The past dissection labs have helped me in many ways to understand more about the anatomy and physiology of a broiler. I am much more confident now in performing a dissection than the first time I performed one. I also am not worried about the blood or smell anymore. Another positive outcome has developed from doing dissections every week, and now I am not as nervous to cut the bird. At first, I was scared to cut the bird because I was not sure how deep I should cut or what I might puncture. Now, I know exactly where to cut and how deep and what organ I would cut if I were to go too deep. This experience has also increased my knowledge of the systems involved in the everyday life of a broiler. I have a better knowledge of each system and how they are integrated. For example, cutting the heart and being able to see the different compartments helped me understand the flow of the blood. Once the bird is dead, the blood clot is found in the right atrium of the heart. The blood is dark red because it is oxygenated when the blood stops pumping in the heart. The left ventricle is the largest compartment of the heart because it contributes to supplying blood to the entire body. Because of dissections, I understanding digestion much more clearly. I can visualize the anatomy of the bird to determine where the food goes first and where it exits. The different parts of the intestines are different shades because the blood supply varies in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. Also when they die, the air flow stops so air sacs are no longer visible during dissections. The lungs will be visible, but are small and protected in the rib cage. The veins are the only thing that shows after a bird is deceased. The aorta at the top of the heart is arched and is white in appearance. Another interesting thing I learned during lab is the bone composition. Learning about the different cell types during lecture was not that fun, but in dissection cutting bones longitudinal and vertical to look at the different cell types was much more interesting. I cut off the chicken’s foot and was able to squeeze out a tiny bit of blood. Cartilage and bone both contain blood, but vary in the supply needed. Because of these dissection labs, I can visualize and point out the different organs, bones, and feathers that we talked about in lecture. I really enjoy these dissection labs. They have helped me so much in remembering important information in lectures that were hard to understand. In the dissections, I was able to ask questions and make connections from the lectures.
