Science 8th chickens

Rooster

an adult male chicken

Hen

an adult female chicken

Chick

baby chicken

Yolk

Is the yellow, nutrient-rich inner mass of a bird or reptile egg that nourishes the developing embryo, containing proteins, lecithin, and cholesterol.

Embryo

An organism in the earliest, foundation stage of development, characterized by rapid cell devision and differentiation, following fertilization.

Humidity

Amount of water vapor present in the air.

Setting eggs

The act of placing fertile chicken eggs into an incubator or under a broody hen to begin the 21 day incubating process.

Incubator

A device or apparatus designed to maintain optimal environmental conditions (tempiture, humidity, oxygen) for nurturing living organisms.

Dipping

Placing a newly hatched chicks beak into water to ensure it hydrates and learns to find the water sorce.

Brooder

A heated enclosure, structure, or apparatus used to rase your chicks, poultry, or other animals by providing necessary warmth, typically during there first few weeks of life when they cannot regulate there own body temperiture.

Candling

The proses of shining a bright light source behind an eggshell in a dark room to observeits interior, historically done with a candle.

Germinal disc

A small, whitish spot on the surface of an egg yolk containing the female genetic material. It is the site of fertilization, where cell devision begins to develop an embryo. In fertile eggs, it becomes a ring shaped “blastoderm” while in infertile eggs, it remains a small, solid white dot.

Chalaza

A twisted, rope-like strand of protein in a chicken egg that suspends the yolk in the center of the egg white (albumen).

Egg white (albumen)

Is the cleat, viscous liquid (primarily 90% water and 10% proteins) surrounding the yolk inside the chicken egg.

Air Cell

A small stationary pocket of air located between the inner and outer membranes at the blunt (large) end of a chicken egg.

Shell

The hard, prous, outermost layer of an egg, composed primairaly of over 90% calciam carbonate.