Albumen: principal source of food and water for growing chick, 10% protein and 90% water, fluid that keeps chick from floating and not sticking to walls, allows embryo to breath (brings in O2 and CO2), removed kidney erections, and absorbs albumin and calcium

  Amnion: protection from mechanical shock

  Yolk sac: layer of tissue used to digest and absorb yolk

  Chorion: surrounds amnion and yolk sac

  Chalaza: supports yolk
• Hatching

  Chicks: 21 days to hatch

  Poults: 28 days to hatch
• Pipping

  Beak used to break through egg shell (on fat end of egg, with the air cell, so that way they can breath)

  "Egg tooth": Small triangular piece on tip of beak

  Eggs should be stored fat end up

  Process takes hours!

  • Process allows gain of strength and stamina
  • Can stay in incubator up to 3 days without additional food
  • Chicks close to hatching are noisy
  • First chick to pip stimulates others
  • As well as the extra movement and bumping
• Egg storage and Hatching

  Humidity needs to be increased after pipping (prevents inner membrane from dying out and suffocating chick)

  Humidity ~ 83-85%; last 3 days - 90-93%

  Temperature ~ 100 degrees Farenhiet

  Eggs turned every 3 hours

  • Back and forth and not over and over
  • Can be stored for 7-10 days
  • Cool location
• Digestion

  Beak: Food pick up, doesn't chew

  Crop: Food storage area

  Proventriculus: Digestion beings with stomach enzymes

  Gizzard: Grind of food here

  Small intestine: Absorption of nutrients, and pancreatic enzymes

  Large intestine: Majority of water absorption

  Liver: Bile production, stored in gallbladder to digest fat

  Cecum: Fermentation

  Cloca: Terminal end of digestive, urinary, and reproductive traits