A Chickens Digestive System is INSANE (A Tour: From the Beak to the Butt)

Welcome to Gibson Branch! My name is Seth and I’m a lifelong homesteader living in southern Mississippi, sharing practical homesteading advice on chickens, rabbits, and southern living. Whether you’re here for the dry humor or the deep dives into animal husbandry, I’m glad you’re here. In this video…

Chickens might look like simple yard birds, but inside those "feathered basketballs" is a complex, alien-like system that turns corn and crickets into fertilizer and eggs. Today, we’re taking a tour "from the beak to the butt" to explore the fascinating mechanics of chicken digestion.

From the "gastrointestinal fanny pack" (the crop) to the biological rock crusher (the gizzard), we’re breaking down how these birds survive without teeth and why some of their business smells way worse than the rest. If you've ever wondered how a chicken actually processes food or why they eat rocks, this deep dive into poultry anatomy is for you.

In this video, we cover:
• The Beak: Why gravity is a chicken's best friend.
• The Crop: The "waiting room" for snacks.
• The Glandular Stomach: Hydrochloric acid and the "starving" hormone.
• The Gizzard: How chickens "chew" with stones and grit.
• The Ceca: The fermentation pouches (and the secret behind that ammonia smell).
• The Cloaca: Why the Latin word for "Sewer" is the perfect name for the vent.



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Music by: Jason Shaw www.audionautix.com