Morphology of the So-Called “Breast Blisters”

Abstract During the past 10 years, breast blisters in chickens and turkeys have aroused interest, but the cause as well as the morphology of these formations is as yet unknown. Apparently, this problem has been approached only from a practical standpoint. As far as this author is aware, the only data available are those of Hodgson and Gutteridge (1941). They concluded that such environmental conditions as types of roosts, size and shape of body, and restriction of feed intake do not influence the development of blisters. However, they state that there is a sex and breed difference, the females of the more common breeds being practically free as are the Single Comb White Leghorn males. The males of the other breeds tested varied in their incidence from year to year. Other observations made by these authors were that, to a certain extent, the genetic constitution of the bird influenced the incidence . . .