Things happen with chickens and I know there are faults that we don’t even realize are there. It was mentioned that it would be good to have a thread that showed things that can go wrong. This post has to do with the wishbone. I am not sure how important this is when exhibiting birds, but I am pretty sure that a misaligned or deformed furcula is a fault, disqualification, not sure about that either(yes, that is what the wishbone is actually called), as you will read in the quote below about what this apparatus on the bird actually does, I had no clue, until I looked it up and found out, it is actually amazing, the action of the wishbone. I save all the wishbones from all the birds that we consume, think I have pretty much all of them from the past couple of years, maybe missing one or two, but not many. I always take the bones home from family dinners, to make soup, no one else will bother, so I am soup maker, smiling. I was washing the three bones that I had (I made a huge bunch of soup and broth to pressure can to have in the larder the other day) and cleaning off every smidgeon of “stuff”. I wince to think what people think I will do with the bones. But I will tell you. One day, at a family reunion, I hope to have enough wishbones to give to every member of my beloved family and at the one, two, three, we will all break our wishbone and make a wish. All wishes will be wished to come true, not just the old thing where two people take a bone and break it and the one with the larger part get the wish to come true. Everyone’s wish will be wished to come true, smiling. Yes, that is on my bucket list. To have all my family members have a wish to come true, using the wishbones from my birds, now smiling that big smile. This brings me great pleasure to think of that day, that fine day.
Ya, so onto the wishbone. There were three, as I said. I was looking at the small one, I had a few very young cockerels that had to go for processing on one of the dates, because I was making room for winter setup. To wait until the near end of December, which was the last trip to abattoir would have been too long for my liking, so they went as little soup pot guys. I looked at the small bone and it looked rather odd, it looked, well I guess I could say, crooked. So I put it on the counter and looked at it. Yes. It was crooked. I put two other bones beside it and they looked normal, well kind of. So I lined them all up and took pictures. One bone sat perfectly as I placed it. One did not. The other one looked good until I laid it on its side and took the picture. Look closely at the pictures and you will see what I mean. The wishbone in the centre of all the pictures is from that wee guy. I think he had something very wrong with how his wishbone sat and probably would have worsened with age. Glad he is gone actually. I think it would be a very difficult measure to see on a fully clothed bird if the wishbone sat true and correct as it should, but guess it can be done. Anyways, just three pictures of some interesting stuff to do with the wishbone. But first, a quote from the Wikipedia (I dislike just putting in links cause I don’t like to go to linked stuff myself, I like to read what things are about in the post, not having to go to a link). Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.
Definition of the wishbone from Wikipedia
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Now I take those three bones and turn them over, pay attention to the centre bone
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And then I take those three bones and lay them on their side. Now really take a close look. The centre wishbone will not even lay on its side, not at all. The other two do, but look closely at the bone on the far right, those bones are not in line with each other, as the wishbone on the left shows. That wishbone also I believe had a defect. So I believe that out of the three cockerels, there was only one that had a nice and evenly set wishbone.
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My prize possession. My mason jar of wishbones. That is a quart mason jar, my pride and joy (gack, don’t let my kids ever see something like this, until they are involved in the family wishbone breaking party), they think that I am odd enough as it is, laughing out loud!!
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Ya, so onto the wishbone. There were three, as I said. I was looking at the small one, I had a few very young cockerels that had to go for processing on one of the dates, because I was making room for winter setup. To wait until the near end of December, which was the last trip to abattoir would have been too long for my liking, so they went as little soup pot guys. I looked at the small bone and it looked rather odd, it looked, well I guess I could say, crooked. So I put it on the counter and looked at it. Yes. It was crooked. I put two other bones beside it and they looked normal, well kind of. So I lined them all up and took pictures. One bone sat perfectly as I placed it. One did not. The other one looked good until I laid it on its side and took the picture. Look closely at the pictures and you will see what I mean. The wishbone in the centre of all the pictures is from that wee guy. I think he had something very wrong with how his wishbone sat and probably would have worsened with age. Glad he is gone actually. I think it would be a very difficult measure to see on a fully clothed bird if the wishbone sat true and correct as it should, but guess it can be done. Anyways, just three pictures of some interesting stuff to do with the wishbone. But first, a quote from the Wikipedia (I dislike just putting in links cause I don’t like to go to linked stuff myself, I like to read what things are about in the post, not having to go to a link). Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.
Definition of the wishbone from Wikipedia
The three bones lined upThe furcula ("little fork" in Latin) or wishbone is a forked bone found in birds and some other animals, and is formed by the fusion of the two clavicles. In birds, its primary function is in the strengthening of the thoracic skeleton to withstand the rigors of flight
The furcula works as a strut between a bird's shoulders, and articulates to each of the bird's scapulae. In conjunction with the coracoid and the scapula, it forms a unique structure called the triosseal canal, which houses a strong tendon that connects the supracoracoideus muscles to the humerus. This system is responsible for lifting the wings during the recovery stroke.
As the thorax is compressed by the flight muscles during up- and downstroke, the upper ends of the furcula spread apart, expanding by as much as 50% of its resting width, and then contracts. X-ray films of starlings in flight have shown that in addition to strengthening the thorax, the furcula acts like a spring in the pectoral girdle during flight. It expands when the wings are pulled downward and snaps back as they are raised. Acting like a spring, the furcula is able to store some of the energy generated by contraction in the breast muscles, expanding the shoulders laterally, and then releasing the energy during upstroke as the furcula snaps back to the normal position. This, in turn, draws the shoulders toward the midline of the body. While the starling has a moderately large and strong forcula for a bird of its size, there are many species where the furcula is completely absent, for instance Australian scrubbirds and bush birds, some toucans and South American barbets, some owls, some parrots, turacos from Africa and mesites of Madagascar. These birds are still fully capable of flying. They also have close relatives where the furcula is vestigal, reduced to a thin strap of ossified ligament, seemingly purposeless. Other species have evolved the furcula in the opposite direction, where it has increased in size and become too stiff or massive to act as a spring. In strong flyers like cranes and falcones, the arms of the furcula are large, hollow and quite rigid. In birds, the furcula also may aid in respiration by helping to pump air through the air sacs
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Now I take those three bones and turn them over, pay attention to the centre bone
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And then I take those three bones and lay them on their side. Now really take a close look. The centre wishbone will not even lay on its side, not at all. The other two do, but look closely at the bone on the far right, those bones are not in line with each other, as the wishbone on the left shows. That wishbone also I believe had a defect. So I believe that out of the three cockerels, there was only one that had a nice and evenly set wishbone.
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My prize possession. My mason jar of wishbones. That is a quart mason jar, my pride and joy (gack, don’t let my kids ever see something like this, until they are involved in the family wishbone breaking party), they think that I am odd enough as it is, laughing out loud!!
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