Poultry Improvement Project

1. Poultry Improvement Project Defects, Uniformity, and Finsh

2. Defects • Refers to Imperfections of the poultry carcass. • Feed in the crop. • Bruises • Ammonia Burns • Blisters on Breast

3. Blisters on Breast • Birds that have laid in very wet litter may develop blisters on the skin of the breast. • This is a very undesirable defect.

4. Ammonia Burns • Broilers left in wet litter will form black blisters on their feet. • This is from the ammonia in the litter. • Use wood shavings and remove when wet to prevent this.

5. Bruises • Some bruising may occur during the processing. The “fingers” in the feather picking machine will do this from time to time. At the contest, these bruises are ignored, however, on the market, a bruised carcass is undesirable.

6. Feed in the Crop • Broilers should be taken off feed the night before so that their crop is empty. Processors frown upon feed in the crops and may charge you more if the crop is full. A full crop may easily get punctured. This smells bad and could contaminate the meat.

7. Uniformity • Used to determine size of a group of carcasses as compared to a New York dressed carcass. • All carcasses in a group should be the same size. • Don’t bring large, medium, and small sized birds. • Take five birds that are all same size.

8. Finish • Just as it means in the livestock industry, finish refers to the fat covering on the chicken. • Enough fat should be present that the spaces where the feathers were attached is not totally visible. • Finish also includes the nice yellow color of the skin.

9. Finish-Continued • The yellow skin color is determined by the energy content of the feed. • Remember from the nutrition lessons that corn is an excellent source of yellow color. • TIP-Sometimes, a large amount of cracked corn is fed during the last week to put a nice yellow color in the skin.