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>>This is FFA Poultry Judging: Class 1 Meat-Type Birds for Breeder Selection (cull-keep class)
>>First students should review the FFA manual to become familiar
with the chicken anatomy so that they will be familiar
with the parts of the chicken that must be examined.
This includes the comb, beak, wattles, breast,
keel bone, hock, shanks, toes, abdomen, vent,
tail and wing feathers.
Other parts of the chicken’s anatomy that are important
when determining the coloration would be the vent, the eye ring,
the ear lobe, the beak, the bottom of the feet,
the entire shank and the hock and tops of toes.
This poultry judging class will consist of
8 young broiler-breeder chickens in individual cages.
The objective in this class is to select four of the birds
to use as breeders.
A set of oral reasons may be required for this class
and students will be informed on the day of the competition
which classes will be used for oral reasons.
The birds will be of the same age and strain,
raised together under the same environmental conditions.
You may handle each broiler-breeder,
but only with the bird inside the cage.
When evaluating a bird, it is advised to raise the bird
from the cage floor to a standing position.
Have the bird take a few steps to properly evaluate leg, feet and toes.
Broiler-breeder selection will be based on criteria that include:
deformities, body confirmation and breast meat quantity.
Students should look for deformities such as
Deformities in broiler-breeder selection are defined as
serious body defects that the bird could transmit to its offspring
and or that reduce a bird’s value as a breeder.
Any bird having one or more of these deformities
is an automatic cull.
Looking closely, this bird has a severely crooked toe
and would be culled.
This bird would be culled because it has a crooked leg.
After removing automatic culls from the list of possible breeders,
examine the remainder by using body confirmation
and breast meat quality.
Let’s look at selecting a bird based on its body confirmation.
Body confirmation of a broiler-breeder refers to the bird’s structure.
Evaluating a broiler-breeder’s body confirmation requires
measuring the width across the shoulders,
the length of the back, the depth of the body,
the length of the keel, the spring of the ribs
and the width across the hips.
Measurements can be estimated by touching the birds with the hands.
Body length should be proportionally larger than the body width.
The width across the shoulders should be 75% of the length of the back.
The depth of body, which would be measured
from the backbone to the keel bone, should be equal to or exceed
the width across the shoulders at both the front
and the rear of the keel bone.
This will make the keel parallel to the back.
The length of the keel should be equal to
or greater than the width across the shoulders.
The spring of the ribs should equal the width across the shoulders.
The width across the hips should exceed the width
across the shoulders.
Now we will look at examining a bird for breast meat quantity.
Breast meat quantity is closely related to body confirmation
and the breast meat quantity on a broiler-breeder refers to
the amount of muscling in the breast area.
Similar to body confirmation, breast meat quantity
can be objectively measured.
To evaluate a broiler-breeders breast meat quantity
you would measure the length of muscling, the depth of muscling,
the width of muscling and the carry of muscling.
Measurements can be estimated by handling the birds.
The length of muscling is determined by
the length of the keel.
The length of muscling should extend the full distance
along the keel bone and should be approximately
1.5 times greater than the width of the muscling.
A short breast is indicated when the length of the muscling
is almost equal to the width of the muscling.
A long breast is indicated when the length of the muscling
is almost 1.5 times greater than the width
of the muscling across the breast.
The depth of muscling is determined by
the depth of the body.
The depth of the muscling should be equal to
or great than the width of muscling.
The keel bone should also run parallel to the backbone.
Width of muscling and carry of muscling are related.
The width of muscling is determined by
the width of breast between the points of wing attachment.
The carry of muscling is determined by
how well the breast meat width carries
from the front to the rear.
Narrow breast indicates poor width of muscling.
The muscling is rounded and the width does not
carry from the front to the rear of the bird.
This is referred to as a tapered breast.
A wide breast indicates a good width of muscling.
The muscling is flattened and the width carries well
from the front to the rear end of the bird.
The breast muscling should be wide and flat in front
and this width and flatness should carry to the rear of the breast.
The muscling should not come to a sharp point at the rear
of the keel, but should form a blunt end.
Finally the best four birds, with regard to body confirmation,
and breast meat quantity should be selected for keeping.
© 2012 University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences