Chickens do pee, yes. But not in the same way as we do, or other mammals. Chickens – and almost all birds for that matter – do not have a urinary bladder or an external urethral opening.
A common myth regarding how chickens pee is that they urinate through their skin. The result of protein digestion in mammals is urea, which is water-soluble and is discharged in the fluid we call pee. The by-product of protein metabolism in birds is uric acid, something uniquely distinctive than that of something water-soluble.
Moreover, do chickens Pee Like other animals?
Chickens do not ‘pee’ like other animals, but they do emlinate urates (like urine) in every few poos. If you look, you’ll see white and brown. The white is the urate, the brown is, well, poo!
The benefit to chickens and other birds processing their pee this way is that it helps them stay lighter. Liquid urine is heavy! Chicks also poop fairly often, too. It’s estimated that adult chickens poop once every 25 minutes or do. They’re producing uric acid frequently and getting rid of this material when they defecate.
Do chickens have a bladder?
Unlike most mammals, chickens do not have a bladder to store urine or a urethra to release liquid urine from the body. ( source) How does the chicken’s excretory system work? The kidneys filter and collect the chicken’s urine and then send it through the ureters to the cloaca. This is where things start to get interesting.
Do chickens inbreed?
You are perfectly fine to inbreed your chickens, particularly if you are only doing it in the short-term. In fact, in animal husbandry, this practice is actually widely used and positively regarded.
Inbreeding is a loosely defined term that refers to breeding chickens that are closely related. It is a tool used to intensify genes. If you have good genes, you can intensify those qualities in subsequent generations through inbreeding.
As you’ve noticed, chickens are not morally offended by inbreeding and neither are most animals, in fact for some animals it’s absolutely the norm. In either case, in or out breeding, you should not allow poor quality birds (whatever *you* rate quality on) to continue their line.
Are inbred chicks better for the species?
Inbred offspring is better for the species than no offspring at all, but its hardly ideal. If there are any deformities in the chicks they don’t survive the harrassment of their fellow chicks. Chickens it seems believe in euthanasia, survival of the fittest, etc.
How many hens to breed for inbreeding?
Inbreeding is generally not utilized unless you are working with quality stock.