Your lesson in poulet shape undoubtedly started yr ago at the dining elbow room mesa . Through repast , you instruct to recognize breasts , thighs , wing and drumstick . You might have even learned about ( and eaten ) the liver and gizzards — and discovered there ’s no such part as a nugget . As the possessor ofa flock of chickens , you swiftly acquire to key out each bird ’s coxcomb , wattles , pinna andbeak .

But there ’s much more to these domestic fowl ’ bodies than meets the eye . Lessons inchicken showmanshipand the occasional peep at a domestic fowl book can expand your noesis . Why wait until then , though ? Here are five fowl parts to increase your understanding of fowl physiology . Shutterstock

Cloaca

locate at the end of a chicken ’s digestive , urinary and reproductive pamphlet , thecloacaleads to the shared external opening cognise as the volcano .

This rather cunning chamber shifts and folds depending on what bodily function call for approach to the venthole . When a volaille defecates , the sewerage folds back , sealing the oviduct . At egg - place time , the cloaca covers the excretory exit to keep faecal matter and uric back breaker from contaminate the egg .

When chickens checkmate , the rooster ’s sewer come into contact with that of the biddy . This is call a “ cloacal osculation . ”

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Read more : Chicken coupling : The Farm ’s 50 Shades of Display .

Hock and Shank

Thehockis the leg articulatio located at the stand of a bird ’s second joint . Its arrangement in the middle of the “ leg , ” and the direction it flex when chickens take the air , readily draws comparing to our own knees . However , the hock-joint is most like an ankle , connect the bird ’s thigh to its shank , which we consider the peg but in actuality is the base .

That ’s right : Our chickens stand and take the air around on their toe all day long .

Proventriculus

Translated from the Latin as “ before the cavum , ” theproventriculusis known as a chicken ’s true stomach . ( In the Gallus gallus anatomy diagram above , it ’s the oblong area connecting the harvest and the ventriculus . )

In the proventriculus , digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid are secrete and mixed in with the bird ’s intellectual nourishment to set about break it down . From here , the food journey to the gizzard , or the ventriculus , where it will be ground for digestion .

take more : Feed Your plenty Right With These Tips .

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Fluff

We end this chicken anatomy example with a mo of bagatelle , literally and figuratively . Those soft , fleecy feathering on your bird ’s bottom ? That ’s her fluff . Not all scientific term have to be rarify !

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chicken anatomy fluff

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