Cooperative Behavior?

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Can you see it now?

I can't...

 

[casportpony]

I see it now!

 

[centrarchid]

YES!

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I see it now!

Oh cool!

 

[Shadrach]

Knock came to the nest box without Notch this morning.
Myth, one of the more senior hens in Tribe 3 has started to crouch and get very demanding of Notch’s attention and being senior and a favorite, gets it.
Cillin, Treacle, Fudge and Tackle were already in the house sheltering from the very strong gusts of wind that are blowing this morning.
Treacle gave Knock a lot of attention but didn’t attempt to mate.

Tackle from Tribe 1 did have a few half hearted lunges at Knock but both Cillin and Treacle blocked her out.
To make things more complicated, Fudge was already messing about in the nest box. I checked Fudge’s vent and bones and she isn’t ready to lay quite yet.

Knock eventually made it into the nest box and almost immediately went pancake flat which means she intends to sit.

Cillin did at one point jump onto the nest box and stood over Knock for a couple of minutes.
About twenty minutes later Tackle who has also been laying in this nest box jumped up to the nest box and perched on the edge giving Knock the occasional peck, trying to get Knock out so she can lay her egg.

I now had two pullets and one hen wanting to use one nest box. I don't intend to allow any of these to sit this early in the year.
In order to keep the peace and still be able to observe Knock I made another nest box. I took 2 eggs from the original nest box and placed them in the temporary nest box and placed Tackle in it. Cillin got in the temporary nest box and encourage Tackle to sit. Tackle wasn't having any of it and perched back on the nest box Knock was in and set about pecking Knock until she finally drove Knock out.

I placed Knock in the temporary nest box with the two eggs. It wasn't until I had placed two more eggs in, making a total of four the she finally settled with Cillin making nesting noises and standing guard.

After a couple of hours Tackle left the permanent nest box and went outside to join the rest of her tribe. Shortly after Tackle left, Knock get out of the temporary nest box and back into the permanent one.

Conventional wisdom is hens prefer dark secluded nest boxes. This has never been consistent with my observations of the hens choices here. Looking at the nest box in my house it would be hard to imagine a less private and secluded spot. This nest box is in constant use. Not only do the hens from Tribe1 prefer to lay there eggs in this box, they also prefer to sit and hatch in this box.
The other tribes here have shown similar preferences when it comes to nest sites. The pullets tend to choose sites away from the nest boxes provided and the more senior hens prefer a nest box that has an open hatch to the outside and they position themselves so they can see out of the nest box and receive a considerable amount of daylight.
A few examples of preferred nest boxes.
A popular area outside during the spring and summer.

Tribe 2's favorite nest site.

A completely open fronted nest site with an attached run.

There have been some studies done on the effects of daylight on egg clutches and hatching success. Virtually everything I have seen here with regard to nest site preferences goes against the current view that nest boxes in dark coops that receive virtually no daylight are what a hen prefers.

 

[Shadrach]

centrachid mentioned that the local environment looked to be light on suitable cover.
Below are some picture of the preferred cover spots of three of the tribes. All these preferred cover spots are within about 20 metres of human habitation.

 

[centrarchid]

I am trying to drum up a research project with my state's department of wildlife management where will use nesting chickens to stand in for wild bird species as we working ways to locate nests using heat signatures and possibly other visual means. I am counting on having some hens nesting more exposed locations where we can scan from a distance. Somewhere I have a bunches of images showing where the hens nest in much more exposed locations by choice. To the human eye they are still tough to spot, but they may be very easy to see with eyes seeing in different spectrums.

 

[centrarchid]

centrachid mentioned that the local environment looked to be light on suitable cover.
Below are some picture of the preferred cover spots of three of the tribes. All these preferred cover spots are within about 20 metres of human habitation.View attachment 1651544
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My comment based on images where multiple social groups could be seen at same time. What you have posted above looks like my woodlots and bamboo patches.

 

[Shadrach]

I am trying to drum up a research project with my state's department of wildlife management where will use nesting chickens to stand in for wild bird species as we working ways to locate nests using heat signatures and possibly other visual means. I am counting on having some hens nesting more exposed locations where we can scan from a distance. Somewhere I have a bunches of images showing where the hens nest in much more exposed locations by choice. To the human eye they are still tough to spot, but they may be very easy to see with eyes seeing in different spectrums.

That would be a great project. There are means of locating birds in the wild but triangulation is needed and of course the bird has to have a small unit attached.
Eventually sender units will be developed that are small enough and light enough for birds. The advantage is you only need a single portable receiver.
Such a setup would save me hours of searching for hens that have nested away from the coops.
Good luck with the project.

 

[MROO]

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.

Correct. I have written a bit of an article that explains why this is and why the escort system works.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-egg-song-it’s-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

People who think that chickens are "simple" creatures have never had, or even seriously observed, the little buggers. This thread is so cool!