Author: Daryl Holle
There has been some confusion among professionals and farmers in the ostrich industry concerning the proper color of the liver in baby ostrich chicks. It is thought, in some countries, that the proper color of the liver should be YELLOW along with yellow colored skin. It was thought that a “yellow-colored” skin chick was a “healthy” chick. When I first heard of this, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing as, IN MY OPINION, a yellow livered, yellow skinned chick is a strong indication of an “unhealthy” and “malnutritioned” chick with a “malfunctioning” liver.
However, sometimes one person’s words are not sufficient to educate the minds of others that have never experienced anything but yellow livered, yellow skin chicks and consider it normal. Therefore, on May 21st, 1999, Blue Mountain performed some Ostrich chick dissection studies on some Blue Mountain fed chicks that came from Blue Mountain fed breeder birds.
The first chick studied was 8 days of age since hatching and was a healthy bird in all respects. The skin of the bird before euthanising was an opaque light blue color (demonstrating good blood flow being supplied by a healthy heart). There was NO sign of yellow skin on the chest or yellow eye lids. Upon opening the body cavity, the liver and heart were both of a even, clean, reddish brown color with no heart deformities or liver discoloration noted. The yolk sack had about 1/2 cup left in it and it was an “army green” color–NOT YELLOW.
We then took an egg out of the hatcher with a chick inside that had just begun to “pip” through the shell. Before euthanising, the skin of this chick was the same color as the first 8 day old chick–an opaque light blue. The heart was a reddish brown color, the liver was a “tan” or “light brown” color with NO YELLOW colors found. The yolk sack was full and of a soft yellow color on the bottom 2/3rd’s (as it lay on the table with the connecting tubes to liver and intestines to the top). The top 1/3 of the yolk sack was totally “leached” with channels of bright green “bile” production from the liver. The liver also contained some bright green bile “pockets” that appeared to be some sort of temporary reserve for bile. We clearly observed the bile being fed through connecting tubes from the liver to the yolk sack.
Now, what did we learn from all this? We learned a great deal! It is now time for a good Ostrich Pathologist or Scientist to take over and define the actual metabolic process but we were able to clearly define a NORMAL chick from an ABNORMAL chick. It is also possible to clearly dispute the old thought that chick livers are yellow as they are absorbing the yellow yolk sack. Seeing what we saw, we can also theorize somewhat as to the differences seen in a NORMAL chick and an ABNORMAL chick. A NORMAL chick is one that came from a healthy and nutritive egg yolk. This egg yolk would have been produced by the parent hen (breeder hen) that was fed a healthy, balanced diet containing balanced levels of minerals, trace minerals, and vitamins and feed ingredients of a non-toxic nature along with high absorption capabilities. The chick can be no better than the egg yolk laid by the hen, the yolk produced by the hen can be no better than the diet fed to the hen.
If the hen laying the yolk is poorly fed, it also may have a slightly malfunctioning liver (pale brown, yellow, black, or multicolored liver). It is a well-known fact the LIVER of the HEN participates in producing the YOLK for the EGG. A “malfunctioning” hen liver will automatically produce a “nutritionally deficient” yolk. A nutritionally deficient yolk will produce a nutritionally deficient embryo AND CHICK. A “yellow livered” baby chick clearly demonstrates a malfunctioning liver (caused by the malfunctioning liver of the hen producing the yolk) which causes a severe decrease in bile production in the chick. Bile normally is pumped to the yolk sack and its purpose is to “break down” the FATS in the yolk so they can be absorbed by the chick. When the chick liver is malfunctioning, the chick is automatically nutritionally deficient.
A yellow-livered, nutritionally deficient chick is one that is facing a high mortality rate. Some can survive, but many will not overcome the battle. Chicks at ANY age with a YELLOW LIVER are NOT NORMAL and a clear sign of nutritional deficiencies passed on by the breeder hen.
I have placed a couple example photos on the Blue Mountain web site that show what the livers of a NORMAL chick and ABNORMAL chick look like. You can view the photos at the Blue Mountain comparisons, studies, and field trial section under the heading of Yellow Liver Chick Study
My sincere thanks and appreciation to the chicks that gave their lives to this study. Their contribution hopefully will save thousands of other chick lives in the years to come and will allow us to understand WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO FEED OUR BREEDER BIRDS THE BEST DIET WE CAN. The chick health at your farm depends on it!
There were many other valuable things learned about the anatomy of healthy chicks and how they compare to unhealthy chicks such as differences in the size of the “Thymus” gland (gland connected to the immune system of the chick). More will be discussed about these findings in a later article.
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