noun

craw

A pouch in a bird’s digestive tract that stores food before digestion.

The cutaway shows grain stored in the hen’s craw.

A side-view domestic hen with a small anatomical cutaway exposing its grain-filled crop at the base of the neck, making the throat food-storage pouch visible.

Etymology

Craw is a traditional name for the throat or crop, with an uncertain deeper origin. In birds, this use identifies the expanded pouch where swallowed food waits before further digestion.

In context

FarmBuilder1:56

loosen the craw or the crop

Chicken Evisceration Tutorial (30 second method) #chicken #butchering #pasturedpoultry

More examples

The diagram labels the craw before the stomach.
A full craw bulged beneath the pigeon’s neck feathers.
The farmer checked whether the chick’s craw contained food.

Forms

craw

Similar words

crop: Crop is the usual anatomical term for this food-storage pouch; craw is an older equivalent.
gizzard: The gizzard grinds food; the craw stores it earlier in the digestive tract.