Poultry Behaviour

Question 1

what was poultry domesticated for

Answer 1

food (meat and eggs)
clothing (feathers)
other (companionship, ornamental, fighting)

Question 2

what are the sexual preferences of chickens

Answer 2

polygamous - do not need as many males
(chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ostriches, rheas)
monogamous - geese, quail, emu, pigeons, ducks, partridges, grouse, guinea fowl

Question 3

what type of group structure

Answer 3

large groups for at least part of the year (ostrich)
solitary (pheasants)

Question 4

which group has males taking care of offspring

Answer 4

emus and rhea

Question 5

which group has male and females taking care of offspring

Answer 5

ostriches, bobwhite quail, geese

Question 6

which has only females taking care of young

Answer 6

chickens, mallard ducks grouse and turkeys

Question 7

what is the social structure

Answer 7

dominant males are tolerant of other young males (to allow them until they become a threat)
not tolerant of older males
females in the flock have a dominance hierarchy

Question 8

what is breeding season like

Answer 8

Males attempt to intimidate males and attract females
wing flapping, preening, tail wagging tit biting/ cornering waltzing
females - crouching

Question 9

breeding season usually …

Answer 9

males compete to gain dominance
mate with females which gather at central area
cominante gets the most matings
1 male can have 4-6 females

Question 10

what does space depend on

Answer 10

food availability, mating and predators

Question 11

how is their vision

Answer 11

better than humans
commercial production means care should be taken with
daylength, light intensity, light colour

Question 12

how does communication get displayed

Answer 12

through signals - postures, signal threat and submission
vocalizations - crowing, frequency correlated with comb length - used to assert dominance

Question 13

how can cohesion be effected

Answer 13

habitat roosting sites, food sources

Question 14

what types of communication is there

Answer 14

male to male - for dominance
male to female - for mating
mother to offspring
siblings - hatching synchrony in precocial birds
low frequency delays and clicking advances

Question 15

what are the social groupings in laying hens

Answer 15

primarily housed in groups of 3-60 in cages or barns with 1000s of birds in one open area
canada - codes of practice requires swutch to either free run (open barns 5000+ hens) or enriched hoursing (cages with furniture 20-60 hens usually)
by 2036 they have so phase out conventional cages

Question 16

how do laying hens interact

Answer 16

interaction between social rank, aggression, feeding behaviour and egg production
many selected strains can be quite aggressive
hens like to feed close to each other and synchronize each other

Question 17

why are broilers given feed restrictions

Answer 17

if dominant birds successfully beat out subordiante birds they become fat, and subordinates this - effecting egg production on both sides

Question 18

how does the hierarchy effect social behaviours

Answer 18

subordinates show a delay in sexual maturity
high ranking males mate more
these factors might mean there are some females who are never mated in a breeding

Question 19

why let females see males

Answer 19

lay earlier when they see and hear males
egg production higher in turkeys if they can see and hear males

Question 20

how do you group animals

Answer 20

birds dont like unfarmiliar birds
not common to remix most laying hens
when this has been tested, hens will mix unfamiliar hens after onlt a few hours

Question 21

what dominance problems may occur

Answer 21

pecking chasinf and fighting between males mostly, but females can also demonstrate this
can lead injury
turkeys can lead to death

Question 22

what abnormal behaviours can be seen

Answer 22

pulling of feathers
cloacal pecking (results in death )
canabolism