Carcass conformation comparisons of growing broiler and laying strain chickens

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Abstract
The conformations of growing broiler and laying strain chickens were compared in an attempt to discover whether, in the course of selecting broilers of high growth potential, the conformations of such birds had been so altered as to predispose them to skeletal failure. It was found that broilers had essentially similar proportions by weight of their various body complexes to laying strain birds of equal body weights. Broilers had slightly greater trunk proportions and lower leg proportions than laying strain birds of equal weights but the differences were insufficiently great to explain satisfactorily the supposed predisposition of the broiler leg skeleton to failure. Broilers, at any given body weight, had bones shorter in length than laying strain birds, explaining the more compact appearance of the broiler when compared with the more slender laying strain bird. A compact skeletal system is one which would appear less rather than more likely to fail.