The chicken family tops the list of the most popular bird species used in agriculture and industrial poultry farming. This is understandable. Chicken meat is known for its beneficial properties, and chicken skeleton bones in many pet owners are an essential component of a pet’s daily diet.
To this we can add that this bird is the main producer of eggs entering our food market. From the above information, it becomes clear why it has gained such popularity. In this article we will consider what features chicken bones have.
Chicken skeleton
This is a musculoskeletal system consisting of bone tissue. It is a support for the whole organism of the bird and helps it to move in the surrounding space.
What does the chicken skeleton look like? The photo below demonstrates how the musculoskeletal system of these birds is arranged.
Structure
The photo below shows the skeleton of a chicken called bones.
As you can see, the structure of the musculoskeletal system of the bird is quite complex. According to the photo of the skeleton of a chicken with a description of the bones, several interesting points can be highlighted.
- This bird has no teeth. In these representatives of the animal world, nature has formed a horny process, which we call the beak. Her two stomachs help to “chew”, or rather, grind food.
- The whole skeleton can be divided into the main parts: head, trunk, front and hind limbs. The head is not particularly pronounced.
- The chicken has 27 vertebrae. The cervical region includes 14 of them, the thoracic region - 7, the caudal region - 6.
- On the chest of the bird's skeleton is an unusual part called the keel.
- The forelimbs as such are absent. Their role is played by wings.
- The wing is formed by: scapula, clavicle, bones: coracoid radial, ulnar and humeral.
- The hind limbs are four-fingered paws with claws. Males have spurs, which are bone outgrowths. Some breeds of the chicken family have three fingers on their hind limbs.
- The hind limbs are attached to the bones of the pelvis and pass into the lower leg, tibia, thigh and foregrip.
- Females are characterized by the presence of a medullary bone, which males do not have. This skeleton element is involved in the process of egg shell formation.
Chicken skull
A detailed structure of this part of the skeleton is presented in the photo below.
The bird skull can be divided into two departments - brain and facial. The first consists of lacrimal, ethmoid, frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital and sphenoid bones.
The second section (front) is not so pronounced. It is formed by the incisor, nasal, palatine, pterygoid, zygomatic, square, square-zygomatic, maxillary, mandibular and hyoid bones. They can also include a coulter. The entire bird family has no teeth.
The nasal, incisal and maxillary bones form the basis of the upper half of the beak. At the junction with the frontal bone, it is plastic. This provides the beak with little mobility. A square bone is responsible for the mobility of both halves of the beak, which helps them swallow significant pieces of food.
Limb structure
The front limb (wing) can be divided into three departments:
- The humerus inside has air cavities that are filled with air from a bag located under the collarbone.
- Forearm. Formed from the radius and ulna. Between them there is the so-called interosseous space.
- The brush consists of four metacarpal bones and four mutated fingers. Some species of the chicken family have only three fingers.
The hind limb (leg) consists of the femur, lower leg and foot. There are no separate short bones in the tarsal joint. They all fused with the tibia and metatarsal bones.
Body structure
In the chicken family, the cervical vertebrae are elongated and make up the main part of the spinal column. The first vertebra of the neck connects to the condyle of the occipital bone, which has a spherical shape. Due to this difference in the occipital joint, the bird's head can move in different directions.
The thoracic region has 7 vertebrae, some of which fused together and form one bone. There are as many ribs in the chicken as there are thoracic vertebrae.
The vertebral and sternal bones form one rib. Chicken ribs are of two types:
1. Sternal.
2. Asternal.
In the former, the end connects to the sternum, while in the latter, not. All caudal edges of the ribs have hook-like processes that connect them one to the other. It is these processes that provide a strong chest of the bird.
The breast bone is well developed. There are many reasons for this:
- It is on it that the muscles that provide the flight are attached.
- Inside the chest are organs responsible for supplying the body with air.
- There is a long keel on the sternum, the magnitude of which depends on the parameters of the bird.
Vertebrae in the region of the waist and sacrum fused together, and their edges joined the pelvic bones. This feature of the chicken skeleton provided a good basis for limb development.
The tail section consists of 6 vertebrae. They are not particularly mobile, and the last one is elongated. It is called a pigostyle or tailbone.
The structure of the chest area
Evolution has contributed to the fact that bird limbs have changed to form wings.
The shoulder girdle is formed by:
- Collarbone. Its upper part merges with the scapula.
- Coracoid bone. It has a tubular shape. Its upper edge is connected with the clavicle and scapula, and the lower with the sternum.
- Shovel. Its lower edge is connected to the coracoid bone and forms the articular fossa.
The structure of the pelvic area
The pelvis is formed from the pubic, sciatic and iliac bones, which are fused with the sacral and lumbar vertebrae. This structural feature of the chicken skeleton provides an open lower half of the pelvis to facilitate the passage of eggs.
The internal structure of the bone
Most of them are hollow inside. These bones are called tubular. Despite their low weight, they are very durable. This feature of the skeleton bones of the chicken is due to the fact that the bird is able to fly, just few people know this. Due to the impressive number of such bones, the total weight of the bird skeleton does not exceed 10% of the total body weight.
Bone broth
Many doctors recommend not waking up coffee, tea or juice, which is usual for all people, upon awakening, but a rich bone broth. To cook it, it is better to take chicken.
If you properly cook fresh bones, you can get a healthy drink that improves the condition of the musculoskeletal system of a person. Its composition is rich in vitamins and minerals, which makes such a broth an indispensable element in the daily diet of the elderly and patients with bone and joint diseases. This drink does not burden the digestive system, has a calming effect on the intestines.
American researchers studying the effects of foods on the digestive system confirm the benefits of bone broth. But they warn that for the preparation of the drink you need to choose a product of the best quality.
The composition of bone broth
During the preparation of bones, they release collagen, proline, glucosamine, glycine, glutamine and glycine into boiling water. These substances have the following beneficial properties:
- Collagen - improves the health of the digestive system, renews the condition of the skin, promotes wound healing, strengthens bone tissue, nail plates and hair.
- Glycine - regulates the secretion of gastric acid, conducts good prophylaxis against many diseases of the gastric mucosa, helps digest fats, which also affects the state of other organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Glucosamine with glutamine - improve the condition of the joints, reduce pain, maintain a good condition of the intestinal mucosa.
Why is it contraindicated for dogs to eat chicken bones?
This product is introduced by many owners into the daily diet of domestic dogs. Some owners of four-legged pets believe that bird bones are the most useful and necessary component of a pet’s food, so they are added to the dog’s bowl at every opportunity. But this opinion is erroneous. Chicken bones can seriously injure the internal organs of the animal, even lead to his death.
The most harmless consequences are the injured mucous membrane of the oral cavity, cracked or broken teeth. The mucous membrane is able to recover within a day after an injury, and a damaged tooth provokes a pain syndrome.
Injuries can cause fragment fragments of chicken bones. They are extremely durable and always very sharp. If tracheal or pharyngeal damage has occurred, the animal will experience very severe pain. Such injuries can trigger internal bleeding, respiratory failure. If the owner misses this situation out of control and does not deliver the animal to the veterinary clinic, it will die.
Sometimes tissue injury occurs in the stomach or intestines. In this case, internal bleeding will begin. If the injury is deep and extensive, gastric juice or feces can enter the abdominal cavity. This situation is very dangerous. You can save the animal only if he urgently needs to undergo surgery.
In veterinary practice, cases are often observed when the chicken bones clog the colon cavity. The consequences can be different: from bloating and intestinal obstruction to profuse blood loss and intoxication of the body, leading to painful death of the animal.
But the dog can still be helped. Oil enemas will be a good help. If they do not improve the condition of a sick animal, only the operation remains, during which dead tissue is removed, healthy tissue is sutured.
Many veterinarians warn that chicken bones, especially tubular ones, are categorically contraindicated. They refute the widespread myth that such food is a valuable source of calcium. The animal should receive this important trace element with other products or vitamin complexes.