Maybe useful for any animal behavior scientists

[Jojosine]

Hi all
just thought to share this information about our rooster's behavioral traits as it may be useful to animal behavior studies or 'nature vs nurture' studies:

3 years ago we had only one egg hatching succesfully which turned out to be a Cream Legbar boy and we decided to keep him.
He grew up as only chick in a flock of adult hens with no other roosters (the eggs were bought), so he cannot have learned male behavior as there was no example.

This is the (male) behavior he is displaying:
- crowing (bizarrely, he also crows in the middle of the night when it's pitch dark)
- 'dancing' around hens
- mating (but not overly pushy, when a hen runs away he'll just leave it)
- calling hens when he finds food
- standing guard
- he has a special sound for when he sees non-threatening individuals like us or the cats
- I think he also maintains the pecking order by sometimes keeping lower-ranked individuals away from special treats and preferring the higher-ranked ladies
- very occassionally I have seen him breaking up fights between hens, but when there is a fight he will wait first as if he's not sure what to do
- we're not sure what he'll do when there is a serious threat: there is a bit of a joke going 'round our neighbours that when there is threat he would just yell:"Save yourselves!" before running away and leaving the flock.
- he is absolutely not aggressive and has never really made any attempt of attacking us or the cats. However: when we had to get a hen out of the night coop, he went berserk and that was the only time when we decided to stay out of his way.
- when we have to grab hens for whatever reason: we separate the hen to grab her. He makes a fuss about it, but doesn't attempt to get into the run. Almost as if he sees us as the alpha.
- he sometimes takes some hens into the spare coop during the day (not sure what they're doing there! )
- he tends to lead them away and into the safer area when there are dogs outside the run

Overall, the flock is very calm and there are hardly any fights and all hens look good. The hens wander around while he stands guard, so I guess he does a good job. And he is viable too; we've hatched eggs with him as father.

Maybe there is no such thing as 'learned' male behavior in chickens and is all behavior innate.
If anyone knows if this is the case, I would like to know too. I am very interested in animal behavior in general.

Cheers,

 

[thecatumbrella]

I was watching a video that touched on this the other day. They were talking about how chicks have an ingrained urge to scratch at the ground and don't need to be taught. Even battery hens, kept in cages their entire lives, will scratch at the ground once they have an opportunity.

I'm guessing most hormonal behaviors are hard-wired, like you've noticed with your handsome roo. It is kind of bizarre how on the opposite end of the spectrum, baby chicks need to be taught about food and water. Seems like that would be more critically important!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I would argue that a cockerel raised by hens has “learned” behavior from the hens. Crowing is certainly instinctive but your rooster’s mating and courting behaviors were taught to him by the older hens. Granted that isn’t always the case—my cockerel was raised by hens and he wasn’t well-behaved so it varies. But not having a male role model did not remove role models from your rooster’s equation it gave him female role models. Which would happen to some extent in a mixed flock with an older rooster as well.

You might find this article interesting:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...your-rooster.75056/?page=3#ams-comment-528731

 

[NatJ]

I'm guessing most hormonal behaviors are hard-wired, like you've noticed with your handsome roo. It is kind of bizarre how on the opposite end of the spectrum, baby chicks need to be taught about food and water. Seems like that would be more critically important!

As a general thing, baby chicks do not need to be taught about food and water.

Put a group of chicks in a brooder, have food and water available, and watch what happens: they peck everything and discover the food and water for themselves.

They do learn by watching each other, which makes perfect sense for a flock animal. But they do not need adult chickens, or humans, to teach them.

 

[thecatumbrella]

As a general thing, baby chicks do not need to be taught about food and water.

Put a group of chicks in a brooder, have food and water available, and watch what happens: they peck everything and discover the food and water for themselves.

They do learn by watching each other, which makes perfect sense for a flock animal. But they do not need adult chickens, or humans, to teach them.

That's what I would assume, seeing as they peck everything within reach. Makes me wonder why that idea is so prevalent. I even follow the "no bedding for 3 days" rule to make sure my chicks learn what food is (and to get their legs strong). They STILL eat the bedding once they have the opportunity, but certainly don't make it their primary food source.

Seems like something that would interesting to experiment with, in a safe way of course. I wouldn't mess around with mail order chicks.

 

[NatJ]

That's what I would assume, seeing as they peck everything within reach. Makes me wonder why that idea is so prevalent. I even follow the "no bedding for 3 days" rule to make sure my chicks learn what food is (and to get their legs strong). They STILL eat the bedding once they have the opportunity, but certainly don't make it their primary food source.

Lots of people are raising chicks for the first time, so they do not yet have experience. And with or without experience, lots of people worry because chicks are so small and seem fragile, and they want to do everything right.

The people who do not have problems, and the people who have raised lots of chicks with little trouble, generally do not come here to post about how their chicks are NOT having problems and they are NOT worried.

Seems like something that would interesting to experiment with, in a safe way of course. I wouldn't mess around with mail order chicks.

Ever seen a store with chicks in brooders with wood shavings? If they put the chicks in there, right out of the shipping box, then the experiment has been done many times. Quite a lot of chicks do just fine there, learning what is food and what is bedding and not having any particular problems.

The most recent time I raised chicks, I brooded them in a large area with wood chips on the floor (6x12 feet). I hung a heat lamp, spread a few pieces of paper towel underneath, and put the food and water there. I can't remember if I sprinkled some feed on the paper towel or if the chicks did that for themselves. The chicks ran on and off the paper towel from the first day, and had a good time picking and scratching among the wood chips. 71 of 73 chicks grew up with no problems that I could detect. Two chicks died the day after they arrived. I didn't think I was experimenting, I was just doing things that had worked before, using materials that I had handy at the time.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Lots of people are raising chicks for the first time, so they do not yet have experience. And with or without experience, lots of people worry because chicks are so small and seem fragile, and they want to do everything right.

The people who do not have problems, and the people who have raised lots of chicks with little trouble, generally do not come here to post about how their chicks are NOT having problems and they are NOT worried.


Ever seen a store with chicks in brooders with wood shavings? If they put the chicks in there, right out of the shipping box, then the experiment has been done many times. Quite a lot of chicks do just fine there, learning what is food and what is bedding and not having any particular problems.

The most recent time I raised chicks, I brooded them in a large area with wood chips on the floor (6x12 feet). I hung a heat lamp, spread a few pieces of paper towel underneath, and put the food and water there. I can't remember if I sprinkled some feed on the paper towel or if the chicks did that for themselves. The chicks ran on and off the paper towel from the first day, and had a good time picking and scratching among the wood chips. 71 of 73 chicks grew up with no problems that I could detect. Two chicks died the day after they arrived. I didn't think I was experimenting, I was just doing things that had worked before, using materials that I had handy at the time.

Very good points. This is why I love BYC. I, myself, need to ease off on this "helicopter chicken keeping" mentality and just let them do their thing. I agree, it can be hard when they're so small.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nature versus nurture. Instinct versus learned behavior. Independence versus needing help to survive. Interesting discussion. From what I've seen different species rely on different amounts of each. A sea turtle lays eggs and leaves. The babies hatch and instinctively know to head to the sea and how to feed themselves. No learned behavior from parents whatsoever. Totally able to take care of themselves. Robins need adults to hatch the eggs and the babies are totally unable to feed or take care of themselves. They are totally dependent on their parents to hatch them and to survive after they hatch. Baby chicks can eat and drink on their own, flock together, and tend to sleep in a group, but they depend on the hen for warmth and protection. She will teach them some things but they can manage many things themselves.

If the instincts are not right in the individual then evolution would have removed them from the gene pool. It is possible any individual can have bad instincts but since the species survived the majority have good instincts.

Some of my thoughts and observations on chickens.

Broody hens know how to hatch eggs and raise chicks instinctively. They were doing this long before they were ever domesticated without human help. I find the less I interfere the better my broody hens usually do. There are some caveats about this. We do not keep them in the wild. We house them in contained quarters and force them to interact more closely with the rest of the flock by keeping them in coops and runs. Instead of the hen hiding a nest and hatching her own eggs, they are unable to hide a nest from the rest of the flock. So I mark the eggs so I know which ones belong and check under her regularly to remove any that do not belong. Other than that I try to leave her alone until she brings her chicks off of the nest. My hens hatched in a hatchery where eggs have been hatched by incubator and chicks raised in a brooder for generations know how to do this by instinct if they go broody. They do not need to be taught how to do this.

Hens instinctively know how to lay eggs. But we have bred them by selective breeding to where they lay a lot more than evolution provided and they start laying earlier. We feed them a much better diet than they would get in nature. Often pullets are laying eggs before their natural instincts kick in so we find eggs dropped from the roost or just laying around. It is fairly normal to get weird eggs when a pullet first starts to lay. Many people see these things as emergencies or disasters and start treatment immediately. To me, the normal solution is to give them a few days or maybe a couple of weeks to see if their bodies mature enough for these things to work their way out. Time does not always solve these issues, occasionally there is something wrong with the chicken. I've had to deal with some of that. But the majority of the time, time solves these things for me.

By instinct a rooster should know how to take care of his flock. You can get chicks from a hatchery where the chicks have been hatched for decades by an incubator and raised in a brooder. Raise a cockerel from hatch and he will do these things even if no adults are around. He does not need to be taught. He will mate with the hens, fight for flock dominance, provide protection, keep peace in his flock, and even help take care of the chicks or at least leave them alone. Not all do this correctly, see my reasons under broody hens. Some people see cockerel behavior and assume that is rooster behavior. In nature a dominant rooster runs cockerels out of his flock when they start behaving like that until they grow up enough to attract hens and start their own flock.

We do not raise them the way they evolved. Their instincts do not always fit in with how me mange them which can cause conflict. They can be taught certain things, like where to roost or where to lay eggs. They can learn that you are not a threat to them. There is some learning involved. But there is a lot of instinct also.

 

[Perris]

Maybe there is no such thing as 'learned' male behavior in chickens and is all behavior innate.
If anyone knows if this is the case, I would like to know too. I am very interested in animal behavior in general.

They are not exclusive categories; innate, instinctive behaviour can be improved through learning from others.

This, for example, from Nicol https://www.amazon.com/Behavioural-Biology-Chickens-Christina-Nicol/dp/1780642504 :

“chickens often use their observation of conspecifics to guide their behaviour and avoid the cost of the trial and error of individual learning… as they get older, chicks rely more on their flock mates for social learning… as chicks become more independent, feeding influences shift towards a dual role for both social transmission and individual associative learning… groups of chicks containing a knowledgeable demonstrator developed more successful foraging behaviour than groups of chicks with a naïve demonstrator… having watched a trained demonstrator, naïve hens were better able to learn the behaviour they had just seen than naïve hens that had watched untrained demonstrators or no demonstrator.”

So a chick or chicken that gets the opportunity to observe a competent guide does better at a task than a chick or chicken that has to learn by their own trial and error or by observing an incompetent guide.

 

[thecatumbrella]

This, for example, from Nicol https://www.amazon.com/Behavioural-Biology-Chickens-Christina-Nicol/dp/1780642504 :

I'm almost positive you were the one that recommended this book to me back in 2023. It's SO GOOD! Of course, I need to go through for a refresher, but I've highlighted notes and everything.

Chickens are endlessly fascinating!