Poultry Science Terminology.

Science Common Terminology for Poultry Owners

Growel Agrovet has compiled this guide to Science Common Terminology. Every poultry owner should know these terms for a proper understanding of poultry and their diseases.

A

• Aves (Avian)
  • This class of birds pertains to all species of birds, including domestic fowl.
• Auto-sexing
  • This refers to sex differentiation at day-old age based on visual characters such as colour of down (fluff) or early feathering.
• Axial Feather
  • People also call this the index feather. In addition, it is a short feather in the middle of the wing, separating primary feathers from secondary ones.

B

Term: Balanced

• Balanced
  • We apply this term to a ration or feed that contains all the known essential nutrients in proper proportions. Specifically, these proportions follow the recommendations of recognised authorities (e.g., BIS, 1992) in animal nutrition for a given set of an animal’s physiological requirements.

Term: Bantam

• Bantam
  • This is a miniature chicken. Notably, it is about one-fourth the size of a regular chicken.

Term: Battery

• Battery
  • This shelter houses most commercial egg-type birds. For example, it consists of small wire netting compartments arranged one above the other in a vertical configuration of 2-4 tiers.

Term: Biddy

• Biddy
  • This is another term for chicks or baby chickens.

Term: Blood Spots

• Blood Spots
  • These are common faults in egg contents, frequently seen among pullet eggs when they first come into lay. Specifically, the fault appears as blood clots. Moreover, the clot may attach to the yolk’s vitelline membrane, to the chalazae, or to the albumen due to a small blood vessel haemorrhage during the egg’s transit down the oviduct. Consequently, they look pinkish when candling.

Term: Broiler

• Broiler
  • People also call this a frier. Specifically, it is a young chicken of either sex, usually 6 to 7 weeks old (40-45 days), weighing 1.25 to 1.40 kg. Furthermore, it has tender meat with soft, pliable, smooth-textured skin and a flexible breastbone. Therefore, a broiler is suitable for broiling or frying.

Term: Broiling

• Broiling
  • This is cooking by applying direct heat with burning charcoal or cooking in an oven. In other words, it is also called grilling.

Term: Brooder

• Brooder
  • An appliance that supplies artificial heat to young poultry from day-old until they no longer need warmth.

Term: Brooding

• Brooding
  • This is the careful management of rearing baby chicks from day-old until they no longer need warmth. For instance, this period usually lasts 3 to 4 weeks for broilers and 6 to 7 weeks for layer-type chicks.

Term: Brooding Period

• Brooding period
  • This is the stage of life between hatch and adulthood. Typically, it usually lasts from the first eight to 10 weeks of life.

Term: Broody Hen

• Broody hen
  • A hen that wants to sit on eggs to hatch them and brood chicks.

C

Term: Cage

• Cage
  • This is a wire netting shelter for birds in the form of a compartment with an attached feeder and waterer on the outside. Notably, cages have different designs for various types and age groups of birds. For example, you can hang them from the roof or fit them on stands on the floor.

Term: Candler

• Candler
  • This is the appliance used for candling. Specifically, it is a small box fitted with a small bulb that illuminates rays of light through a focal point.

Term: Candling

• Candling
  • This is the visual examination of an egg by holding it between the eye and a light source to test the egg’s internal quality and freshness.

Term: Cannibalism

• Cannibalism
  • This is a vice (bad habit) that may occur in chickens of all ages. For example, it includes feather plucking and picking at the vent, head, wing, intestine, and toes. Additionally, causing injuries to the comb and wattle due to fighting is also cannibalism. For instance, egg eating is also one type of cannibalism.

Term: Capon

• Capon
  • This is a castrated male chicken, usually under 8 months old, that grows for a longer period than a cockerel. As a result, it is good for the table because the flesh has better flavour, finer texture, and is more tender.

Term: Chick

• Chick
  • The young one of a chicken.

Term: Chick Tooth

• Chick tooth
  • This is the sharp end of a chick’s beak used to poke a hole in the egg’s shell during hatching. In other words, people also know it as an egg tooth.

Term: Chicken

• Chicken
  • Gallus domesticus is the domestic fowl usually reared as a farm bird. Specifically, this includes improved commercial breeds and local/desi fowls.

Term: Cloaca

• Cloaca
  • The opening in chickens through which the intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts empty.

Term: Clutch

• Clutch
  • A term expressing the sequence of egg laying, i.e., the number of eggs laid on consecutive days without a gap. Notably, the length of the clutch determines the bird’s productivity.

Term: Coccidiosis

• Coccidiosis
  • A disease of fowl caused by a microscopic protozoan that causes diarrhea, unthriftiness, or death. Specifically, it occurs most frequently in chicks older than three weeks and in young adults. Moreover, chickens transmit it through their waste. However, you can prevent it with many commercially available coccidiostats that you add to the feed.

Term: Cock

• Cock
  • A mature male chicken with coarse skin, toughened and darkened meat, along with a hardened chest bone. Similarly, a male chicken over one year of age is also called an old rooster.

Term: Cockerel

• Cockerel
  • A young male fowl less than a year old. Notably, its meat is comparatively better than a cock’s regarding texture, consistency, tenderness, and chest bone structure.

Term: Comb

• Comb
  • The fleshy, red-colored growth on top of a chicken’s head.

Term: CRD

• CRD (Chronic Respiratory Disease)
  • A common disease of chickens characterized by sneezing and difficulty breathing. In practice, antibiotics usually administered in feed or drinking water commonly control it.

Term: Culling

• Culling
  • The separation and removal of unproductive or otherwise undesired birds from the flock that are not true to its type, judged on productive and physical characteristics.

D

Term: Debeaking

• Debeaking
  • The removal of 1/2 to 1/3rd of the upper beak mandible and trimming of the lower one.

Term: Down (Ruff)

• Down (Ruff)
  • The initial hairy covering of baby chicks or poults. Likewise, the fluffy part of the feather below the web and small tufts (hair) sometimes appear as faults on the shank and toes of clean-legged breeds.

Term: Drumstick

• Drumstick
  • The tibio-fibula of birds prepared for the table. Consequently, well-fleshed drumsticks are an important point for selecting breeders in broilers.

Term: Dubbing

• Dubbing
  • The process of removing or trimming the comb and wattles.

Term: Duck Terminology

• Duck: Specifically the female.
• Drake: Specifically the male.
• Duckling: The young one of a duck.
• Drakelet: A current-season male duck.
• Bill: Beak.
• Web: The flat skin between the three front toes in all waterfowl.

Term: Dusting or Dust Bath

• Dusting or dust bath
  • Common chicken behavior of bathing with dirt in a dusty, shallow depression to rid themselves of mites and parasites.

E

Term: Egg

• Egg
  • The reproductive body produced by a female bird, more or less oval in shape, enclosed in a hard, calcareous shell. Specifically, the embryo develops within it upon fertilization, and it contains nutrients for the embryo’s development.

F

Term: Fount

• Fount
  • A water fountain or watering device for chickens.

Term: Fowl

• Fowl
  • A live, mature chicken. Generally, a term usually used for cocks, hens, cockerels, and pullets.

Term: Franchise (Hatchery)

• Franchise (Hatchery)
  • An agreement between a hatchery and a poultry breeding organisation where the former sells commercial day-old chicks of the parent organisation’s branded stock.

G

Term: Gallus domesticus

• Gallus domesticus
  • The scientific name for a domestic chicken.

Term: Giblet

• Giblet
  • The edible viscera of a bird, comprising the liver, heart, and gizzard.

Term: Gizzard

• Gizzard
  • The internal chicken organ that crushes food with the help of pebbles or grit.

Term: Grower

• Grower
  • A growing bird of the layer type chicken between the ages of 9 to 20 weeks.

Term: Grower Feed

• Grower feed
  • Commercially available feed formulated for adolescent, growing chickens. Typically, people use it from nine to 20 weeks.

H

Term: Hair Cracks

• Hair Cracks
  • Fine, hair-sized cracks in the egg shell that you can only see with candling when the eggs are fresh. For example, they may develop due to thin shells, rough handling, or similar issues.

Term: Hatch

• Hatch
  • The young ones of poultry just born out of eggs in an incubator or under a broody hen.

Term: Hatching

• Hatching
  • The act of a young one coming forth from an egg.

Term: Hen

• Hen
  • A mature female chicken usually more than 11 to 12 months old. As a result, its meat is comparatively less tender than a roaster’s, and it has a non-flexible chest bone.

I

Term: Incubation

• Incubation
  • The warming of eggs at a certain temperature with specified humidity, ventilation, and turning.

Term: Incubation Period

• Incubation Period
  • The duration between setting an egg for incubation and hatching.

L

Term: Layer

• Layer
  • The adult female chicken reared for producing eggs for domestic consumption. In other words, people also know it as a laying hen.

Term: Layers

• Layers
  • Mature female chickens kept for egg production. In other words, laying hens.

Term: Laying Feed

• Laying feed
  • Commercially available feed formulated for laying hens. Typically, people give it to chickens beginning at 20 weeks of age.

M

Term: Management

• Management
  • The human factor in the production process that delimits production, accumulates information on problems, analyses information, takes decisions, acts on them, and bears responsibilities for action.

Term: Marek’s Disease

• Marek’s disease
  • A viral disease common in chickens. Fortunately, a vaccination administered immediately after chicks hatch commonly prevents it.

Term: Milking

• Milking
  • The collection of semen in poultry by applying external massage to the testes.

Term: Moulting

• Moulting
  • The natural and normal physiological process of shedding old feathers and growing new ones annually in poultry.

N

Term: Newcastle Disease

• Newcastle disease
  • A viral respiratory disease common in chickens. Specifically, Newcastle disease can spread very quickly within a flock. However, a series of vaccinations commonly prevents it.

O

Term: Offal

• Offal
  • Literally means waste. Specifically, it usually means the non-edible parts of the gut not sold as giblets, plus the head and feet.

Term: Ornithology

• Ornithology
  • The study or science of birds other than poultry.

P

Term: Picking

• Picking
  • The detrimental activity of chickens picking at each other’s feathers.

Term: Pipping

• Pipping
  • The act of chicks pecking at their shells to break out.

Term: Poult

• Poult
  • The young one of a turkey.

Term: Poultry

• Poultry
  • The domesticated species of birds reared for eggs, meat, feathers, etc. For example, this includes chickens, ducks, turkeys, quail, geese, and guinea fowl.

Term: Primary Feathers

• Primary Feathers
  • The feathers of the wings used for flying. However, they are not visible when the bird is at rest or has its wings closed.

Term: Pullet

• Pullet
  • A female chicken under one year of age.

Term: Pure Lines

• Pure Lines
  • A line whose individual members are genetically pure as a result of continued inbreeding for a long time (10-12 generations or more) or with self-fertilisation as the same type as itself.

R

Term: Random Samples Tests

• Random Samples Tests
  • An independent guide for testing the performance of poultry birds under identical conditions. In practice, this involves collecting eggs randomly from breeder flocks and testing the progeny.

Term: Roaster

• Roaster
  • A young chicken, usually 3 to 5 months old, of either sex. Notably, it has tender meat with soft, pliable, smooth-textured skin. Nevertheless, its breastbone may be somewhat less flexible than a broiler’s.

Term: Roost (Perch)

• Roost (Perch)
  • A resting place for fowl at a height, usually wooden slats or GI pipes, 5 cm², round at the top and flat at the bottom. Specifically, people place them horizontally along the length-wise sides of the house to satisfy the bird’s natural instinct to sit at a higher place. Moreover, the recommended perch space per bird is 20-25 cm, and perches should be 35-40 cm apart.

Term: Rooster

• Rooster
  • See cock.

S

Term: Scratch

• Scratch
  • A type of feed that can consist of cracked corn and different types of whole grains. Typically, people often feed it as a treat for backyard chickens and do not use it as a main food source.

Term: Secondary Feathers

• Secondary Feathers
  • The large (quill) feathers of the wing that birds do not use for flying. Specifically, they are visible when the wings are closed.

Term: Sexed Chicks

• Sexed Chicks
  • Chicks among which males and females have been separated.

Term: Sexing

• Sexing
  • The separation of males and females from a group of individuals.

Term: Sexing Error

• Sexing Error
  • The number of males designated as females during sexing due to faulty sexing.

Term: Spent Hen

• Spent Hen
  • A hen that has completed her production life. Typically, the first laying cycle is completed at 72 weeks in layers.

Term: Starter Feed

• Starter feed
  • Pre-mixed commercial food for chicks, commonly available at feed or farm stores. According to University of Florida animal science experts, starter feeds usually contain about 20 percent crude protein and the vitamins and minerals that chicks need. Moreover, these feeds are also usually medicated. Therefore, you should feed them to chicks for the first six to eight weeks of life.

Term: Straight Run Chicks

• Straight Run Chicks
  • Chicks among which sexing is not carried out. Consequently, broiler chicks are usually straight run chicks.

T

Term: Turn

• Turn
  • The act of turning incubated eggs to prevent the embryos from sticking to the shell membranes.

U

Term: Unthrifty

• Unthrifty
  • A term often used when raising chickens to describe unhealthy individuals that are failing to thrive or won’t put on weight.

W

Term: Wattles

• Wattles
  • The fleshy, red-colored growths that hang from the side of a chicken’s beak.

Duck Terminology (Summary)

Drakelet – A current-season male duck

Bill – Beak

Web – The flat skin between the three front toes in all waterfowl

Duck – Specifically the female

Drake – Specifically the male

Duckling – Young one of a duck