The Comparative Rates of Growth and Ossification of the Femur, Tibia and Metatarsus Bones of the Male and Female New Hampshire Chickens Having Crooked Keels

AN EXPERIMENT now in progress at the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station studies the rates of growth and ossification of the sterni and ten larger appendicular bones of light and heavy breeds of chickens having straight and crooked keels. Results published (Buckner et al., 1950) compared the rates of growth and ossification of the larger leg bones, femur, tibia and metatarsus of male and female New Hampshire chickens having straight keels. This paper is another unit of this investigation which compares the same bone developments in New Hampshire chickens having crooked keels. The chickens used were hatched from eggs from the Station farm flock and were fed a normal chick starting and growing mash with grain, the same fed the previously noted chickens having straight keels. At four weeks of age the chicks were provided with low wooden roosts, two inches wide, and at ten weeks were given access to a …