Lecture 32 Flashcards

1
Q

Why did we domesticate poultry?

A

Food source
- Meat, eggs

Clothing
- Feathers, leather

Other
- Companionship
- Ornamental
- Fighting

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2
Q

What are the sexual preferences of avian species?

A

Differs:
Polygamous - use in commersical so we dont need as many males
- chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ostriches, reas

Monogamous
- Geese (polygamous in commercial), quail, emu, pigeons, ducks, partridges, grouse, guinea fowl

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3
Q

What is the group structure like in avian species?

A

Large groups for at least part of the year (don’t stay in groups during breeding to avoid inbreeding)
* ostrich

Solitary (come together during breeding)
* Pheasants

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4
Q

What is the composition and structure of social groups in Red Jungle Fowl?

A

Flocks between 4 and 30 – mixed sex
* Harem polygynous species with a dominant male todefend the boundaries

May be small all-male flocks in the wild - protection, finding food

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5
Q

How does incubation and guarding of offspring differ between avian species?

A

Males
* Emus, rhea
Male and female
* Ostriches, bobwhite quail, geese
Female
* Chickens, mallard ducks, grouse, turkeys

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6
Q

What is the social structure like in chickens?

A

Dominant male
* Tolerant of other young males
* NOT tolerant of oler males (because of competition and injury)

Females in the flock
* Cominance hierarchy (suppression)

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7
Q

What are the behaviours exhibited by chickens during breeding season?

A

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

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8
Q

What are the winter months like for wild turkeys?

A
  • Either sex separate or mixed sexfamily groups
  • male flocks - siblings that remain together for their lifetime (brother bands)
  • female flocks - from various groups
  • Dominance hierarchies both male and female groups
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9
Q

What happens during breeding season all the time and sometimes in wild turkeys?

A

Usually:
* Males compete to gain dominance
* Mate with females which gather at central area
* Dominant gets the most matings

Sometimes:
* May have a harem polygenous mating system where one male has 4 to 6 females

In commercial AI is used

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10
Q

What does space in the wild depend on?

A
  • resources
  • group size
  • shelter
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11
Q

How far can the jungle fowl, turkeys, and quails travel?

A
  • Jungle fowl - 50km
  • Turkeys - 8-16kn, up to 32km in winter
  • Quail - 80 km in winter
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12
Q

How is vision important in chickens?

A
  • better than human vision
  • avoiding predators
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13
Q

What does commercial production have to consider with the vision of chickens?

A
  • Daylength
  • Light intensity
  • Light colour
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14
Q

What signals do chickens use to communicate?

A
  • Postures - display threat and submission - raise hackle feathers

vocalization - 31 calls in chickens, 15 in quails
* crowing - territorial control (only dominant male)
- crowing frequency correlated with comb length
- males use crowing to asses dominance of other males

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15
Q

What are the morphological features of chickens, quail, and turkeys?

A
  • Chickens - comb size
  • Quail - large numbers of sexually dimorphic feathers around head and neck
  • Turkeys - necks are featherless, snood (grows when female is near), caruncles, colour, puff up feathers
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16
Q

Why do chicken and turkeys cohabitate?

A
  • Could be habitat - roosting sites, food sources
  • Relationship between conspecifics
  • chickens stay close to cominant male (non-breeding season - female to female relationships close)
  • Turkeys - appears to be the sibling male relationships that maintain group cohesion
17
Q

What are interactions between groups of wild turkeys and jungle fowl?

A
  • If food is scarce, 2 or 3 turkey groups may join
  • Jungle fowl - territories - tend to stay in those
  • most interaction occurs at the start of the breeding season
18
Q

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for male to male?

A
  • Jungle fowl: dominance hierarchy; dominant fowl often attacks subordinate that attempts to crow
  • Turkey - male siblings co-operate with each other; dominant breeds the most, but all have the opportunity
19
Q

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for male to female?

A
  • Often elaborate courtships by males
  • JF - plumage color not important, but comb size is
  • Turkey - longer snoods and wider heads
20
Q

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for parent - offspring?

A

Embryonic calls
* To parent to tell her to turn the eggs or return to nest
* Hen calls may be important in maternal call recognition

21
Q

What are interactions within a group like for turkeys and jungle fowl for siblings (embryos)?

A

Hatching synchrony in precocial birds
* Low frequency delays
* Clicking advantages
Chicks can recognize their parents as well as their siblings
* Later, prefer mates that are slightly different than siblings (avoid inbreeding)

22
Q

What are social groupings like for laying hens?

A
  • Primarily housed in groups of 3-60 in cages, or barns with 1000’s of birds in one open area
  • Canada – Codes of Practice require switch to either free-run (open barns, 5000+ hens - broken bones, cant form hiearachy) or enriched housing (cages with furniture – 20-60 hens usually - dominance hiarachy formed lowest aggrassion) free-range (outside- disease, highest aggression)
23
Q

What are social groupings like for meat birds?

A
  • kept in floor pens
  • dont see aggression in broilers because they are to young
  • turkeys have high aggression - no brother bands
24
Q

What are social groupings like for breeding flocks?

A
  • chicken - natural mating (males and females together) - no mating dance, just grabs females- cause injury
  • turkeys - AI (kept separate)
25
Q

What are the social effects on production?

A

Laying hens - interaction between social rank, aggression, feeding behaviour, and egg production
* Many selected strains are quite aggressive (dampens with age)
* Hens like to feed close to each other, and synchronize each other
* Also lay eggs near other eggs - potential problem in group housing systems

26
Q

What are some social effects on reproduction for broiler breeders (feed restricted birds)?

A

If dominant birds successfully beat out subordinate birds, they become fat, and the subordinates become thin - affects egg production on both sides

27
Q

What are the social effects on reproduction?

A
  • Subordinate roosters show delayed sexual maturity
  • High ranking dominant males mate more
  • These factors might mean there are females who are never mated in a breeding flock
28
Q

What is group composition like for reproduction birds?

A

Common to house males and females separately until breeding age
* Less repro behav at 20 wks compared to males raised with females
* Egg production hens lay earlier if they can see and hear males
* Egg production higher in turkeys if they can see and hear males

29
Q

How does group size and space affect social behaviour?

A

In general, increasing group size shows:
* higher mortality and damage
* more stress

In general, increasing stocking density shows:
* Increased mortality
* increased feather damage and cannibalism

30
Q

How does the group size impact aggressionin chickens?

A
  • Small groups - lowest (stable hierarchy)
  • Mid sized groups - highest
  • large groups - middle range (give up on hierarchy)

in broilers there is no clear trends

31
Q

How grouping avian species has effects on social behaviour?

A
  • Birds fon’t like unfamiliar birds
  • Not common to remix most laying hens
  • When this has been tested, hens will mix with unfamiliar hens after only a few hours
  • short term stress effects (corticosteroid levels)
  • Adult breeding flocks - mixing of males and females close to sexual maturity or spiking males
32
Q

What are dominance related problems in chickens?

A
  • Pecking, chasing and fighting between males mostly, but females may also demonstrate this
  • Can lead to severe injury
  • Turkeys particularly – can lead to death
  • In broiler breeders (feed restricted birds), the feed restriction seems to make the aggression between males worse
33
Q

What is abnormal behhaviour in chickens?

A

Cannibalism
* Pulling out of a feather – results in skin damage
* Cloacal pecking (results in death)

Feather pecking and cannibalism
* Feather pecking – pecking and pulling at the feathers of another bird (gentle or aggressive)
* Cannibalism – pecking and tearing of the skin and muscle of another bird
* Causes are complicated! Likely multifactorial
* Light intensity, barn location, housing system,
genetics, group size, stocking density, nutrition

34
Q

What are the 2 theories about abnormal behaviour in chickens?

A

2 theories
* Related to dust bathing (Vestergaard and Lisborg, 1993)
* Redirection of ground pecking that is part of the foraging and ground pecking exploratory behaviour (Blokhuis, 1986)

Both theories point to raising pullets with litter