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From page 43
When referring to this ordered social structure in chickens, and sometimes other bird species, it is called the Pecking Order. It is thought that chickens inherited a pecking order from their ancestors, the Red Jungle Fowl of Thailand, who had a pecking order so that when food was available, there are no fights over food, attracting attention to the flock by predators. The pecking order is established early in a chicken ' s life when raised in a flock. Young chicks peck each other and bully one another when they are near food. The stronger chicks get to eat first, or eat the best foods and treats. Pullets and cockerels that grow up together will run and bump into each other, with the stronger one often chasing the other. After slight pecks, chasing and minor disputes on the roosts,
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order is established and is evident by the peaceful nature of the flock, because each bird knows where they rank and who they can and cannot push around. Unless a member of the flock is removed or added, the pecking order may remain the same for a long time, although it is never permanent. Hens maintain a personal space around their heads and keep a distance from each other by holding their heads at an angle and maintaining a specific body orientation. If a direct head-to-head stance is taken, then pecking will ensue. The relationship of body stance and head position is important during pecking attacks. These include threats in which one bird lifts its head above the level of the other bird ' s head, then pecks the comb, head, neck or nape, wattles and then chases the subordinate away. |
Pecking is often greatest in adolescent hens. Provide plenty of feed and watering points and plenty of floor space when the flock is settling, so that there is no need for the fowls to peck each other in order to eat and drink. Hens love to dust bath, and it is clearly an innate behaviour. Dust bathing behaviour actions are even seen by birds bred with no feathers. We assume that hens dust bathe to control parasites and align their feathers. Normally freeliving hens spend their time dispersed except when it comes to dust bathing, which they seem to love to do communally. They also follow the sun around the yard. They all sunbathe, dropping to the ground and lying on their sides with one wing outspread, then turning over and spreading out the other wing while raising their neck feathers to allow the warm |
POULTRY sunlight to penetrate their skin and generate Vitamin D. Similar to dust bathing, sunbathing is a social as well as a healthful activity for chickens. Different social activities and status can be seen where hens are kept commercially. Laying hens have complex interrelationships involving social rank, aggression, feeding behaviour and egg production. Laying hens choose to feed close to each other when given a choice of feeding locations, which demonstrates the importance of social attraction. Hens that are in the same cage and in neighbouring cages will even synchronise their feeding. There is also evidence that chickens peck more at food when they have company than when they are alone. Male courtship displays are generally elaborate, involving vocalisations and noises, postures, etc.
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