Avian reproductive System
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (/ˈeɪviːz/), characterised by
feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-
chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton.
Female reproductive system.
* Precocial birds. They are birds well developed when they hatch and quickly able to stand and walk on
their own. Most domestic poultry species like chickens, ducks, turkeys, and so on are precociol The
exception is pigeons.
* Altricial birds are under developed when they hatch and. require considerable parental care before
they Can stand, walk and Survive on their over eg pigeons, Passerine birds (ie perching/song birds) and
raptors (owls, eagles, falcons). Precocial birds and altricial birds (denotes the time producing offspring.
Poultry lays in clutches. A clutch is a group of egg laid by a hen on consecutive days. An overview of the
female chicken reproductive system helps to explain why her lays eggoin Clutches.
The reproductive System of a chicken hen is made up of two part the Ovary and the oviduct. Ova (yolks)
develop in the Ovary. When an ovum (Singular of ova) has matured, it is released from the Ovary into
the Oviduct. This release of the ovum is OVULATION. In the oviduct, glands secrete substances that
form other parts of the egg, such as the ALBUMEN (egg white) and the shell. The total time a hen's body
takes to transform a yolk into a fully developed egg and lay that egg is about 25 to 26 hours: Typically,
about 30 to 75 minutes after a hen lays an egg. The Ovary releases the next ovum. However, the female
chicken reproductive system is sensitive to light exposure, especially the number of hours of light in a
day.
OVARY
The ovary (shown in Figure 3) is a cluster of developing ova, and is located midway between the neck
and the tail of the bird and attached at the back. The ovary is fully formed when a pullet chick hatches
but is very small until the chick reaches sexual maturity. At hatch, a pullet chick has tens of thousands of
ova, or potential eggs that theoretically could be laid, although most never develop to the point of
ovulation. The maximum number of eggs a hen can lay is determined when it hatches because no new
ova form after the chick hatches.hatches
OVIDUCT
When ovulation occurs, the ovum (yolk) enters the oviduct. The oviduct is a twisted tube that is 25 to 27
inches long when fully developed and is divided into five major sections. These sections are the
infundibulum, magnum, isthmus, shell gland, and vagina.
The first part of the oviduct, the infundibulum (or funnel) is 3 to 4 inches long and engulfs the ovum
released from the ovary. The term funnel is an inaccurate name for this section because it suggests that
the infundibulum is waiting for the yolk to fall into it, which is not the case. Instead, the released yolk
stays in place, and the muscular infundibulum moves to surround it. The yolk remains in the
infundibulum for 15 to 17 minutes. Fertilization, if it is going to occur, takes place in the infundibulum.
The next section of the oviduct is the magnum. At 13 inches long, it is the largest section of the oviduct,
as its name implies (magnum being the Latin word for “large”). The yolk remains here 3 hours, during
which time the thick albumen (egg white) forms.
The third section of the oviduct is the isthmus, which is 4 inches long. The isthmus, as its name implies, is
slightly constricted (the term isthmus referring to a narrow strip of land joining two larger tracts of land).
The isthmus is where the inner and outer shell membranes form. The developing egg remains here for
75 minutes.
The next section of the oviduct is the shell gland (or uterus), which is 4 to 5 inches long. In this section,
the shell forms on the egg. The shell largely is made of calcium carbonate. The hen’s body mobilizes 8 to
10 percent of body calcium from its bones to make the egg’s shell. Bone calcium provides 47 percent of
the calcium required to make a shell, and the hen’s diet provides the remainder. Pigment deposition, if
there is any, occurs in the shell gland. The egg remains here for 20 or more hours.
The last part of the oviduct is the vagina, which is about 4 to 5 inches long. The vagina does not really
play a part in egg formation but is important in the laying of the egg. The vagina is made of muscle that
helps push the egg out of the hen’s body. The bloom, or cuticle, forms on the egg in the vagina prior to
oviposition (the laying of the fully formed egg). The egg travels through the oviduct small end first but
turns in the vagina and comes out large end first.
Near the junction of the shell gland and the vagina are deep glands known as sperm host glands that can
store sperm for long periods of time, typically 10 days to 2 weeks. (One of the unique things about birds
is that the sperm remain viable at body temperature.) When a hen lays an egg, sperm can be squeezed
out of these glands into the oviduct and then can migrate to the infundibulum to fertilize an ovum.
