Poultry Dictionary -- Let's help out the New Guys

[Chris09]

Brooder:
The equipment used to provide supplementary warmth during the early stages of the chickens’ life. The energy used may come from electricity, gas, oil or from other sources.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Brooding:
The period of the first weeks of a chicken’s life when it requires a very high standard of care including the provision of special diets and supplementary warmth.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Broody:
The instinct controlled by maternal hormones that causes the female to want to set on eggs for hatching and to care for the chickens that hatch


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Cock:
A male that has finished one seasons as a breeder. Usually refers to older birds.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Cockerel:
A young male from day old to the end of it’s first year of breeding. Often used to refer to young males up to 6 months of age.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Hen:
A female after the first moult. It is often used to describe females after they have started to lay.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Pullet:
A female in her first laying season. Often used to refer to young females post brooding to point of lay.


Chris

 

[Chris09]

Purebred:
A group of birds having the same origin, and able to reproduce their own likeness in their offspring. Purebred birds have the same genotype, but all birds with the same genotype are not necessarily purebreds.


Chris

 

[Narragansett]

Quote:
You're reinventing the wheel. This has already been done. Both the APA and the ABA have extensive glossaries in their Standards. Some of the definitions that are given here are incomplete or questionable. The parent clubs have the correct answers.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Quote:
I know what you mean! It took me months before I felt I even understood half of them. And many of them I just have to guess at.

I'll add what I know (mostly from my own flock!):

BLRW - blue laced red wyandotte
BO - buff orpington
SLW - silver laced wyandotte
GLW - gold laced wyandotte
SPW - silver penciled wyandotte
BA - I have seen applied to blue andalusians and black australorpes
SS - speckled sussex
EE - easter egger
BR - barred rock

and there's some I am not 100% sure of, so please correct me if I am wrong:

BCM - black copper marans
BBS - blue/black/splash (coloring of birds with the blue gene which has variable outcomes)
SF - salmon favoroles
LF - large fowl ie. not a bantam
RIR - rhode island red
RIW - rhode island white
WL - white leghorn
NHR - new hampshire red
BBW - broad breasted white turkey

Gosh, I know there are more. I feel like I am taking a quiz!