Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

But as it's a once daily thing, it can't overtake your time

It is a clever game. Part of my morning ritual now. Less time consuming than a crossword puzzle.

 

[BDutch]

I don't think it works like that.
Henry will mate with any hen that lets him. It's the hens that decide whether a mating leads to producing offspring.
The hen can refuse a roosters advances. She can eject his sperm. She can not go broody sit and hatch and finally she can kill any chicks that hatch.
There are lots of subtleties involved but essentially the furthering of the species is in the hands of the hen. A horrifying prospect I know but that's how it is.

A great ability of hens imho. Hopefully they choose wisely too and not just go by the looks or macho behaviour.

 

[BDutch]

The organic eggs come in pink cartons here.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

67 partly cloudy 87% humidity feels like 66 rain 1%.

Had water piped in to my coop yesterday.

Will be trying the nipples and the cups with the chickens for watering.

Have a great day!

 

[RoyalChick]

View attachment 3367410
The organic eggs come in pink cartons here.

Hope it is beetroot dye!

 

[no fly zone]

My frizzles channeling the spirit of their jungle fowl ancestors.

 

[Perris]

Hope it is beetroot dye!

or the variety of carrot called Deep purple - I grew that last year and discovered it dyes everything it's cooked with that colour (deep purple) - nice for a carrot-cum-red-velvet-cake, not so nice for a beef stew

 

[micstrachan]

I don't think it works like that.
Henry will mate with any hen that lets him. It's the hens that decide whether a mating leads to producing offspring.
The hen can refuse a roosters advances. She can eject his sperm. She can not go broody sit and hatch and finally she can kill any chicks that hatch.
There are lots of subtleties involved but essentially the furthering of the species is in the hands of the hen. A horrifying prospect I know but that's how it is.

I think I knew it’s up to the hen, but did not realize roosters are horny bastards who will mount anything.

When there is a rooster, how is the top hen position worked out? Does the rooster have any say in that? When he has a favorite, does that move her up in status? Do roosters tend to choose higher ranked hens, more submissive hens, or is there no trend?

In your article about roosters, you make it very clear that their behavior is motivated by furthering their genes. That’s why I thought there might be some selectivity in who they mate with.

 

[Shadrach]

My frizzles channeling the spirit of their jungle fowl ancestors.

View attachment 3367569

Looks like they're making a good job of it.

 

[Shadrach]

When there is a rooster, how is the top hen position worked out?

I've never seen a rooster have any influence on who is the top hen.
How top hens establish themselves in a starting group I don't know having never seen it, or read much reliable about it.
A couple of studies go by body weight; the heavier the hen the more likely she is to be top hen.
With a rooster introduced to an existing group, I believe the hen who is top when the rooster arrives stays top.
In established multi generational groups it's usually the eldest hen who is top ime, but different keeping arrangements may change this.

When he has a favorite, does that move her up in status?

Not that I've seen. With Henry at the allotments, Matilda was top hen. Henry mated with all the other hens, some much more often than he did Matilda.
Matilda was still boss.
There are of course many other dimensions to chicken relationships, many which are unresearched and not understood. Some pairs make stable long term relationships. With some you can see that affection is present, others not so much. Notch had no sexual relationship with Gedit; she didn't lay eggs. I never saw any signs of affection between the pair but Gedit was top hen until she died.
Fat bird had a few roosters come and go, some she was more willing to mate with than others. She was top hen for almost a decade. One could see some affection between Major and Fat Bird when Major was alive and it took Cillin, years later, a long time before Fat Bird would crouch for him.
New layers tend to get a lot of attention from the roosters. One of the few accurate discriptions of a rooster and his hens is calling his hens his harem. How humans consider harums operate is pretty close to how chickens do it as far as I've seen.

My view is much of chickens social interactions become much clearer when one stops thinking flock and start thinking tribe and family.

Do roosters tend to choose higher ranked hens, more submissive hens, or is there no trend?

Choose for what?
Current favourites that are laying get most sexual attention. It doesn't change their rank. It's the job of the rooster to make the hens eggs fertile. This may not have anything to do with relationships as we think of them. Not all favourites are top hens. Favourites tend to come and go but the roosters relationship with the top hen and perhaps one other have seemed pretty solid despite "the other hens."

My experience of chickens makes them as complicated in a social sense as humans.