Dr. Richard Blatchford, associate poultry specialist, Center for Animal Welfare, UC-Davis, believes it’s important for those who raise chickens to understand why birds do what they do. Blatchford studies chicken behavior and shares what he learns to help those who raise poultry.
Chickens were domesticated in Asia around 10,000 years ago and are still referred to by many as “jungle fowl.” Despite years of domestication and selection, the behavior of modern chickens is almost identical to that of their wild ancestors.
“Domestication doesn’t change the behavioral repertoire of a species,” said Blatchford. “It just changes the threshold it takes to stimulate certain behavior.”
Blatchford said it’s possible to discover what chickens prefer. “We can actually ‘ask’ chickens how much they want to perform a particular behavior,” he said. “One way is if we deprive them of the ability to perform a behavior – what happens when we give it back? If they’re really motivated to perform that behavior, we’d expect when we give them access to it, they’d perform it a lot. That’s called rebound behavior.”
Chickens spend up to 90% of their time each day engaging in foraging or seeking behavior for food. Providing a way for birds to “work” for food is important because birds that can’t follow their feeding instincts often exhibit nuisance behavior.
Chickens often prefer food choices they’ve worked for. If given the option of eating food freely versus a bowl of food they worked for, Blatchford said chickens almost always select the bowl of food they have to work for, even though they can easily access the other feed.
Perching is another important natural behavior but can become a nuisance if birds perch in undesirable areas. Many animals like to eat jungle fowl, and one of the ways chickens protect themselves at night is to go up into trees. This provides protection against terrestrial predators and helps chickens gain a better view of avian predators.
“Providing them with a perch area is important,” Blatchford said. “If birds are perching in inappropriate areas, it might be a matter of height. Birds need to go up, and if a perch is too low to the ground, they might not use it.”
Every chicken likes a good dust bath. Despite common thinking, chickens don’t dust bathe to prevent ectoparasites such as mites and lice. “We now know that dust bathing itself doesn’t do that,” he said. “Dust bathing is meant to absorb excess feather lipids and keep chickens in good condition for thermoregulation.”
Dust bathing combines several natural behaviors. “It’s about getting loose soil or other substrate and working it up into the feathers,” he said. “Modern birds will do it in any substrate, or even no substrate. Even chicks will attempt to dust bathe.”
Dust bathing is one of the few social behaviors in which chickens touch each other, so it can be a strong bonding experience. Aside from dust bathing, most bird-to-bird touching means getting pecked and is usually associated with social order or a negative experience. Dust bathing is a highly social behavior, and birds often sit with one another while doing it.
Nesting is necessary but can be a tricky behavior to manage. Blatchford explained that chickens are naturally ground nesters and attempt to hide their nests from predators. Many poultry owners provide open-type nests, but chickens often refuse to use such boxes because they don’t feel secluded when in them. Instead, they lay eggs in a corner where they perceive shelter and darkness. If hens aren’t using nesting boxes, consider modifying nesting areas to give birds what they prefer.
Ideally, the coop should have sufficient nesting boxes so each hen has a box. For large flocks, one box for five hens should work. The goal is to eliminate competition and provide a way for birds to lay eggs without being harassed by other hens.
Birds are very social layers and are attracted to nest areas other birds are using. Sometimes dummy eggs help encourage hens to use other boxes. However, even with sufficient boxes, hens may still crowd and use a preferred nesting box. Providing options with ample boxes is the key.
Although hens tend to be quiet, roosters are typically quite noisy. Blatchford explained roosters’ crowing as territorial behavior. “They’re claiming territory and telling other males to stay away,” he said. “Neighboring males will respond with the same message.”
There’s a reason crowing is often more prominent in the morning. “Roosters crow in the morning because the air is conducive to helping sound travel further,” said Blatchford.
However, that doesn’t explain why roosters often crow throughout the day. Blatchford said many roosters crow when they think their territory has been invaded, something startled them or a new individual came onto the property. Roosters that crow at night may be responding to oddities in the environment such as a floodlight that switches on randomly.
Feather loss can be alarming to first-time chicken owners, but molting is a natural process that occurs once or twice a year. Some birds lose all their feathers at once while others molt more gradually.
For poultry owners who aren’t sure if feather loss is due to molting or other reasons, Blatchford suggested looking for “porcupine quills,” which are the sheaths where new feathers are growing. “If you see these,” he said, “you know she is molting and will be fine.”
Feather picking is a different story, and usually shows up in a particular pattern. “If birds are pulling feathers due to aggression, we see feather loss around the vent area,” said Blatchford, “or feather loss on the back of the neck because the bird was trying to run away.”
He added that aggressive birds don’t target individuals – they start picking at all the other birds. The birds with the nicest feathers are the aggressors and may have to be removed from the flock.
Understanding chicken behavior promotes positive interactions, decreases negative behaviors and helps manage nuisance behavior. Best of all, understanding and creating a healthy environment for chickens means a better, more profitable experience for the farmer.
by Sally Colby
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