Turkeys digestive system

[Bustabeak]

Ok, so my buddy killed a turkey this morning. We always open up the crop and see what they have been eating. Sunrise here in GA has been being around 7:20 am.  He killed this bird around 8:15 am. My question is:
How long will a bird have a full crop?

Only reason I ask is, the bird he killed had a crop full of corn and leaves etc. we don't have any corn on our property and with him bing shot leads me to believe that this food had been in there from the evening before. Is this possible? I usually always check their crop and on any that I've killed in the mornings they've always been fairly empty.

[FullChoke]

There is a fairly good chance that food found in the crop could be there for quite a while. Although the digestive enzymes secreted in the mouth began the digestion process, very little digestion takes place in the crop—it is simply a temporary storage pouch. Food held in the crop will pass down into the stomach where digestion really starts to take effect.

[g8rvet]

After the stomach is the gizzard where the "chewing" takes place, after the stomach adds the enzymes.  Grinds all that stuff up so the small intestines can digest it.  I would be surprised if all that sat in the crop all night as that is the time for digestion, but I could be wrong. Maybe if that turkey just happened to gorge right before flying up and the crop was backed up.   But I mostly slept through my poultry classes, just studied enough to pass.  Only thing I wanted to really know about poultry was how to cook it!  I can tell you normal transit time in mammals, but not turkeys.

[Bustabeak]

Thanks! That's what I was thinking as well. Maybe he gorged himself.

[jblackburn]

yep, probably was there at least since the day before. Very little happens in the crop other that the addition of some moisture, as said, it's really just a storage pouch.