Now that I have completed four dissection labs in Poultry 3150, my feelings and thoughts regarding the labs have changed a little. The first dissection, I was still really skeptical and nervous to cut and tear the skin because of the blood. After the second lab, I had a better understanding of where I could cut without nicking organs and how to open the body up. At first, my biggest fear was the blood and smell; however, I have learned that the blood does not bother me. The odor given off by the chicken does not smell great, but it is bearable. The only time the smell is too strong is if the intestines or crop gets cut or torn open. In the second lab, I accidentally tore the intestine when looking for the Meckel’s diverticulum. After experiencing the smell from the intestines, I made sure I was really careful with the crop the next time, and thankfully it all stayed intact. With these last few labs, I hope I do not tear either the intestines or the crop. One challenge I have now is to master cutting the breasts off without cutting the coracoid. I am not sure what the importance is in not cutting the coracoid, but I have yet to cut the breast off without cutting it. My goal is to have the confidence going into the lab final knowing I have and will cut the breast off properly. Another thing that I was not worried about, but now I am, is the timing of the dissection. In the lab final, we have to be able to dissect the chicken in ten minutes. This makes me nervous because it puts more pressure on being able to open up the chicken and cut the breast off properly.
In anticipation of the first dissection lab, I thought I would be scared to dissect each chicken. I learned I actually really enjoy it! Dissections provide me with confidence in what I have learned so far in not only the dissections, but also in lecture. They really help me to understand the information we are learning in lecture because we are experiencing it visually and hands on. I prefer hands on experience because I actually obtain the information and have working knowledge of the experience that I can use again one day. If I were to just memorize notes, I could barely remember the information after a test or use it again. For the dissection labs in Poultry 3150, I hoped to have used previous knowledge from dissections in my Intro to Poultry Science class. Although the anatomy and physiology of a laying hen and a broiler are different, I think it has helped me a lot. Most of the basic systems are the same, so I already know where many of the organs are or how to identify them.
