POULTRY - POULTRY MANIA

Spread the love

WHAT IS POULTRY?

Poultry is a common term and it indicates all the domesticated birds which are reared for the production of eggs and/or meat for the economic benefits of human beings. The most important poultry species are chicken or fowl, duck, quail, turkey, guinea fowl, peafowl, etc.

CHICKEN POULTRY MEANING

The term ‘poultry’ most often used as synonymous with chicken as it accounts for more than 90% of the total poultry population in India and our poultry industry is mainly chicken-oriented.

UNITED STATES DEFINITION OF POULTRY

In the United States, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act defines the term “poultry” to include birds that are deemed to be major animal species (chickens and turkeys). In a broader sense, the term “poultry” also encompasses avian species
that are “minor” animal species.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) defines “minor” animal species by exclusion, meaning that the “major” animal species have been identified and all others are deemed “minor. Major animal species are dogs, cats, horses, cattle, swine, chickens, and turkeys.

Therefore, examples of “minor” poultry would include ducks, geese, game birds, pigeons, and so on.

“poultry” is deemed to refer to any avian species that have the potential for its meat, eggs, offal (entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food), by-products (i.e., feathers), or manure to directly or indirectly enter or influence any portion of the human food chain.

United States of America Food and Drug Administration’s definitions of species and classes of chickens and turkeys

SPECIES	CLASS	DEFINITION
CHICKENS	Egg	from in ovo until hatching
	Layer hens	Hens that produce eggs for human consumption
	Chicks	chickens from the day of hatch until they are able to survive in ambient temperature (no longer brooded).
	Broiler Chickens (or fryers or frying chickens	Meat-type chickens normally grown to a market age of 35 to 49 days and market weights between approximately 4 and 7 lb (1.80 and 3.2 kg).
	Roasters (or roasting chickens)	Meat-type chickens grown to market weigh between approximately 6 and 9 lb (2.7 and 4.1 kg).
	Replacement Chickens	Chickens intended to become laying hens or breeding chickens
	Breeding Chicken	Sexually mature male and female chickens of any type intended for the production of fertile eggs; the eggs are not intended for human consumption.

Turkeys	Egg	from in ovo until hatching
	Layer hens	Hens that produce eggs for human consumption
	Poults	Turkeys from the day of hatch until they are able to survive in ambient temperature (no longer brooded).
	Growing Turkeys	Turkeys grown for meat purposes to a market age of approximately 17 (female) or 22 (male) weeks; may be further divided into heavy or light turkey strains
	Finishing Turkeys	Turkeys intended for meat production during the last 2 to 4 weeks of growth.
	Replacement Turkeys	Turkeys intended to become laying hens or breeding turkeys
	Breeding Turkeys	Sexually mature male or female turkeys intended to produce fertile eggs; their eggs are not intended for human food us

TAXONOMY OF POULTRY

The term taxonomy of poultry is a broader term which covers the all poultry population from ancient time to presents development of the poultry. for better understand, we divided the term POULTRY following categories-

Species

Class

breed

Variety

Strain

SPECIES

It is a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding and considered the basic unit of taxonomy.

Poultry species with scientific names

The important poultry species in Indian poultry industry are-

(i) Chicken/fowl – Callus domesticus (reared for egg and meat).

Duck – Anas platyrhynchos (mainly reared for egg and to some extent meat).

Quail- Cotumix coturnzx japonia (mainly reared for meat and also egg).

(iv) Turkey – Meleagris gallopavo (mainly reared for meat).

CLASS

It indicates a group of breeds developed in a particular geographical area.The breeds of chicken are classified into four classes-

American class

English class,

Mediterranean class

Asiatic class.

BREED

A group of birds that are similar in shape, size, and body conformation, and descendants of common ancestry is known as a breed. All the birds of a breed have more or less the same genetic makeup with a common morphological and
physiological setup. The examples of some breeds of chicken are-

White Leghorn

Rhode Island Red

New Hampshire

Australorp,

Aseel

Sussex,

VARIETY

It is the sub-division of a breed distinguished mainly by colour of plumage, type of comb, etc.For example-

Leghorn breed of chicken has 12 varieties, like white, brown, and buff-colored plumage, and single and rose type comb, etc.

STRAIN

It indicates a group of birds with some special characters within a breed or variety. It is developed by a breeder by introducing some economic characters like egg size, growth rate, feed efficiency, laying ability, mortality, etc.

Nowadaysstrain is more popular than the breed concept. for example-

Anak-2000

Hubbard

Caribro-91

Vencob,

Starbro

Shaver Brown

Hy-line layer

Hubbard classic

Isa Brown and white layer

Hubbard Efficiency plus (EP)

Ross broiler strain

Lohman Meat

Important Classes, Breeds and Varieties of Chicken/Fowl

CLASS	BREED	VARIETY
American	Rhode Island Red	Single comb, Rose comb.
	New Hampshire
	Plymouth Rock	White, Buff, Barred, Silver, penciled, Patridge, Columbian, Blue.
	Wyandotte	White, Buff, Black, Silver laced, Golden laced, Silver penciled.

English	Australorp
	Cornish	White, Buff, Dark, White laced, Red.
	Sussex	Light, Red, Speckled.
	Orpington	White, Buff, Black, Blue.

Mediterranean	Leghorn	White, Buff, Black, Silver, Red, Black-tailed, Red Columbian, Rose comb (White, Brown), Single comb (White, Black, Buff).
	Minorca	Black, White, Buff, Rose comb (Black, White).
	Ancona	Single comb, Rose comb.

Asiatic	Brahma	Light, Buff, Dark.
	Cochin	White, Buff, Black, Patridge.
	Langshan	White, Black.

Indigenous Fowl of India	Aseel	Nhurie (white), Peela (golden yellow), Khagar (black), Yakuth (black and red), Chitta (black and white), Subja (white and golden), Reza (light red).
	Kadaknath	–
	Bursa	–
	Chittagong/Malay	–
	Naked neck	–

General Characteristics Of Chicken Breed

Now we can discuss some chicken breeds with their special characteristics. every breed has distinguishing feathers which unique individually.

White Leghorn- General characteristics of this breed

Origin	Leghorn village of Italy. It is a breed of Mediterranean class.
General appearance	Small and very compact, small head with well-set comb and wattle, long back, prominent breast, tail lowered down, it is the neatest of all birds.
Plumage Color	White, evenly distributed over the entire body surface.
Standard weight	Cock 2.7 kg, Hen- 2.0 kg
Skin Color	Yellow
Earlobe Color	Yellowish white
Shank	yellow and clean
Beak color	Yellow
Eggshell color	White
Commercial Importance	Egg-type bird. All the commercial hybrid layers are derived from this breed.

Rhode Island Red (RIR)

Origin	It is originated in the Rhode Island state of America. It is a breed of American class.
General Apearence	Long rectangular body, broad and deep breast, flat back, massive look.
Plumage Color	Brownish red and well glossed. Main tail feathers and sickle feathers (in males) are black. In females, hackle (neck feather) shows slight black marking at the base.
Standard weight	Cock-3.8 kg, Hen 3.0 kg
Skin Color	Yellow
Earlobe color	Radish
Shank	Yellow and Clean
Beak Color	Black
Eggshell color	Brown
Commercial Importance	Dual purpose for egg and meat. More resistant to diseases than other exotic breeds. Used for upgrading the local/ deshi stock.

New Hampshire Chicken Breed

Origin	It is originated in New Ha1l1pshire state of America. It is a breed of American class. This breed is developed form RIR through selective breeding.
General Appearance	Less rectangular than RIR.
Plumage Color	Chestnut red. The main tail feathers are black. In females, lower neck feathers are distinctly tipped with black.
Standard Weight	Cock-3.8 kg, Hen- 3.0 kg
Skin Color	Yellow
Earlobe color	Reddish
Shank	Yellow and clean
Beak color	Yellow
Eggshell color	Brown
commercial Importance	Dual purpose for egg and meat.

Australorp chicken Breed

Origin	This breed is developed in Australia from Black Orpington. It is an English breed.
General Appearance	Very fleshy, body slopes gradually towards tail, deep body, closely feathered, long back, more upright and less massive look.
Plumage colour	Black, plumage is lustrous greenish-black in all the sections of the body.
Standard weight	Cock 3.8 kg, Hen 3.0 kg
Skin colour	White
Colour of earlobe	Red
Shank	Black or dark slate-colored, clean.
Egg shell color	Brown
Commercial importance	Dual purpose for egg and meat. They can maintain themselves in wet and heavy rainfall areas.

Light Sussex Breed

Origin	This breed is originated in the Sussex country of England. It is a light variety of Sussex breed of English class.
General Appearance	Deep body with very good fleshing quality, broad shoulder.
Plumage Color	White plumage with black-streaked feathers on the neck and tail.
Standard Weight	Cock 4.0 kg, Hen 3.0 kg
Skin color	White
Earlobe color	Red
Shank	White-colored, clean.
Beak colored	Colored
Eggshell color	brown
Commercial Importance	Meat type

HYBRID CHICKEN

Nowadays pure breeds of chicken are not generally used for the commercial production of egg or meat. First, the pure breeds are replaced by breed crosses, and now breed crosses are replaced by strain crosses.

Some important breed crosses are-

Austra – white	The Australorp male is crossed with White Leghorn female to produce this breed cross.
Rhodo – white	The Rhode Island Red male is crossed with a White Leghorn female to produce this breed cross. White plumage is dominant with occasional blackish feathers.
Sussex – hampshire	The Sussex male is crossed ‘with Hampshire female to produce this breed cross.
Red- rock	The Rhode Island Red male is crossed with Barred Plymouth Rock to produce this breed cross. The male progenies are barred and females are black.

Some important Strain crosses are-

Broiler strains	B – 77 Caribro – 91 Giriraja IBB – 83 Hubbard, Vencob, Anak – 2000, C habro, etc.
Layer strains	HH – 260 BH -78 ILl – 80 hybrid Carigolden – 92 (BV – 300, Starcross – 288 (white/brown egg)