ANATOMY OF CHICKENS

TERMINOLOGY
When reading the Breed Standard for any breed, it will give specific descriptions of
the important areas for each breed, variety and gender if there are differences
between them. Some varieties will be the same for both sexes and noted as such
(for example, solid coloured birds).

THE MAJOR EXTERNAL PARTS OF A CHICKEN:

To be able to work with chickens, a breeder must know the various parts of a
chicken and their functions, and know the difference between male and female
chickens.
Beak The chickens beak serves three functions. First, it is the chickens mouth.
Second, it is used for fighting and protection. And third, it functions as the teeth of
the chicken, enabling the bird to break grass, fruit and other foods into pieces small
enough to swallow.
Comb and wattles It is believed that the comb and wattles of chickens serve to
cool their blood.
Ear lobes The ear lobes of chickens serve hearing and other ear functions.
Eyes The eyeball of a chicken is stationary; thus, a chicken must move its head to
vary the range of vision.
Feathers Feathers provide insulation and buffer extremes of heat and cold.
Wings Chickens cannot fly very well. They can flap their wings sufficiently to raise
themselves about three meters (3m) off the ground.
Tail and tail feathers The tail is used for balance while walking and, in flying, as a
rudder for up and down and side to side motion.
Feet and nails In addition to walking, feet and claws are used in fighting (for
protection) and in finding food.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE CHICKENS THAT SHOULD HELP IN

IDENTIFICATION:
Size The male will grow taller and usually weighs between 0.5 kg and 1 kg more
than females of the same age upon reaching maturity. A male of one breed may
weigh less than the female of another breed. This greater size is not apparent until
the chicken attains four weeks of age. At one day old there is no difference at all
between male and female chicks.

Comb and spurs The comb and wattles of the male will become much larger than
the comb and wattles of a female. On the female, spurs hardly develop at all when
compared to the male.
Vocal expressions Everyone knows that a rooster crows while a hen doesnt. What
is not generally known is that roosters crow intermittently all day long, not just in
the morning.
Feathers Adult males have distinguishably different feathers from those of adult
females. The most distinguishable are the tail feathers which are long and stringy
on the male. Hackle and neck feathers of males have pointed ends, whereas those
of females have rounder ends. In addition, males have sickle feathers in their tails
and hackle feathers on their backs which and females do not have.

THE EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF A CHICKEN:

EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF A CHICKEN

1

Muffing

14

Keel

27

Face

15

Thigh

28

Primary flights
Wing bay

Ear-lobe

16

Hock joint

29

Wing bar

Ear

17

Shank

30

Wing covert

Crest

18

Spur

31

Shoulder

Eye

19

Foot

32

Wing bow

Comb

20

Middle toe

33

Saddle hackle

Beak

21

Third toe

34

Tail covert

Wattles

22

Fourth toe

35

Side Hangers

10

Beard

23

Fifth toe

36

Tail sickle

11

Neck

24

Footings

37

Main tail

12

Neck hackle

25

Vulture hock

38

Back

13

Breast

26

Abdomen

SKELETON
All animals have a skeleton to protect their internal organs and tissue and allow
them to stand up straight. The avian skeletal system looks similar to those of their
mammalian counterparts, but there are some important differences. Many of these
differences relate to the birds need to be light enough to fly while still maintaining
the needed body support.
Some important differences between the skeletons of birds and mammals are listed
below:
Some of vertebral sections are fused together to provide the rigidity required for
flight.
The Sternum provides a large surface area for the strong attachment of the main
flight muscles.
The size of the head has been reduced significantly when compared to other
species. A large head would make flying more difficult.
The tail has been reduced to a very short section of fused bones called the
pygostyle (sometimes referred to as the Parsons nose or the Popes nose).
The ribs have been modified by the inclusion of the uncinate process which refers to
overlying flaps projecting off the ribs connecting ribs to the ones beside them. This
gives strength to the rib cage so that it wont collapse during flight.

The neck is quite long in most species to enable the bird to protect the delicate
tissues of the brain from too much jarring when landing the flexibility of the neck
acts as a shock absorber.
The chicken bones are lighter because some bones in the body have air sacs. Some
other bones, like those in the skull have spaces inside.
Another difference between chicken and mammal bones is that chicken bones have
more minerals. Some of the minerals that chicken bones are rich with are calcium
and phosphate. Mammal bones contain those minerals as well, but not as much as
in chickens.

THE INTERNAL ANATOMY OF A CHICKEN:

0Oo
THE SKELETON OF A CHICKEN
1

Lacrimal

Radius

17

Metatarsus

Occipital

10

Scapula

18

Atlas

11

Ilium

19

Corucoid

Epistrophus

12

Pygostyle

20

Clavicle

Humerus

13

Ischium

21

Quadrate

Phalanges

14

Pubis

22

Mandible

Metacarps

15

Femur

23

Incisive

Ulna

16

Tibia

24

Nasal

Fibula

THE SKELETON OF A CHICKEN

1

Thigh or Upper Thigh

(Femur)

Hock Joint

Thigh Joint

Shank (Tarso-Metatarsus)

Keel or Breast Bone

Lateral Processes of Sternum

Lower Thigh (Tibia)

Pubic Bones

Hock Joint

10

Uropigium (Coccyx)

CHICKEN BONES

Like most other bird varieties, chickens have a light skeleton, consisting of hollow
bones. Fortunately broken bones are, very rare in chickens, for these hollow bones
rarely heal.

SKULL
The skull of the chicken consists of many small bones and the face is made up of
the nasal and the premaxillary bone. The largest bones in a chickens face are called
frontal-, parietal- and temporal bones. They make up the cranium which is the back
of the chicken head. There is also a jaw bone which is called a mandible.

BREAST
One of the largest bones is the breast bone or sternum. It is so large that it covers
more than half of the body cavity. The sternum has a carina, which is a large kneel.
Carina is used to attach the wings so that the bird can fly. Chickens are not good
flyers and usually can fly only a very short distance. This is why their carina is not
as large as in the flying birds. The breast bone is attached to the ribs. Chicken have
five or six pairs of ribs and these bones protect the organs inside. A chickens shape
is very much determined by its breast bone. Depending on the breed, the breast
muscles are either normally or highly developed. The build can be correspondingly
either broader or more delicate. Also the breastbones length varies from breed to
breed. For example, the typical build of the Old English Game Bantam is the result
of a short breastbone.

BACKBONE
Chickens are vertebrates. Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone. The
chicken backbone starts with the atlas. This is the small bone on top of the spine.
This bone is important because it allows chickens to move their heads. Chickens
usually have about 20 vertebrae, but this depends on the breed. The spine ends
with a cervical bone.

THE WISHBONE
The wish bone is the slingshot looking bone and is sometimes pulled apart and a
person who gets a larger part makes a wish. The wishbone is actually a clavical or
collar bone. It connects the shoulders of a chicken. It also makes an opening so that
digestive and respiratory tract can pass into the chickens body.

NECK

The neck aid in the reaching of food located on the ground. The rigid body would
make this simple activity more difficult without the modification aid of the
adjustment of the centre of gravity which is needed when the bird changes from the
upright position of walking or perching or to the more horizontal position of flight.
The bones of birds are also lighter in weight than those of their mammalian
counterparts. A chicken has fourteen neck vertebra that are small and highly
flexible. Chickens can turn their heads 180 degrees and they are also able to move
it vertically and horizontally.

PNEUMATIC BONES
Some of the bones are hollow and actually act as part of the avian respiratory
system. They are called pneumatic bones (pronounced New-Matic) and include the
skull, humerus, clavicle, keel (sternum), pelvic girdle, and the lumbar and sacral
vertebrate.

MEDULLARY BONES.
Another important type of bone in the avian skeleton is medullary (pronounced
Med-U-Larry) bones. These include the tibia, femur, pubic bone, ribs, ulna, toes and
scapula. Medullary bones are an important source of calcium when hens are laying
eggs. Egg shells are primarily made of calcium and a hen mobilizes 47% of her body
calcium to make an egg shell. When in production, a commercial-type laying hen
cannot obtain enough dietary calcium for daily egg production. Without medullary
bone to draw calcium from, the egg shells would be very thin and weak.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
Chickens do not have stomachs like other animals, but have a different means of
food storage and digestion. First the food enters the beak (mouth) and goes halfway
down the esophagus (throat) to a storage area called a crop where it is moistened
and thus softened. Food then continues down the remainder of the esophagus and
enters what is called the proventriculous, or true stomach. The proventriculous
secretes digestive juices (enzymes and acids), and is directly attached to the
gizzard which grinds food up into smaller pieces. Food leaving the gizzard enters the
small intestine where nutrients are picked up by blood vessels and circulated
throughout the chickens body. Food particles then move into the large intestine,
which has two blind or dead end attachments called ceca. (The functions of the
ceca are not understood fully.) After digestion in both intestines, the waste materials
including both urine and stools are excreted through one opening called the vent.
The excreted material is called faeces.

THE HEART AND LUNGS

The heart and lungs of a chicken function in the same way as these of most other
animals. Air enters through the nostrils then goes down a tube called the trachea,
located right beside the esophagus. Both tubes are located on the underside of the
neck when the chicken is standing. The entrance point to this air tube is located at
the back of the beak and is called the larynx. The trachea looks like a thin plastic
tube with rings around it. This ends at a Y-shaped junction and two bronchial tubes
lead off to the right and left lungs. The trachea and bronchial tubes look like semitransparent plastic tubes. The lungs are segmented and located between the rib
bones leading from either side of the back bones of the chicken. Going further back
towards the tail, you find the reproductive system, then, closest to the tail, there are
pockets in a larger bone which contain the kidneys. If normal, the kidneys are
brownish red in colour.
The first thing visible in an opened slaughtered chicken while lying on its back is the
liver which is divided into two parts. The liver is just in front of the soft skin above
the vent. There is often yellow or white fat between the skin and the liver. The
normal liver is the same or slightly lighter colour than the typical animal liver found
in the marketplace. Under and in front of the liver is a small sac of green fluid called
the gall bladder. Under the liver and the intestines above the kidneys, is a small
ball-shaped organ called the spleen. The spleen is lighter in colour than the kidneys.

REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
If the female adult chicken is laying eggs a mass of egg yolks ranging in size from
microscopic to almost 3cm in size would be found at the rear of the lungs and along
the back the ovary. The smaller ones will be opaque. Egg yolks enter a tube through
what is called the funnel. The funnel leads to the oviduct through which the yolk
passes and in which the egg white, then the shell, is formed, a process which takes
about 24 hours. Upon mating with a rooster, sperm passes through the oviduct
system in the opposite direction. Fertilization takes place at the ovary end. Sperm
may stay viable for up to 4 weeks and are stored in the oviduct.

THE CROP
You can feel the crop on the chest of the bird more down to one side. It is a sack-like
extension of the oesophagus. It is a muscular organ that has some small pebbles
collected by the hen to help make slurry of the food she eats. Water is added and
the food is ground. This process takes longer if the animal has been fed wheat or
corn instead of pellets.

THE STOMACH
Absorption of sugars, the beginnings of protein digestion, all take place in the
stomach or proventriculus. Digestive enzymes are secreted into the stomach where
the first stage of chemical breakdown occurs. Water is absorbed in the stomach and

some amino acids, but the majority of the food absorption takes place in the
intestines.

SMALL INTESTINE
The duodenum acts as the entry for the bile duct from the liver and the pancreas.
Both organs have much the same function as in humans. Bile emulsifies fats as well
as being a waste product from the liver. The pancreas provides a cocktail of
enzymes that acts directly on food and also provides insulin that moderates chicken
metabolism.

LARGE INTESTINE
This part of the chickens anatomy is punctuated by two blind sacs called caeca. In
a way these are similar to the human appendix, mostly on account of their apparent
lack of use. I dare say they will be found to have some use in the hen, even if it is a
place of incubation of the bacteria that populate the rest of the lower gut. The large
intestine is packed with bacteria that break down cellulose and the whole length of
this part of the intestine reabsorbs water. Disease with this part of the animal brings
with it the danger of dehydration.

CLOACA
This is the sewer of the hen, and the word cloaca literally means sewer. It is a
common space which both the oviduct and the intestine empty into, but in such a
way that the eggs are not contaminated by the birds waste. As the egg is pushed
out of the ovary and along its duct its presence pushes closed to the large intestine
and the cloaca becomes all oviduct. When the egg is not there, the chickens own
waste forces the oviduct portion of the cloaca shut, thus making it impossible for
waste materials to enter the ovaries or their ducts. The final part of the digestive
system is called the vent, which might refer to as the animals bottom. It is a
sphincter, which means it is made as a closable muscle.

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

All birds have almost identical circulatory systems as in humans. They have the
same, four-chambered heart, which completely separates oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood, essentially two circulatory systems with a single pump
working them together. The chickens heart is very efficient and consists of two atria
at the top and two ventricles at the bottom. The system of arteries and veins is
largely the same.

LIVER
Of course these wonderful little organs, actually the largest in the hens body, are so
very tasty. Where would we be without pate? However, the liver is a very important
organ for the living bird too, being the chemical factory that metabolises most of
the important substances a bird needs. The waste product of all this is called bile,
which has a function in digestion.

KIDNEYS
Hens do have kidneys, even though they dont have a bladder. They drain into an
area in the cloaca called the urodeum. Uric acid forms in the liver and is removed
from the blood by the kidneys and this is vented out in the cloaca via the vent.