Poultry Terms

Terms Definition
Poultry A collective term for all domestic birds rendering economic service to man.
Average liveweight Average weight of chicken (in live form) during harvest/market age
Beak The projecting mouthpart of the chicken and turkey, consisting of the upper
and lower mandible
Bill The projecting mouth of waterfowls, consisting of upper and lower mandibles
Brooder A place where young chicks/ducklings are cared for after hatching until they
have grown to a point where they no longer need additional heat
Chicks newly hatched chicken
Cockerel male that is under a year old
Pullet female that is under a year old
Cock male that is a year or older (aka rooster)
Crop The receptacle in which a fowl’s food is accumulated before it passes to the
gizzard
Dubbing Cutting of the comb, wattles, or earlobes, so as to leave the head smooth
Hen – female that is a year or older
Layer breed breed of chicken that is raised primarily for egg collection
Nesting box a cubicle where a chicken can privately lay egg
Bedding/Litter a material used to cover the floor/ground in confined spaces
Roosting a chicken or group of chicken resting, likely on an elevated perch
Molting loss of feathers due to change in season followed by re-growth
Down fine layer of feathers that cover young birds and is found under the tough
exterior feathers of older birds
Morbidity rate Number of chicken afflicted by disease
Mortality rate Number of chicken died based on the total number of chickens raised
Dust bath bathing in dirt or other substances to help remove external parasites and
groom plumage
Wattle flesh under the beak of a chicken that is used as a heat regulating mechanism

Spurs a sharp appendage that can grow on the legs of chicken

Comb a featherless crest at the top of chicken’s head
Vent or cloaca an opening in chicken where waste & eggs are expelled
Crest feather producing from the top of a chicken’s head
Pasty vent describes the condition that occurs when a chick’s vent is covered in feces and
becomes clogged
Clutch collection of eggs that a hen gathers to start brooding on
Roost a pole or branch inside the coop where chickens sleep
Point of-lay-pullet a young female, just about to lay, near 5 mos. old
Breed a stock of animals within a species having a distinctive appearance and
typically having been developed by deliberate selection
Livestock domestic farm animals kept for productive purposes (meat, milk, work, wool)

Specie a class of individuals or kind having common attributes and designated by

common name
Shanks part of the leg between the knee and the ankle in humans or the corresponding
part in various other vertebrates
Hackle feathers long narrow feathers on the neck or saddle of a bird
Plumage feathers of a bird
Ruminant Terms
Breed A group of animals descended from common ancestors & having certain
distinguishing characteristics not common to other members of the same
species.
Breech presentation breech presentation at birth is one in which the rear portion of the fetus is
presented first.
Colostrum the first milk given by a female following delivery of her young. It is high in
antibodies that give the young protection from invading.
Dry cow a cow that is not presently producing milk.
Dystocia difficult birth where the female will require some assistance at parturition.

Hand mating bringing the female to a male for service (breeding), after which she is removed
from the area where the male is located.
Judging the systematic evaluation of the good and bad points of an animal in
comparison with another according to their type or the purpose for which they
are raised.
Lactation period- the time during which milk is produced.

Mastitis the inflammation of the udder or mammary gland.

Milk let-down or ejection the moving of milk from the lumina of the alveoli and ducts to the gland and
teat cisterns, where it may be removed.
Oxytocin- the milk let-down hormone, released from the posterior pituitary gland after a
stimulus such as washing the udder, manipulating the teats, the nursing of a
calf or other factors that the animal relate to milking.
Pasteurization The process of heating milk to 161 0F and holding it at that temperature for 15
seconds to destroy pathogenic microorganisms.
Pasture mating A system of breeding the cows done by placing the bull with them in the pasture
for the duration of the breeding season.
Pedigree The record of the ancestry of an animal
Performance testing The evaluation of an animal on the basis of its own record
Presentation The position of the fetus in the uterus at the time of delivery, with reference to
the part presenting itself at the mouth of the uterus
Progeny testing An evaluation of an animal on the basis of the performance of its offspring.
Prolapse Protrusion of an organ as of uterus due to abnormal birth
Proven sire Male whose production- transmitting ability has been established or
demonstrated through the performance of its offspring
Purebred An animal that meets the standard or a recognized breed and whose ancestors
are registered in the herd book of that breed (also Full Blood; Straightbred)
Ration Feed allowance for one animal for one day. (A balanced ration is feed that
meets the animal’s nutrient requirement)
Udder The enclosed group of the mammary glands of mammals. Each mammary
gland is provided with a nipple or teat.
Weaning (1) Taking a young animal from its dam so that it can no longer suckle from the
dam; (2) terminating the milk feeding of artificially milk fed young animals.
Swine Terms
Anestrus The period during which a female does not come into heat (estrus) and
so will not allow herself to be bred.
Atresia ani A defect involving a closed rectum.
Barrow A male swine, castrated before it reaches sexual maturity.
Conception rate The percentage of females conceiving in each estrus cycle compared to
the number that were bred.
Creep A separate area of a farrowing pen accessible only to young, unweaned
animals, and not their dams. High protein, palatable feed for the little pig
up to weaning is provided in the creep area.
Crossbreed A group of animals produced by inter-breeding two pure but different
breed or strains.
Cryptorchidism A defect involving the failure of one or both testicles to descend to the
scrotal sac.
Dam Female parent, mother of an animal.
Docking Removal of a portion of the tail by cutting to minimize tail biting among
pigs.
Dry sow Sow which is not milking, an unbred or a pregnant female.
Drying off Ending a sow’s lactation period by weaning her piglets.
Farrowing crate A metal stall used to confine the movement of the sow during farrowing.
Farrowing index Refers to the average frequency of farrowing of a sow on a yearly basis.
Farrowing/Litter interval Refers to the period from the birth of one litter to the birth of the
succeeding litter.
Feed conversion The amount of feed required to produce a unit of weight gain in a growing
efficiency (FCE) animal.
Feeder pig A pig that has been weaned and started on solid feed and is being fed up
to market weight. A feeder pig is generally older than 8 weeks and weighs
at least 20 kgs.
Finishing The final stage of growth of a hog prior to slaughter. A finishing pig starts
the period of a 50 kg and reaches a market weight of 90 kgs.
Flushing Increasing the daily feed intake of gilts for 14 days prior to breeding.
Flushing can increase the number of eggs ovulated and therefore the
number of ova fertilized.
Grade a domestic animal with one parent a pure breed and the other an inferior
breed.
Heterosis the increased vigor and livability displayed by crossbred pigs.
Hog refers to domestic swine of either sex especially weighing more than 50
kilograms.
Hog tie to tie together the feet of a hog.
Hybrid vigor improved performance in growth rate and reproduction seen in crossbred
individuals as compared to their straight bred parents.
Inbreeding the interbreeding of closely related individuals to preserve and fix
desirable characters and to eliminate unfavorable characters from a
stock.
Lactation milk production in sows following farrowing and lasting until the piglests
are weaned.
Litter A group of pigs belonging to one gestating; refers to the offspring at one
birth of a multiparous animal like swine.
Litter interval Refers to the period from the birth of one litter to the birth of the
succeeding litter. This is sometimes referred to as the farrowing interval.
Littermate Refers to one piglet in a litter in relation to the other pigs belonging to the
same gestation.
Litter size Refers to the number of pigs farrowed or weaned from one gestation.
Litterweight Refers to the collective weight usually at birth and a weaninf of thhe pigs
belonging to one gestation.
Multiparous sow A female which has farrowed 2 or more litters and sometimes referred to
as an old sow.
Open sow A sow whose litter has been weaned but which has not yet been bred or
is not pregnant. Good breeding efficiency depends on low numbers of
open sows in the herd.
Parity Refers to the number of litters a sow or gilt has had.
Pen-mating A breeding system whereby a boar is allowed to run with a pen of sows or
gilts to breed then indiscriminately whenever they come into heat.
Breeding records are difficult to maintain with this system.
Pig A broad term which usually refers to a young swine not yet sexually
mature.
Polytocous a litter bearing animal which gives birth to more than one individual at a
time.
Pork refers to fresh meat as flesh of swine.
Porker a young pig fattened for table use as fresh pork.
Primiparous sow a female which has farrowed only once. It is sometimes referred to as
young sow.
Purebreed a group of animals bred from members of a recognized breed, strain or
kind without a mixture of other bloodline over many generations and
possess distinctive characteristic.
Rectal prolapsed refers to the falling down or slipping of a portion of the rectum from its
original position.
Ridgling (Cryptorchid) a male pig with one testicle retained in the abdominal cavity which cannot
be removed at castration.
Scours a yellow-white, watery diarrhea in piglets normally caused by E. coli
bacteria. Dehydrated piglets will die in a matter of hours if not treated
 promptly with antibiotics. Sanitation and vaccination will prevent or
minimized the effect of scours.
Service the breeding or mating process.
Stag a male swine castrated after sexual maturity.
Still birth refers to a dead fetus at birth.
Suckling a young pig under the care of the dam.
Swine a term used collectively for any of the stout bodied, short legged,
omnivorous mammals (family Suidae) with a long mobile snout.
Weaner a weaned pig of approximately eight to ten weeks of age, weighing
between 15-20 kgs.
Weanling refers to a young pig of either sex which has been separated from the
mother at the end of the lactation period.