Chicken Head Anatomy

Chickens do not have external ears as humans do. Unlike mammals birds lack a diaphragm to inflate and deflate the lungs.

Slaughter Inspection Training Poultry Anatomy

The chickens comb at the very top of the chickens head is a fleshy red area.

Chicken head anatomy. One of the most prominent features on a chickens head is the comb. A comb is a fleshy growth or crest on the top of the head of gallinaceous birds such as turkeys pheasants and domestic chickens. The most significant parts of a chickens head are the comb the eyes and ears the beak and nostrils and the wattles and the neck.

A chickens head has several parts as shown in figure 7. The chicken beak is a birds version of a jaw where some animals have jawbones and teeth to do the heavy lifting when it comes to using this body part chickens have a more lightweight beak. The ears are just openings into the ear canal and each is protected.

Chicken anatomy is a huge subject to cover in one article so we have really pared it down to the basics for ease of understanding. Figure 8 shows different types of combs. Respiratory system vastly different than the mammalian respiratory system.

A chickens comb and wattles are red soft and warm. Gas exchange occurs in the avian lung and the air sacs function to move air in and out of the respiratory system. Instead birds have nine air sacs located in the neck region and body cavity that function to inflate the lungs.

The skull of a chicken contains two massive openings for the eyes that allow the brain to be shoved upwards into the skull at an angle of. Also if your flock keeps getting a disease that affects the. Part of the reason that a chicken can live without its head has to do with its skeletal anatomy according to dr.

Its alternative name cockscomb with several spelling variations reflects that combs are generally larger on males than on females a male gallinaceous bird is called a cock. Kuenzel a poultry physiologist and neurobiologist at the university of arkansas. Part of raising chickens is understanding chicken anatomy.

Following is a closer look at each of these parts from the head down. Understanding what part of the body your chickens are having problems with can help you determine what disease the bird might have. Read on for a quick course in chicken head anatomy and never confuse your chickens facial features again.

References provided will give you greater in depth knowledge if you want to delve further into chicken anatomy. It can help you determine what may be wrong if your chickens become sick. Table of contents digestion female reproduction precocial versus altricial sex reversal in chickens poultry genetics sexing day old.

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