12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



We should also have some knowledge of the digestive ap- 

 paratus of the hen if we wish to thoroughly understand her 

 needs. This plate represents the digestive organs extending 

 from the head to the vent. They were removed from the hen 

 a few weeks ago, placed in the position that we see them here 

 and drawQ. This plate does not show the relative position 

 of the organs in the body, but it does represent their relative 

 size. What is known as the gullet extends from the mouth 

 to the crop, which is a reservoir for holding the food until 

 it is softened more or less by the secretions of the mouth and 

 of the crop itself. The crop is not the true stomach of the 

 fowl, as many suppose. The true stomach is an enlargement 

 of what might be termed the continuation of the gullet from 

 the crop to the gizzard. Another term for it is the proven- 

 triculus. On opening it we find that its walls are quite thick 

 and muscular, and lined with gastric glands similar to those 

 in the lining of the human stomach. The gizzard is an ir- 

 regularly shaped organ, the largest in the body, and has 

 thick muscular walls of a very fine grain and of a bluish, 

 dark red color. Partially enfolding the gizzard we find the 

 liver, composed of two very large lobes. Attached to it is the 

 gall bladder, where the bile is stored. ISFear it also is the 

 spleen, an organ whose use we do not thoroughly understand, 

 although some scientists believe it has some relation to diges- 

 tion, as it is not found in the same condition just before and 

 after meals. 



The pancreas is the long, flat, pinkish organ lying close 

 to the upper end of the intestines, or what is termed the 

 duodenum. This secretes pancreatic juice. The intestines 

 extend from the gizzard to the anus, about six or seven inches 

 from which we find two blind sacks, called the ceca. They 

 are sometimes spoken of as the " blind guts," and correspond 

 to the appendix in man, but are double in the fowl. In 

 diagnosing black head in turkeys, or coccidiosis as it is known 

 . in fowls, we find the ceca greatly enlarged, and many times 

 their lining is eaten off, or they may be filled with a hard, 

 cheesy substance. These organs seem to be the habitat for 

 many intestinal worms, and if one is making a diaguosis for 

 coccidiosis, or worms, he would naturally examine the ceca 



