Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Kill cone:
A cone-shaped cylinder tube, typically made out of plastic or steel, to
place chickens in upside down for slaughter and to drain the blood from their bod-
ies after they have been killed
Lacing:
The markings on a chicken's feathers. This can sometimes help identify
the breed. It is a contrasting color on the edge of a feather.
Layer:
A hen proficient in laying eggs
Mandibles:
The upper and lower part of a beak
Marek's disease:
A highly contagious viral neoplastic disease in chickens
Mash:
Finely ground food usually used to feed baby chicks
Newcastle's disease:
Avian distemper affecting the respiratory system
Middle albumen:
The thick, white layer of dense matter known as the egg white in-
side of an egg
Molt:
The shedding of feathers on a bird. It usually takes 3 months to complete the
process, and it occurs once a year. Hens do not lay eggs during this time.
Mottled:
Markings on a chicken's coat. The feather's tips or spots on the feather
have a contrasting color, typically black with a white tip.
Nest boxes:
An area in the coop that hens can lay eggs and sit on them until they
hatch if they are fertilized
Nest egg:
A fake egg or egg replacement to fool a hen into thinking she has laid an
egg to induce egg laying in the bird
Nucleus of pander:
The plug of whitish yolk inside the yellow yolk that is purely for
nutritional value
Ovum:
A hen's egg cell
Pasted vent:
A condition in which a chick or chicken's vent is clogged with feces;
more common in baby chicks than chickens
Pecking order:
The social hierarchy in a flock of chickens
Pencil:
Markings on a chicken's coat
Pellet:
Food for birds, compressed into a long, cylinder shape
Pinfeather:
Sometimes called a “blood feather.” It is a developing feather on a bird.
It can be a new feather during infancy or a replacement feather during molting.
Plucker:
A piece of equipment that removes feathers from a dead chicken, turkey,
duck, or other poultry; can be commercial and automated or homemade
