Chapter II 



The Factory and Workmen 



POULTRY production may be likened to the operation of 

 a great manufacturing concern in which there are the 

 . factory, the workmen, the raw material and the finished 

 product. The factory is represented by the living bird, the 

 workmen are energized cells and tissues of its organism, the 

 raw material is the food and other materials which are trans- 

 formed into poultry products, and the finished product is 

 represented in flesh, eggs and feathers. 



The Factory 



Our first concern is a study of the factory, its systems of 

 machinery and the work to be accomplished by each. The 

 common hen is our illustration for she is queen of the poultry 

 world. Around her revolve the chief interests of economic 

 importance. 



EXTERNAL PARTS. The external structures of a fowl are: 



1. Head, consisting of the beak, comb, face, eyes, ears, ear-lobes 

 and wattles. 



2. Beak, consisting of upper and lower mandibles. 



3. Nostrils, located in the upper mandible. 



4. Comb, which may be single, rose, pea, V-shaped or strawberry. 



5. Face, naked side of head. 



6. Eyes, the color being determined by the iris. 



7. Wattles, pendulous membranes beneath the lower mandible. 



8. Ear, behind the eye and covered with tuft of feathers. 



9. Neck, consisting of front and cape. The cape is called the hackle 

 in the male and comprises the feathers of lower neck resting upon the 

 shoulders. 



10. Breast, feathers covering breast bone. 



11. Shoulder, feathers covering base of wing. 



12. Wing-bow, feathers covering side of wing. 



13. Secondaries, or wing-bay, large wing shafts above the primaries. 



14. Primaries, lower flight feathers. 



15. Primary coverts, smaller feathers covering flights. 



16. Secondary coverts, covering base of secondaries. 



■ 17. Back and sweep, the latter term applying to feathers over base 

 of tail, called the saddle in the male. 



18. Cushion, feathers on each side of base of tail. 



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