Cooperative Behavior?

[Ribh]

Subscribing just because this is fascinating & I want to know how it plays out.

 

[centrarchid]

Shadrac, your chickens appear to have overlapping home ranges. Mine have closer to discrete territories where groups are more dispersed. When mine operating fully free-range without feed supplementation, then a group of one cock and three hens will make use of at least 3 acres. That tightens up when I supplement forage on a regular basis. Once juveniles come into the picture the area foraged can more than double. The American Dominiques seem to operate in a tighter area like yours.

As I keep looking over your narration and the pictures, it looks to me like somebody is looking to make an opportunity to be a daddy. Best time to cover a hen is right after she deposits an egg in the nest. The rooster cannot fertilize an egg already in pipe to be laid as hen approaches nest.

I am still partial to the use of harem rather than tribe, former is used in scientific literature.

 

[Shadrach]

They do overlap. There are common sites that tribes will visit. These tend to become flash-points. My house is such an area because of food, shelter and safety.
The four tribes cover 4 acres in normal foraging. Usually they move away as another group approaches and manage conflict in this way. This can be done if there is adequate space.
Group behavior changes with seasons, availability of feed, predator presence and fertility.
There was a marked change in behavior when I changed feed to higher protein levels and served as a mash. They now eat more of the commercial feed and forage less. I'll have a better idea of this effect in the Spring.
With the predator presence less foraging has provided predators with less opportunities and this has had an influence on life expectancy.
Bear in mind these are not such natural free rangers as your flock. Also I think you have many more fowl.

Best time to cover a hen is right after she deposits an egg in the nest. The rooster cannot fertilize an egg already in pipe to be laid as hen approaches nest.

Correct. I have written a bit of an article that explains why this is and why the escort system works.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/
You may well be right regarding the hen (Knock) laying eggs with others without any intention of sitting and hatching them herself. I see this quite often with pullets as you have also observed.
Given the above, the ideal time for either the cockerel or the rooster from Tribe1 to further their genes would be when the hen, Knock, from Tribe 3 leaves the nest in my house and makes her way back to her tribe. Also, this would make sense every time she lays because until the escort exchange takes place there is no risk of conflict between the two tribes roosters. This has not happened. I have seen every escort exchange on the return journey.
At the moment, two of the groups are larger than the normal one rooster to three or four hens that is normally stable here.
I've provided this link again which I have already provided for Centrachid on another thread for anyone else who may be interested. It covers some of the advantages of keeping related individuals, hence same breed, more, or less, in flocks.
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/28/3/760/3057961

 

[Callender Girl]

I don't know what I find most fascinating -- the narration of the events, the photos, the ensuing discussion or that lovely nesting box in your house.

This may have just made my day, and I needed the cheering up.

One of my doe goats died yesterday. I had been keeping her warm in the kitchen overnight, but an hour after the vet left, Daisy cried out once and died with me cradling her head. RIP my beautiful girl.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't know what I find most fascinating -- the narration of the events, the photos, the ensuing discussion or that lovely nesting box in your house.

This may have just made my day, and I needed the cheering up.

One of my doe goats died yesterday. I had been keeping her warm in the kitchen overnight, but an hour after the vet left, Daisy cried out once and died with me cradling her head. RIP my beautiful girl.

I'm sorry to read about the death of your doe.
I'm glad the thread has cheered you up.

 

[WVduckchick]

Interesting discussion, so I’m tagging along.

 

[centrarchid]

Bear in mind these are not such natural free rangers as your flock. Also I think you have many more fowl.

When mine are doing their bit, for several years the adult sex ratio is closer to 1 to 1 and they appear to have a larger and more complex area to range. Dispersion of roosting habitats is critical. Your setup appears much more limiting when it comes to nesting sites. Experienced hens will go a hundred yards or more to nest in a building but they are also able to find lots of well protected location among vegetation clumps. Your vegetation in pictures looks mowed or manicured by sheep.

I do not see how there is no feces in your within house images. When I have had hens nest in my closet, they still left presents.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Lions do the same thing. Especially if the males are brothers. If there’s enough females there is cooperating between the males. Many animals that live in social groups do this.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Is it possible that Knock is trying to move up to tribe one and Cillin and Treakle are escorting her as a part of integration?
She and Treakle may form a tribe within the tribe so to speak?
Im just throwing out theories. Im learning and asking questions is how I learn best..

 

[Shadrach]

When mine are doing their bit, for several years the adult sex ratio is closer to 1 to 1 and they appear to have a larger and more complex area to range. Dispersion of roosting habitats is critical. Your setup appears much more limiting when it comes to nesting sites. Experienced hens will go a hundred yards or more to nest in a building but they are also able to find lots of well protected location among vegetation clumps. Your vegetation in pictures looks mowed or manicured by sheep.

I do not see how there is no feces in your within house images. When I have had hens nest in my closet, they still left presents.

The most stable ratio here is 1:3. Of course as breeding and hatching take place new members join the groups.
From what I’ve read regarding ‘domestic' chickens that have gone feral, this is the usual arrangement.
I think for your fowl which are closer in behavior to the jungle fowl and more suited to free ranging, from what I’ve read 1:1 is normal unless offspring are present.
The bantams here manage well with 1:2. but here at least have coped with little conflict with 2:5. They are all related. The junior male being allowed to mate with the junior hens but not the most senior.
Once the ratio reaches 1:5 I found that the junior hens would not get protected or escorted by the rooster and I would sometimes find them wandering around on their own.

The photographs above are all close to human habitations where a degree of tidiness is wanted. It’s also mid winter here and the vegetation is mainly dormant. It looks rather different in the spring and early summer. The sheep are fenced off the land close to the house.
I’ll post some pictures of better cover at some point.
The pullets will venture quite far afield to nest; maybe some 50 or 60 metres. The more senior hens tend to use the available nest boxes more.

Yes I get presents. I get through more toilet paper and bleach than a hotel. I clean up the worst as and when I find it and mop the floor every night.