Topic of the Week - Chicken Myths, True or False?

[bgmathteach]

My birds loved it and they are distinctly not exploded, thanks.

Are U sure???? LMAO

 

[bgmathteach]

Not exactly a myth, but - what's the difference between a crop and a breast? I consider the front-middle of a chicken to be a crop, but I know that in reality the crop isn't as big as it feels (well, at least when it's semi-empty.) Please explain this to me!

A 'crop' is actually a 'stretchy' part of the esophagus that fills like a pouch (it can become quite hard when full - like they swallowed a golf ball!) with extra food when the gizzard is full. It slowly empties into the gizzard (usually overnight or when they are 'chill'in and preening) until it is mostly or completely empty. Then it is pretty flat feeling. In older hens, it may not shrink back completely, and may 'pouch' a bit - kind of like a mother's belly shortly after giving birth. Usually, it is right of center near or above the breast.

The 'breast' on a chicken is, quite literally, where the muscles that attach to the breast bone and spread out across to the 'shoulders' (wings in chickens). So, below the neck, above the abdominal cavity, on the anterior (front) side of a chicken. Think 'chest' on a human = 'breast' on a chicken.

 

[Happy hen lover]

This remind me about when I had hound pulley lay baby little eggs for awhile. My SIL said I should sell them as "lite eggs" or " low calorie low cholesterol eggs" ! They rattled around my egg cartons thought of putting in easter grass! Lol

Hound pulley?? What the what the? How about young pullet!--_$##

 

[Noellereagan]

I know hens can crow, but they can't successfully fertilize eggs creating offspring with another hen.

I have a crowing hen. With Serama we keep them in pairs. It's her and a roo. They both crow. She even does the roo dance towards him and does the food call roosters do to hens or the way hens call babies. But she does it daily to call him to the food. She's teeny tiny. Only grams. She has a huge comb for a hen. She has laid eggs and hatched babies. I have this on video more than once. It's an obvious crow.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I have a crowing hen. With Serama we keep them in pairs. It's her and a roo. They both crow. She even does the roo dance towards him and does the food call roosters do to hens or the way hens call babies. But she does it daily to call him to the food. She's teeny tiny. Only grams. She has a huge comb for a hen. She has laid eggs and hatched babies. I have this on video more than once. It's an obvious crow.

So they are a modern chicken pair, they share chicken duties.

 

[PLW]

Hi Blooie! I appreciate the response. As I mentioned, I don't see feathering rate or poultry climate acclamation as solely genetically-triggered events. Even us humans have adaptability built into our bodies. For example, that's one reason people tan or get darker when they are exposed to the sun. Increased pigmentation is our body's way of adapting to an environmental change so that we can flourish and survive.

However, my issue with the way some people attribute the feathering rate of chickens is where I have concern. The slow-feathering (SF) phenotype in chickens is controlled a dominant sex-linked gene (K) with (k+) being the fast-feathering (FF) phenotype. Males with the genotypes (K, K) and (K, k+) will express the SF phenotype; whereas, males with the recessive (k+, k+) will express the FF phenotype. For females it's a bit more simple: (K, -) for SF, and (k+, -) for FF. Those genotypes are the overarching controlling factors of chicken feathering rates.

As for anecdotal accounts, I always weight them with a bit of caution and skepticism before really believing them. I'm much more prone to evaluate scientific research that has been vetted through the scientific method. In fact, I don't always trust my own casual observations. Let me give you an example:

I used to play a lot of online backgammon at a particular website. Although the website developer claimed to use a fair pseudo-generator to generate dice rolls randomly, it always seemed as if double sixes and double aces appeared beyond their expected probability frequency rate. In the website chat room this was brought up, and others made mention of observing the same phenomena. Once the group-think ball got rolling, someone eventually told the developer that the pseudo-generator was not working properly. Things got very testy to say the least.

Anyway, the data from all of the dice rolls from all of the backgammon games played at the website over the years was still available, so one very smart backgammon player downloaded all of the dice rolls and did a frequency analysis. Come to find out, the pseudo-generator was nearly spot on. Only the frequency of double 4s was more that what it should have been, but even that frequency variation was not significantly different from what was expected.

What I learned from that experience is that group think can be a powerful influence in the face of truth, and I also learned that I could not trust even my own anecdotal observations. So for me, empirical evidence is very important, and using it in an honest scientific study is how to get to the truth.

BTW, the smart guy who did the analysis still had some detractors who insisted that his analysis must be wrong because they had seen the double-six anomaly with their own eyes. The smart guy posted that they were being superstitious, and then moderators had to intervene. I find raising chickens so much more relaxing than playing backgammon these days.

My former pro poker player spouse enjoyed this post

 

[PLW]

"Anectotal"! THAT'S the word I was looking for!! My old brain could not come up with that word when I was typing to save my hiney!! Thanks!

My friends & I say anecdata

 

[PLW]

Rice at weddings.
Don't throw rice at weddings, birds will eat it and their insides will swell up and they will die!
Some people take this a step further and say no rice to chickens either for the same reason.
Folks, birds can regurgitate. They will not die from having too much swollen food inside them, they will just throw it back up. Same with throwing pepcids or tums at seagulls. There will be no exploding birds.
I had 15lbs of rice get infested with house moths. My birds loved it and they are distinctly not exploded, thanks.

Distinctly not exploded thanks for that

 

[PLW]

Here's a popular myth that is bound to raise a few hackles: Poultry heat lamps are dangerous and unhealthy for chicks in the brooder.

This one is really interesting to me. I've kept reptiles with heat lamps for over 30 years & have never heard of anyone having a fire. I do use quality equipment. Reading about folks checking brooders throughout the night every night blew my mind.

 

[PLW]

I've

One that I’ve heard- chickens will grow based on how large their living space is.

So if you have your chicks in a small container expect tiny chicks!

I've heard that a million times about reptiles & fish! Nope! Eventually natural selection will change the locals of some species to best fit the environment but it takes generations.