Improvements in the Technique of Deutectomy of Newly Hatched Chicks, and the Effects of the Operation on Their Subsequent Development ,

IN THE course of a study of the utilization of vitamin A by newly hatched chicks, a means was sought to reduce complications from the variable and uncontrollable quantities of the vitamin carried over into the chicks’ bodies by the incorporation of the residual yolk. Parker (1929) used deutectomy to study the effects of handicaps on the development of chicks, but her experiments were not conducted with a view towards sparing the chicks from strain and deriving the maximum number of survivals for subsequent normal life without the yolk. She operated on anaesthetized chicks. Sloan (1936) modified Parker’s technique and adapted it for application to large numbers of chicks. He found that anaesthesia was unnecessary and even detrimental to the ease of the operation and survival of the chicks. Growth of chicks so treated was slower than normal during the first 3 or 4 weeks, but subsequently to 10 …