Cooperative Behavior?

[MROO]

If she is of age, encourage interest in the science fair and try to develop a relationship with research faculty at a university. A good percentage of the teenage kids I have had help with research projects during summer have gone on to pursue careers in the sciences or medicine.

Will do. She's looking really, really hard at Penn State. Guess I'd better start buying lottery tickets ...

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

This girl hatched her first chicks in early summer last year. She would willingly allow me and 1 of the roos to be near. I could scoop one up with no fuss from her at all. She would also allow 2 of the large dogs near. But absolutely nothing or no one else untill the chicks were around 4 wks old.
Not even other chicks or hens.
Unfortunately I didnt get pics of the roo or the dogs with them.. any ideas on her behavoir? She's the only hen I've seen do this here..
Not a great pic..it was taken with my phone and its all have for taking pics.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

And this is Henry.. my Treakle... he doesnt attemot to mount as Treakle does and Ive seen him breed a couple of hens but he doesn't seem to have a harem of his own. Tho there are plenty of available hens from what I can tell. He will fly up and perch on my shoulder while Im out feeding then jump down to go eat.. I can usually walk outside at any given time and call his name and he comes running and perches.. he doesn't peck at me or show any aggressive behavior. He talks a bit and is happy for a scratch or two then goes on his way again..
Not sure what is going in his mind..
He is a gentle boy with all the other birds and tends to just roam from group to group..
This is currently the best pic I have of him. I brought him in for my granddaughter to see.. she LOVES the chickens and wanted to pet him. And he seems to like the attention..the crouch he appears to be in is just due to adjusting his ballance when dd2 took the pic

 

[Shadrach]

And this is Henry.. my Treakle... he doesnt attemot to mount as Treakle does and Ive seen him breed a couple of hens but he doesn't seem to have a harem of his own. Tho there are plenty of available hens from what I can tell. He will fly up and perch on my shoulder while Im out feeding then jump down to go eat.. I can usually walk outside at any given time and call his name and he comes running and perches.. he doesn't peck at me or show any aggressive behavior. He talks a bit and is happy for a scratch or two then goes on his way again..
Not sure what is going in his mind..
He is a gentle boy with all the other birds and tends to just roam from group to group..
This is currently the best pic I have of him. I brought him in for my granddaughter to see.. she LOVES the chickens and wanted to pet him. And he seems to like the attention..the crouch he appears to be in is just due to adjusting his ballance when dd2 took the pic
View attachment 1654843

I want to comment on this post first given my experience has been consistent and comparable to those I’ve spoken to about their flocks here in Catalonia.
The roosters and cockerels here are, if approached in the right way, much much easier to keep and handle than hens. I can pick up any rooster here in daylight with the minimum amount of fuss. I can’t claim the same about the hens.
If I visit one of the people here who keep chickens they will pick up their roosters to show me. They rarely pick up their hens.
Initially I thought that for a hen in the normal course of events, physical contact meant mating and I’m obviously not first choice genetic material.
But, I have hens here who are undoubtedly friends and they make physical contact with each other a lot. Fat Bird and Ruffles are inseparable and Gedit and Dink much the same. Both pairs will rest together touching and sometimes wait for each other when their tribes move location.
This could mean that the hens recognize me as male, but I would have thought the roosters and cockerels would be able to do the same and realise I wasn’t a suitable candidate for their affections.
There have been a handful of hens here who I can pick up during daylight hours who won’t perform the post mating shake when I put them down. It took Fat Bird a few years before I was able to carry her from A to B without her performing the ‘shake’ when placed back on the ground.
If I had to pick a chicken as a pet that I could handle on a regular basis, I would pick a rooster.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I want to comment on this post first given my experience has been consistent and comparable to those I’ve spoken to about their flocks here in Catalonia.
The roosters and cockerels here are, if approached in the right way, much much easier to keep and handle than hens. I can pick up any rooster here in daylight with the minimum amount of fuss. I can’t claim the same about the hens.
If I visit one of the people here who keep chickens they will pick up their roosters to show me. They rarely pick up their hens.
Initially I thought that for a hen in the normal course of events, physical contact meant mating and I’m obviously not first choice genetic material.
But, I have hens here who are undoubtedly friends and they make physical contact with each other a lot. Fat Bird and Ruffles are inseparable and Gedit and Dink much the same. Both pairs will rest together touching and sometimes wait for each other when their tribes move location.
This could mean that the hens recognize me as male, but I would have thought the roosters and cockerels would be able to do the same and realise I wasn’t a suitable candidate for their affections.
There have been a handful of hens here who I can pick up during daylight hours who won’t perform the post mating shake when I put them down. It took Fat Bird a few years before I was able to carry her from A to B without her performing the ‘shake’ when placed back on the ground.
If I had to pick a chicken as a pet that I could handle on a regular basis, I would pick a rooster.

Interesting... I don't get much fuss, if any, when I pick up one of my roos either, and I have a bunch. I don't get much fuss from the hens either but haven't noticed if they shake when I put them down. I'll watch and let you know what I find.
When people stop in here Im terrible about pointing out my roos and will pick one up if company wants to pet one of the chickens. I rarely go for a hen in that situation but its mostly been because I think the roos are pretty..

 

[Shadrach]

Knock spent the first night in the temporary nest box on the floor sitting on the 4 eggs I had put in it earlier. The following morning Knock left the temporary next box to defecate, eat and drink. She spent about an hour away from the nest in the company of the rest of her tribe around the bamboo clump at the top of the drive. When she returned she sat on the eggs in the permanent nest box where both she and Tackle from Tribe 1 had laid.
Over the next three days Tackle would arrive to lay an egg, peck at Knock until she got out of the permanent nest box, lay her egg and leave. Knock on her return would get back into the permanent nest box if Tackle had gone or sit in the temporary nest box until she next went to eat and drink.
The Swaps.

Knock letting Cillin know she's not to be messed with returning to the nest.

I decided to let this continue for a couple of reasons.
In the past I have found that if I confiscate the eggs from a broody pullet during the initial couple of days of them sitting they have found an alternative site, often outside and have laid another egg. Other hens have visited this new site and also laid eggs alongside the broody pullets egg. Eventually the broody pullet acquires a sizable clutch of both her own eggs and the eggs of other hens and sits on these. It takes usually three days of sitting before the egg laying drive switches off ime.
It’s winter here and I don’t want hens nesting outside. Firstly because of predators and secondly while the hen may survive the chances of any hatched chicks surviving is reduced away from the coops.
Next, I was interested to see if Knock would swap tribes and team up with Treacle. I think if Treacle was a few months older this might have been a possibility. Knock did manage to hang around on the outskirts of Tribe 1 for some time when she left the nest but the hens would drive her away when she got too close. Both Cillin the rooster of Tribe 1 and the cockerel Treacle while not showing any interest in mating with Knock were extremely tolerant of her presence.

Knock mixing with Tribe 1. The hens from Tribe 1 did finally drive her away and she went back to the nest.

Mon 28th 20.00. I gave Knock a vary large supper with fish and some veg mixed in with the normal feed. I picked Knock up and took her to her tribes coop and placed her on the roost bar with the rest of her tribe.
Tue 29th Jan. Knock arrived this morning and spent a while sitting in the now empty nest. She spent about three hours here and finally went out to join the rest of her tribe.
In the majority of cases here the above is all it takes to discourage a broody hen from sitting.

Not happy, but not in a wire cage. She made her way back to her tribe shortly after.

 

[jBabychickn]

I’ve been watching something here that I have never seen before.
A pullet called Knock who belongs to a group I call Tribe 3, decided that the nest box in my house is where she wanted to lay her eggs. How she knew the nest box was there and why she chose it in preference to the nest boxes her tribe usually use is a bit of a mystery.
I didn’t see her journey to the nest box the first visit. One day I looked and there she was.
The nest box in my house is most definitely the territory of another group I call Tribe 1. There are four groups here currently.
I have watched other hens form other tribes attempt to lay eggs in Tribe 1‘s territory. What usually happens is one of the senior hens drives the interloper out. The interloper then calls for her rooster, if he isn’t already there, and they go and look for another site. This may involve traveling across other tribes territories and this means there is always potential for fighting between the escorting rooster and the roosters of the tribes territory they cross. Often an unescorted hen is ‘fair game’ in the eyes of roosters from other tribes, particularly in the eyes of any cockerels without their own hens in the territory the hen crosses.
I’ve watched this hen Knock make her way from her own tribes territory to the nest box in my house a few times now and I’ve been fascinated by this journey which may involve moving across an acre and half of land.

What happens is Knock sets off with her rooster Notch who escorts her to the edge of Tribe 1s territory or to where Tribe 1 are on route.
When Notch and Knock approach Tribe 1, Cillin, the senior rooster of Tribe 1 and often Treacle, the tribes cockerel move away from their hens and ‘meet’ Notch and Knock from Tribe 3. While both tribe roosters make ‘that’s close enough’ warning calls and frantically peck at the ground and make feint combat bursts towards each other, they don’t fight.
Cillin makes a couple of herding shuffles around Knock and then escorts her away from Notch her rooster. I have never seen him make any attempt to mate with Knock; he just escorts her past his hens and often all the way to the nest box. In effect the two roosters who under normal circumstances don’t get on cooperate in escorting Knock to the nest.
There is a changeover in escort duties. Treacle, the cockerel of Tribe 1 who does not have his own hens doesn’t molest Knock either. In fact he is often the one who hangs around while Knock lays her egg while Cillin returns to his hens.
Normally the hens of one tribe will not tolerate a hen from another tribe close to their rooster and won’t tolerate a hen from another tribe making nests in their coops and territory. There are ‘gray’ areas outside but coops are defended.
The hens in Tribe 1 haven’t driven Knock away. In fact, one hen from Tribe 1 who also lays is the nest box in y house has stood faily patiently below this nest box waiting her turn.

Once Knock has laid her egg she gives the escort call and both Cillin and Notch respond. Cillin will come to the door of my house and escort Knock to the edge of Tribe 1‘s territory or to wherever Notch is waiting. Notch then escorts Knock back to the rest of his tribe and often mates with Knock. Neither Cillin or Treacle have made any attempt to mate with Knock.
It makes sense for Notch to escort Knock because he is protecting his genes. It doesn’t make any sense for Cillin to take up the escort duties if he has no genetic investment in the hen and isn’t actively looking to increase the number of hens in his tribe.
On the face of it this is cooperation between Tribes/flocks/groups with the interests of the species foremost. That has some serious implications.
Given this has happened a number of times it implies there could be an agreed arrangement between the two roosters and what I find even more interesting is Treacle, who doesn’t have his own hens isn’t making any attempts to mate with Knock.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the exchange taking place.

Notch and Knock in the background approaching Tribe 1.
View attachment 1649478

Tribe 1 moving away from Notch and Knock to keep close to Cillin, their rooster.
View attachment 1649480

Notch leaves Knock at this point and returns to his hens.
View attachment 1649482

Cillin is already in the house and Treacle follows as rearguard.
View attachment 1649484

Treacle herding Knock, but not showing any intention of mating.
View attachment 1649485

Cillin herding Knock but not showing any intention of mating.
View attachment 1649486

Cillin below the nest box semi squatting and making encouraging nesting sounds.
View attachment 1649487

Knock in the nest box getting settled.
View attachment 1649488

Can I come live with you?

 

[jBabychickn]

If I had to pick a chicken as a pet that I could handle on a regular basis, I would pick a rooster.

I completely agree with you!

 

[Shadrach]

Can I come live with you?

No!
I don't live there anymore. I'm back in the UK for a while at least.