From beak to cloaca: the chicken's digestion and what it demands from the feed
Feed is the biggest expense on a farm, and everything you put in the feeder has to travel through a tube barely two metres long in four to eight hours. What the bird has not digested in that time ends up in the litter, as waste and as ammonia. Knowing each step of the journey, from beak to cloaca, means knowing why feed must be fresh, why its form matters, why water and feed are inseparable, and how to read a dropping.
12 min read · 5-question quiz at the end
By Abdul Hussein ChoumanFounder of NEXTEKCI · Agnibilékrou hatchery since 2006Lesson reserved for students following the steps
This lesson is part of Level 6 — The bird: anatomy, physiology, behaviour. It opens to registered students who have passed the level 5 exam. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.
What you will learn
- ✓Describe the journey of the feed, organ by organ, and the role of each
- ✓Explain why water, the form and the freshness of the feed determine digestion
- ✓Carry out and interpret the crop fill test on young chicks
- ✓Recognise a normal dropping and the three droppings that must raise the alarm