Interesting Facts About Chickens and Other Poultry
Squab / pigeon meat for sale. Whole, NY Dressed and Semi-Boneless. No antibiotics or hormones. Common pheasant, widely introduced and hunted as game Game or quarry is any animal hunted for food, and the meat of those animals. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in.
Game seasons We often get asked about game seasons and what is available when. It’s well known that most game is only available during the autumn and winter but why and what are the dates. The ‘closed season’ when shooting is not allowed is there to protect animals when they’re breeding and rearing their young.
Reading Time: 6minutes
Whether you are new to poultry farming or you already have years of experience under your belt, you have probably at some point come across a poultry farming term that’s unfamiliar. Between the technical industry terms and the slang terms that have become common practice, there are a lot of poultry farming terms to wade through when getting to know your birds.
Many poultry farming terms are very similar and may only differentiate the subject in a small way. For instance, cock and cockerel sound similar but they are used very specifically in regards to chickens. A cock is an adult male chicken, while a cockerel is an immature male chicken. Then in some cases, the terms are the same across several species. The term hen refers to the adult female chicken, turkey, duck, and pigeon. So whether you just want to sound like a seasoned poultry farming enthusiast in conversation or you’re looking for a way to get the upper hand in the science and nature category for your next game of Trivial Pursuit, the following guide of the most common poultry farming terms should help. Plus you can test your knowledge after you’re done.
Let’s start with chickens. In many conversations with the uninitiated, I have had to explain that the term chicken does not specifically refer to the female of this poultry species. In fact, chicken (Gallus domesticus) is defined as a domestic fowl descended from the jungle fowl of southeastern Asia and cultivated for its eggs, flesh and even feathers. It is also slang for a cowardly person, but through the years I have found most of my fowl to be anything but timid. So, if chicken denotes the broad category, let’s look at the specifics inside the category.
Is Pigeon Poultry Or Game On
Cock – Also known as a Rooster, is an adult male chicken.
Hen – An adult female chicken.
Cockerel – An immature male chicken, generally under one year of age.
Pullet – An immature female bird. The term is used more broadly to include several species of birds, but it is most commonly used to describe a young female chicken, generally under one year of age.
Chick – Also known as a peep, is a baby chicken.
Clutch – A group of baby chicks or eggs.
Brood – To care for those baby chicks or eggs, but it may also refer to a group of chicks.
Broody – A hen that is actively sitting on a clutch with the intent to hatch them.
Straight Run or unsexed chicks- This is how chicks are often purchased, it means that the sex of the bird is unknown.
Sexed chicks – Means that the sex of the chick has been determined with reasonable certainty, usually around 90% accuracy.
Capon – A castrated male chicken. Since the reproductive organs are internal, this requires surgery.
Broiler – The term for a chicken that is raised specifically for its meat. Raising meat chickens has become very common as more people want to provide quality food for their families.
Fryer – A young meat-type chicken.
Spent – A term for a hen that is no longer laying eggs.
Biddy – A slang term for a young laying hen.
Chook – An Australian term for a chicken. It is also a common term in England and increasingly common in the U.S. when referencing small flocks.
A group of chickens is simply known as a flock.
Moving on to poultry farming terminology for turkeys. Turkeys are a large North American bird (Meleagris gallopavo) widely domesticated for food, most familiarly for Thanksgiving dinner celebrations.
Tom – Also known as a gobbler, is an adult male turkey.
Hen – An adult female turkey.
Jake – A young male turkey.
Jenny – A young female turkey.
Poult – A baby turkey or pheasant.
A group of turkeys in the wild is simply known as a flock, but a group of domesticated turkeys is known as a rafter or a gang.
Peafowl is another term that gets misused a lot. I’ll even admit to using the term peacocks to describe my peafowl flock, but the reality is that the cock is the male and collectively they are known as peafowl. The terms for peafowl are easy to remember if you know the basic terms for chickens, you just add “Pea” to the beginning.
Peacock – An adult male peafowl.
Peahen – An adult female peafowl.
Peachick – A baby peafowl.
While there seem to be many different terms for groupings of peafowl, the most common are a muster, an ostentation or a pride.
Guinea Fowl is a breed of poultry originally from Africa. They are commonly raised for meat, but their affinity for the troublesome arachnids known as ticks, makes them popular for pest control as well. They are effective natural sentinels because they are watchful and extremely territorial. They are also very social birds and flocks of 25 birds roosting communally is not uncommon. Guinea Fowl terms are also relatively similar to chicken terms.
Guinea Cock – An adult male guinea fowl.
Guinea Hen – An adult female guinea fowl.
Guinea Cockerel – A young male guinea fowl under one year of age.
Guinea Pullet – A young female guinea fowl under one year of age.
Keet – A baby guinea fowl.
A group of guinea fowl is called a rasp, a confusion or a mob, but flock is also a generally accepted term.
Duck is the common name for a great number of both fresh and saltwater species in the family Anatidae. Included in the family Anatidae are also geese and swans, but ducks are normally smaller with shorter necks and legs.
Drake – An adult male duck.
Hen – An adult female duck.
Duckling – A baby duck.
A group of ducks can be known by many names, they can be called a badelynge, a bunch, a brace, a flock, a paddling, a raft, a team or a dover.
Geese are wild or domesticated water birds also of the family Anatidae. They generally have a shorter neck than a swan and a shorter, more pointed bill than a duck. Although they are classified as waterfowl, they spend the majority of their time on land.
Gander – An adult male goose.
Goose – An adult female goose.
Gosling – A baby goose.
A group of geese is called a gaggle when they are not in flight. When they are in flight, they are known as a skein or a wedge.
Swans are also from the family Anatidae. They are most famous for the fact that they mate for life.
Cob – An adult male swan.
Pen (no, that is not a typo) – An adult female swan.
Cygnet – A baby swan.
A group of swans in the wild is called a herd, while a group of swans in captivity it is called a fleet
Pigeons and doves comprise over 300 species. The terms dove and pigeon are often used interchangeably, although in general doves refer to the smaller species.
Cock – An adult male pigeon.
Hen – An adult female pigeon.
Squab – Also known as a squeaker, is a baby pigeon until it has fledged, which is around 30 days.
A group of pigeons is called a flock, flight or kit.
As a disclaimer, I would like to say that, in the essence of due diligence, I made every effort to make sure the terms in this article were correct. Whenever possible, I enlisted the help of people that are considered experts in their respective poultry farming fields. I have no doubt that there are terms that I may have neglected, but these are the most common poultry farming terms you might encounter. I assure you that I made an honest attempt to be thorough.
Do you have any other poultry farming terms that may be unusual or you’d like to see added to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
Quick facts
- You can raise game birds for show, meat production or for release.
- Unless you make a large initial investment, the market will be mostly local in nature.
- Special considerations are necessary to raise these wild birds in a commercial situation.
Usually people raise game birds and other exotic fowl for one of three reasons: show or exhibition, meat production or release followed by hunting. Game birds are fowl that have an established hunting season. These birds include:
Wild turkeys
Pheasants
Quail
Partridge
Mallards
There are three stages of production for game birds including production of hatching eggs, production of chicks and raising chicks for market or release. The following are key considerations and tips when raising game birds.
Marketing
Game bird producers usually sell to local customers but also to processors and restaurant trade. When making arrangements for marketing, check with customers for any specific requirements they may have concerning inspection and dressed weight. Make sure you have a market established prior to investing in the start-up of a production unit. Maintaining good carcass quality will be essential to future sales.
Consumer demand for the meat is somewhat seasonal and relates loosely with the November and December holidays.
Economics
Production costs of game birds are similar to other types of poultry. You’ll want to consider the following costs before starting production.
Bird housing
Land
Equipment
Chick costs
Feed
Litter
Fuel
Electricity
Medication
Labor
Taxes
Depreciation
Interest
Is Pigeon Poultry Or Games
Keeping complete records on costs is the only way for you to evaluate the profitability of your operation. Feed and chick costs represent 80 percent of the total production cost. Another major equipment expense is the feeding and watering system.
Housing costs depend on the bird’s intended use. Game birds raised for release need to be conditioned in totally enclosed flight pens prior to release. In either case, a heated brooder facility is necessary. During brooding, brooder stoves provide added heat.
Income
At the retail level, pheasants have sold for $2 to 3 per pound of dressed weight. Your return will then depend on the production cost to raise birds to market weight. You can expect pheasant hens and roosters to reach the following weights by 16 to 18 weeks of age.
Hens
Live weight: 2.5 to 3 pounds
Dressed weight: 2 to 2.25 pounds
Roosters
Live weight: 3.0 to 3.5 pounds
Dressed weight: 2.25 pounds
Birds will need to consume about 13.25 pounds of feed before reaching market weight.
Guinea fowls are ready for market at 2.75 to 3.25 pounds at 15 to 18 weeks of age. They require about 10 pounds of feed. Mortality may range from 10 to 20 percent.
Setting up the brooder
You can prepare the brooding facility by cleaning and disinfecting the building as well as making it pest proof. Place a 2- to 3-inch base of clean absorbent litter such as wood shavings in the pen.
You can set up a brooder ring by placing an 18-inch-high barrier of corrugated cardboard chick guard in a 10- to 12-foot diameter circle with a standard hover-type brooder stove hung in the center. Place feeders and waterers around the edge of the stove.
Prior to chick arrival, adjust the temperature to 95 F underneath the brooder at chick height. You can reduce the temperature by 5-degree increments each week after the first week. You can place five-hundred chicks per stove.
Pheasants are very sensitive to disturbances. Keep noise to a minimum and make sure other birds are kept off the farm. Beak trimming is often employed to control cannibalism.
Providing space
From 0 to 6 weeks of age, each bird needs 1 square foot of floor space. Provide 1 linear inch of feeder space per chick and increase it to 2 to 3 inches by the sixth week. Start with two 1-gallon fountains per 100 chicks or 100 inches of water trough space. At the sixth week, provide two 3-gallon fountains or 300 inches of trough space per 100 birds.
At 6 weeks of age, place birds intended for release in flight pens. A flight pen size of 75 feet by 150 feet by 6 feet will handle 400 to 500 pheasants.
Feeding
You should feed a game bird starter diet from 0 to 6 weeks of age and a grower diet from 7 to 12 weeks of age. A starter diet will contain about 28 percent protein, while a grower diet will contain about 22 percent. A lower protein, lower energy diet is then fed to birds intended for release after 12 weeks of age.
You can begin some whole grain feeding at 6 weeks of age. Grit can be fed free choice to birds in outside runs or those being given whole grains. You should continue meat birds on a 22 percent protein diet until market age.
Controlling diseases and parasites
Diseases and parasites common to other poultry can also infect gamebirds. Avian influenza, coccidiosis, blackhead, and round worms can infect game birds and cause harmful results. Keeping your flock’s area clean, minimizing crowding, and having a proper vaccination and medication program can help control disease.
With proper care and disease control practices, you should have a well-fleshed and well-feathered bird for processing. Pin feathers on carcasses from poorly feathered or immature birds will decrease carcass quality.
Inspection and permitting
Meat inspection usually isn’t required for game birds. Please consult with the United States Department of Agriculture (meat and poultry inspection service) and State Department of Agriculture (food inspection, labels and standards) for questions concerning inspection and custom processing.
You may need a permit from the state depending on the eventual use of the game birds you raise. Check with the license bureau of the State Department of Natural Resources for further information concerning the need for a game farm permit and associated regulations.
Reviewed in 2018