ROOSTER-HEN INTERACTIONS

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centrarchid

centrarchid

Crossing the Road
15 Years
Sep 19, 2009
27,603
22,398
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Holts Summit, Missouri
I have a small number of American games that will be manipulated quite alot for the remainder of this breeding season. On most days, upon getting back from work, they will be released from pens in several combinations to enable desired matings and hens to condition for producing hatching eggs and brooding hens to feed chicks. Broodings hens will be reduced daily.

It is already evident that interactions are intense involving a range of behaviors that are both visual and auditory in nature. Effort will be expended to document and record interactions. Not all behaviors are exhibited in typical barnyard fowl but will prove interesting to some. Terminology will be like used by cockers since such is typically most detailed and generally accurate in relation to behaviors exhibited.


The Players

Sallie-hen
Brownie-sexually competent pullet in first breeding season
Spec-sexually compentent pullet in first breeding season
Red-cock
Slugger-bullstag
 
Sorry no picks yet. Some will be videos.

ROOSTER RESPONSE TO NOCTURNAL LOW INTENSITY ALARM CALL BY HEN

Every evening four hens are released from their pens and free ranged for a couple hours before dark. Three go back to where they are supposed go to, their respective pens that are simply closed up for night and next day. The fourth hen must be policed up off another pen not her own that is her preferred roost but provides no protection from great horned owl if such were to attempt catch despite dog. I like layers of protections so in pen she must go. When she is picked up she makes a low intensity cackle and penned roosters as far as 200 feet away make louder lower pitched cackles in response. The roosters cackles to my ear are louder than the hen being disturbed. Roosters and hens are in various combinations all about yard. Some with rooster alone, rooster with one or two hens, and single hen alone. Roosters only and in all combinations with respect hens respond to distressed hen. This pattern is maintained every night. Bachelors appear to be the noisiest.
 
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SLUGGER IS A SATELLITE MALE

Every other day I have been releasing the three females and Slugger (bullstag). The two pullets spend much of their time around the pen of Red (cock). Sallie goes where she wants with chicks. Slugger has repeatedly attempted to pick fights with Red and other penned males around cockyard but each time I catch him and return him to his pen before physical contact made with other roosters. After nearly a month of this, Slugger finally figured out that picking fights does not help his cause with the pullets, he thus no longer gets sassy with those males. The pullets will readily submit for Red to copulate but they run from Slugger and Slugger must run them down to have his way. When Slugger gets near the pen of Red he positions his feathers like a juvenile / subordinate stag and keeps at least a couple feet away from Red’s pen. Slugger is being a classic satellite male. He goes after ladies, usually operates at periphery of penned members of flock, and only acts tuff when outside of Red’s immediate vicinity. No matter how hard Slugger tries he cannot get either pullet to approach when he makes the tidbit call. This is maintained even when call is real after I supplied him with a stash of mealworms. Sallie and her chicks on other hand will go to Slugger when he calls and he does not lie. Sallie still fluffs up big time when Slugger is close but does not do so for Red. Red is also father of her chicks.


Slugger - Satellite Bullstag


 
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FEMALES AVOIDING ADVANCES BY SATELLITE / SUBORDINATE MALE

When Slugger is released from his pen he promptly goes to where the ladies are located. Initially the females go to the vicinity of the penned harem master cock (Red) but does not provide protection from Slugger. Slugger, while showing cotton, proceeds to chase each female down and cover (copulate with) her. The females could avoid Slugger by leaving the flocks home range which is barely 2 acres or hunker down in dense vegetation. Actuall option chosen most of time is for female to fly up to an elevated location and sit quitely. Slugger is very much aware of their location and courts them with tidbitting calls, cutting wing, lateral showing of cotton, and silent flapping. I will show later examples of all underlined activities.


Bullpullet (Spec) avoiding Slugger (in background) by getting up on a pen.



Another bullpullet (Brownie) avoiding Slugger by getting up on tiller.
 
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ROOSTER ATTACKED HEN NOT OF HIS HAREM

Brownie (bullpullet) has been incubating her clutch that is nearing hatch. She and Slugger (bullstag in first post) were released together daily for about 15 minutes for mating while she was setting her clutch. They have pen in adjacent pens for the duration of incubation. Today I released two American Dominiques (hen and cock) and rooster walked to another pen to start a fight through wire. At same time hen approached Brownie's pen causing Brownie to make some interesting sounds that need to be recorded and got all fluffed on nest. Slugger got all riled up so I released him to see what he might do. He made no effort to court the dom hen, see simply flogged her several times as she ran to join her cock. Slugger then when back and forth between Brownie on nest and midpoint to where dom pair was located. He was holding feathers just like a ticked-off hen. He was apparently defending nest site, Brownie, or brood. I have seen this before but did not realize context.
 
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SEQUENCE IMMEDIATELY PROCEEDING START OF LAY FOR A CLUTCH

I need more chicks to ensure enough birds next year that have a particular color pattern for use in an experiment. Brownie and Slugger, despite being full siblings, are both heterozygous for the alleles desired in the homozygous birds for next year.


Poor Brownie has been used to set three broods so far this year, the latter two she incubated to hatch. The last brood came off just over a week ago and those were immediately transferred to brooder so I could recondition her for round four. It has taken her ten days of heavy feeding to get to point where she is about to come back into lay. Two days ago she began to produce the “wha-wha” vocalization so I released her and she immediately walked over to Slugger’s pen and solicited for copulation. Slugger was released and he did his deed before running over to cock’s pen and tried to start a fight. Brownie was baited back into her pen and Slugger was snatched up and placed into his. This was repeated yesterday. Today something different was going on with Brownie as she was much more vocal and she kept going in and out of her nest box. I allowed Slugger out and he promptly went to her pen so I lifted it up and let him in. Promptly Slugger went over to the nest box and began to give the call that is only given when a hen is preparing to lay the first egg of a clutch. As he did so Brownie got all excited and observed as Slugger got into nest, repeated his call and started working nest materials about. After about a minute he got out of nest and Brownie nearly knocked him down to get in where she immediately started working on nesting materials herself. I suspect she will have laid an egg shortly, will come out giving another call that will get Slugger to cover her immediately. Slugger will be allowed to stay with her until clutch is set before being returned to his own pen so Brownie can incubate.



This will be last breeding effort for both in the 2012 season as molt is well underway. Slugger has been coming into his eclipse feathers for nearly 45 days and that will be observed closely as it proceeds.
 
Edit: Got egg one at about 5:30 PM on 7/08. We are roughly two weeks from beginning of incubation and 5 weeks from hatch.
Edit: no egg 7/09
Edit: one egg 7/10 (n=2)
Edit: one egg 7/11 (n=3)
Edit: one egg late 7/12 - PM fed salmon fillet with skin on to put fat and carotenoid into Brownie to push egg production (n=4)
Edit: one egg 7/13 (n=5)
Edit: one egg 7/14 (n=6)
Edit: no egg 7/15 (n=6)
Edit: one egg 7/16 (n=7)
 
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