Lecture 32

Question 1

Why did we domesticate poultry?

Answer 1

Food source
- Meat, eggs

Clothing
- Feathers, leather

Other
- Companionship
- Ornamental
- Fighting

Question 2

What are the sexual preferences of avian species?

Answer 2

Differs:
Polygamous - use in commersical so we dont need as many males
- chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ostriches, reas

Monogamous
- Geese (polygamous in commercial), quail, emu, pigeons, ducks, partridges, grouse, guinea fowl

Question 3

What is the group structure like in avian species?

Answer 3

Large groups for at least part of the year (don’t stay in groups during breeding to avoid inbreeding)
* ostrich

Solitary (come together during breeding)
* Pheasants

Question 4

What is the composition and structure of social groups in Red Jungle Fowl?

Answer 4

Flocks between 4 and 30 – mixed sex
* Harem polygynous species with a dominant male todefend the boundaries

May be small all-male flocks in the wild - protection, finding food

Question 5

How does incubation and guarding of offspring differ between avian species?

Answer 5

Males
* Emus, rhea
Male and female
* Ostriches, bobwhite quail, geese
Female
* Chickens, mallard ducks, grouse, turkeys

Question 6

What is the social structure like in chickens?

Answer 6

Dominant male
* Tolerant of other young males
* NOT tolerant of oler males (because of competition and injury)

Females in the flock
* Cominance hierarchy (suppression)

Question 7

What are the behaviours exhibited by chickens during breeding season?

Answer 7

Males attempt to intimidate males and attract females
* Males - wings flapping, preening, tail wagging, tit-biting/cornering, waltzing
* Females - crouching

Question 8

What are the winter months like for wild turkeys?

Answer 8

• Either sex separate or mixed sexfamily groups
• male flocks - siblings that remain together for their lifetime (brother bands)
• female flocks - from various groups
• Dominance hierarchies both male and female groups

Question 9

What happens during breeding season all the time and sometimes in wild turkeys?

Answer 9

Usually:
* Males compete to gain dominance
* Mate with females which gather at central area
* Dominant gets the most matings

Sometimes:
* May have a harem polygenous mating system where one male has 4 to 6 females

In commercial AI is used

Question 10

What does space in the wild depend on?

Answer 10

• resources
• group size
• shelter

Question 11

How far can the jungle fowl, turkeys, and quails travel?

Answer 11

• Jungle fowl - 50km
• Turkeys - 8-16kn, up to 32km in winter
• Quail - 80 km in winter

Question 12

How is vision important in chickens?

Answer 12

• better than human vision
• avoiding predators

Question 13

What does commercial production have to consider with the vision of chickens?

Answer 13

• Daylength
• Light intensity
• Light colour

Question 14

What signals do chickens use to communicate?

Answer 14

• Postures - display threat and submission - raise hackle feathers

vocalization - 31 calls in chickens, 15 in quails
* crowing - territorial control (only dominant male)
- crowing frequency correlated with comb length
- males use crowing to asses dominance of other males

Question 15

What are the morphological features of chickens, quail, and turkeys?

Answer 15

• Chickens - comb size
• Quail - large numbers of sexually dimorphic feathers around head and neck
• Turkeys - necks are featherless, snood (grows when female is near), caruncles, colour, puff up feathers

Question 16

Why do chicken and turkeys cohabitate?

Answer 16

• Could be habitat - roosting sites, food sources
• Relationship between conspecifics
• chickens stay close to cominant male (non-breeding season - female to female relationships close)
• Turkeys - appears to be the sibling male relationships that maintain group cohesion

Question 17

What are interactions between groups of wild turkeys and jungle fowl?

Answer 17

• If food is scarce, 2 or 3 turkey groups may join
• Jungle fowl - territories - tend to stay in those
• most interaction occurs at the start of the breeding season

Question 18

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for male to male?

Answer 18

• Jungle fowl: dominance hierarchy; dominant fowl often attacks subordinate that attempts to crow
• Turkey - male siblings co-operate with each other; dominant breeds the most, but all have the opportunity

Question 19

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for male to female?

Answer 19

• Often elaborate courtships by males
• JF - plumage color not important, but comb size is
• Turkey - longer snoods and wider heads

Question 20

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for parent - offspring?

Answer 20

Embryonic calls
* To parent to tell her to turn the eggs or return to nest
* Hen calls may be important in maternal call recognition

Question 21

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for siblings (embryos)?

Answer 21

Hatching synchrony in precocial birds
* Low frequency delays
* Clicking advantages
Chicks can recognize their parents as well as their siblings
* Later, prefer mates that are slightly different than siblings (avoid inbreeding)

Question 22

What are social groupings like for laying hens?

Answer 22

• Primarily housed in groups of 3-60 in cages, or barns with 1000’s of birds in one open area
• Canada – Codes of Practice require switch to either free-run (open barns, 5000+ hens - broken bones, cant form hiearachy) or enriched housing (cages with furniture – 20-60 hens usually - dominance hiarachy formed lowest aggrassion) free-range (outside- disease, highest aggression)

Question 23

What are social groupings like for meat birds?

Answer 23

• kept in floor pens
• dont see aggression in broilers because they are to young
• turkeys have high aggression - no brother bands

Question 24

What are social groupings like for breeding flocks?

Answer 24

• chicken - natural mating (males and females together) - no mating dance, just grabs females- cause injury
• turkeys - AI (kept separate)

Question 25

What are the social effects on production?

Answer 25

Laying hens - interaction between social rank, aggression, feeding behaviour, and egg production * Many selected strains are quite aggressive (dampens with age) * Hens like to feed close to each other, and synchronize each other * Also lay eggs near other eggs - potential problem in group housing systems

Question 26

What are some social effects on reproduction for broiler breeders (feed restricted birds)?

Answer 26

If dominant birds successfully beat out subordinate birds, they become fat, and the subordinates become thin - affects egg production on both sides

Question 27

What are the social effects on reproduction?

Answer 27

* Subordinate roosters show delayed sexual maturity * High ranking dominant males mate more * These factors might mean there are females who are never mated in a breeding flock

Question 28

What is group composition like for reproduction birds?

Answer 28

Common to house males and females separately until breeding age * Less repro behav at 20 wks compared to males raised with females * Egg production hens lay earlier if they can see and hear males * Egg production higher in turkeys if they can see and hear males

Question 29

How does group size and space affect social behaviour?

Answer 29

In general, increasing group size shows: * higher mortality and damage * more stress In general, increasing stocking density shows: * Increased mortality * increased feather damage and cannibalism

Question 30

How does the group size impact aggressionin chickens?

Answer 30

* Small groups - lowest (stable hierarchy) * Mid sized groups - highest * large groups - middle range (give up on hierarchy) in broilers there is no clear trends

Question 31

How grouping avian species has effects on social behaviour?

Answer 31

* Birds fon’t like unfamiliar birds * Not common to remix most laying hens * When this has been tested, hens will mix with unfamiliar hens after only a few hours - short term stress effects (corticosteroid levels) * Adult breeding flocks - mixing of males and females close to sexual maturity or spiking males

Question 32

What are dominance related problems in chickens?

Answer 32

* Pecking, chasing and fighting between males mostly, but females may also demonstrate this * Can lead to severe injury * Turkeys particularly – can lead to death * In broiler breeders (feed restricted birds), the feed restriction seems to make the aggression between males worse

Question 33

What is abnormal behhaviour in chickens?

Answer 33

Cannibalism * Pulling out of a feather – results in skin damage * Cloacal pecking (results in death) Feather pecking and cannibalism * Feather pecking – pecking and pulling at the feathers of another bird (gentle or aggressive) * Cannibalism – pecking and tearing of the skin and muscle of another bird * Causes are complicated! Likely multifactorial * Light intensity, barn location, housing system, genetics, group size, stocking density, nutrition

Question 34

What are the 2 theories about abnormal behaviour in chickens?

Answer 34

2 theories * Related to dust bathing (Vestergaard and Lisborg, 1993) * Redirection of ground pecking that is part of the foraging and ground pecking exploratory behaviour (Blokhuis, 1986) Both theories point to raising pullets with litter