#chicken science

[homeofhousechickens]

whenever tumblr isnt being mean to me i will upload this as an actual post but for now i hope this works! here is the source link https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/7/2/71

[homeofhousechickens]

Good Roosters are Good for Hens and here is why.

(pictured above is my black rooster Mr.Scoot Man resting his chest of my leghorn hen Blue bird who is comfortably sleeping) Something that never made sense to me is how some people refuse to keep roosters in with their hens when they are allowed to. Normally their reasoning is that roosters are mean,violent and “rape” (yuck dont use that word) the hens. Sadly this is just a case of anthropomorphizing. While there are definitely some aggressive and mean roosters out there you should select polite and docile roosters for your flock instead of encouraging bad breeding and the spreading of aggressive birds. Select boys who are quiet and polite and tidbit often.These are the “good” roosters who exhibit more natural chicken behavior. The best way to prevent overbreeding is to have a good rooster to hen ratio and to keep up maintenance on a roosters claws and spurs like you should do with all your birds. Not only are roosters good flock protectors they influence a hens 5 Freedoms in a positive manner when handled correctly For example Freedom From Hunger and Thirst: Hens who have access to a rooster have better feed efficiency and weights then compared to hens that dont have a rooster A rooster will also actively prevent hen to hen aggression in flocks by putting himself in-between disputes. Roosters will also make sure other roosters aren't over mating the hens by chasing them off when a hen vocalizes her displeasure. A rooster can help a skittish and stressed hen be more confident and feel more secure. Roosters also make sure to find good nesting sites such as nest boxes and help with foraging by finding tasty morsels for their ladies. Some Roosters even preen their ladies to make sure they are clean and parasite free. All of these behaviors influence a hens five freedoms positively but the one it impacts the most is the freedom to express normal behavior. The red jungle fowl (chickens undomesticated wild counterpart) naturally form groups of 2–15 individuals with a slightly female biased sex ratio (more females in a group then males). These groups live within a territory defended by the dominant male, but individuals can move freely between groups (including males). Individuals living in this sort of stable hierarchy are less aggressive toward each other, eat more food, and lay more eggs than individuals who experience social disruptions. In domesticated and wild fowl roosters actively play a huge role in flock social dynamics. To hens it is normal and natural for them constantly having cocks in their social group wanting their attention such as tidbitting and dancing. Hens making mating choices based on their encounters with roosters and running away and screaming (which is to alert the dominant male or hen) when they are grabbed by an over zealous male are a natural part of their flock dynamics. Hen can actually choose what sperm to “use” because of this. The ability to perform reproductive behavior in social birds like chickens is incredibly important and good for welfare. It hugely increases the behavioral repertoire of hens which is incredible for enrichment. Below is a study on roosters impact on hens

Presence of roosters in an alternative egg production system aiming at animal welfare (Abstract) The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the presence of roosters on welfare and egg production of laying hens reared in an alternative system. Two breeding systems were established: barn 1 - laying hens reared without roosters (4500 layers) barn 2 - laying hens reared with roosters (4500 layers and 250 roosters) In the poultry facilities, microclimate, egg production, mortality rate, and bird behavior were evaluated. Microclimate analysis showed that the birds were subjected to periods of constant heat stress, except for the morning hours. However, even under these conditions, egg production results and mortality rate were consistent with the indices (like body weight index) recommended in the Isa Brown management guide in the barn with roosters, the indices obtained were even better and were characterized by higher egg production and lower mortality rates. (Basically these birds weighed more and had higher production and lower deaths) In addition to productivity benefits, the presence of roosters broadened the behavioral repertoire of the birds due to the introduction of reproductive behaviors. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in the tolerance-reflex behavior, which is associated with the impossibility of displaying reproductive behaviors. This alternative egg production system proved to promote animal welfare since it provides and stimulates the display of behaviors considered important for birds. https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-35982017000300175&script=sci_arttext

[homeofhousechickens]

So earlier I was explaining that fibro chickens have weaker immune systems. (Silkies,Ayam Cemani, Moasic, ect)

I kind of wanted to go over in layman’s terms for my followers so I can better explain why birds like my Scoot Man are more likely to develop immune problems.

First of all I always try to back up my claims with sources. This source uses silkies which are also a fibro breed in their study but it still applies to all fibro birds and I’ll get to that in a second

https://europepmc.org/article/med/26047316

(Keep in mind I may misinterprete things incorrectly feel free to correct me if I misunderstood something)

So basically a main thing that we have been seeing in some studies is that hyperpigmentation causes the endocrine system to develop at a much slower rate then birds who aren’t hyperpigmented. We are talking about slowed embryo development related stuff.

The endocrine system is very important for your development of an immune system and when organs that are a part of the system malfunction so can the immune system.

An example of this is that fibro birds develop a spleen much later then other non pigmented birds more then likely due to the distrubuted sheer amount of melanin is through out the body. (And the body producing so much)

So basically to explain it frankly a bird who hatched with fibro will be at more of a disadvantage then a bird who is hatched without hyperpigmentation.

Silkies are known for being fragile especially to common chicken illnesses and prone to vitamin deficiency if not given the correct nutrition this is more then likely due to the hyperpigmentation and not something that is inherit to silkies as a breed though the sometimes vaulted skull and exposed brain more then likely doesn’t help either in poorly bred birds. But we cannot throw aside the fact that hyperpigmentation has a profound effect on immune system development.

A lot of chicken illnesses effect the immune system to and even suppress them like Mareks for example. A chicken with fibro is more likely to suffer from secondary illness then other birds are when a fibro bird is ill. Because the immune system just isn’t as beefy as other birds and more then likely under developed compared to its peers.

The immune system is also important in eliminating damaged or confused cells before they start replicating and causing tumors. Cells get damaged all the time but nothing really happens from it because our immune system helps kill them off. A bird with a weakened immune system will have more trouble keeping these cells from replicating especially if the bird has had its immune system further suppressed by an illness even if the bird has survived the illness.

The study above showed even birds with a single copy of fibro/hyperpigmentation still showed decreased immune system development compared to their nonfibro peers.

Now does this mean all fibro birds are unhealthy? No.

Why? Because with careful and proper breeding practices and good husbandry you can minimize the risks associated with the under developed immune system.

Scoot more then likely comes from generations of line breeding to related birds over and over again with no outcrossing. You can tell due to his shitty feather quality. Black feathered birds who are line bred without healthy outcrossing or careful breeding have their feather quality sharply declined

A lot (not all) Ayam Cemani breeders also rarely wait for a pullet to be at least a year old before using her eggs for hatching because good quality birds loose pigmentation as they get older and you want to produce birds together that are the darkest to get the best looking bird 😒

It’s important to wait for a hen to be at least a year old before breeding because her children will have longer telomeres and will have a better lifespan from it and more stable dna 🧬

The reason why Twinkle is a lot healthier base line then Scoot is because Twinkle is from a very genetically diverse flock and his breeder has very strict biosecurity (NPIP certified) so Twinkle and his flock had time to develop their immune systems vs birds who aren’t in a biosecure location.

Scoot had time to develop his immune system due to being an indoor bird but he did have a few key things that happened to him that maybe made his immune system take a hit like being stuck in the egg and needed help and suffering from delays in growth due to hormone issues

(hmm remember the endocrine system also influences growth!)

What I have learned this year especially from observing fibro breed breeders is that fibro breeds need a higher amount of thiamine and other vitimins in their diet alone with extra protein to help develop things easier if they are to thrive compared to their nonpigmented flock mates.

It’s important for healthy birds to come from healthy hardy parents so you pass on that trait and minimize bad traits.

Fibro birds should also be in their “brooder” or grow out area longer then other breeds so they can catch up with their immune system

With the correct husbandry and knowledge fibro birds can flourish. Personally I find it much less debilitating then huge feathered feet which cause chronic pain and sore feet in the bird. While fibro can be managed fine with correct husbarndry and doesn’t cause pain!

I hopefully I explained everything coherently!

[homeofhousechickens]

Dwarfism and Bantam Chickens

free public patron post about dwarfism in chickens :)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/49011739

[homeofhousechickens]

“A fun sick study on 'head clue' in new born chicks”

via Sigrid van Dort‎ (these are her words not mine)

We all know that the first person a baby goose or duck is seeing, becomes the 'mother'. How does this work in chickens?

We  also directly tested preferences for specimens whose head region is visible compared to ones whose head region was occluded (covered). To clarify whether chicks are sensitive to species-specific information, we  employed specimens of female mallard ducks and of a mammalian predator, the polecat (they thought chicks are daft!!1!).

Well, it is time to buy a chicken mask, because it is not your handsome looks you display on social media that make the chicks will see as their mum. Maybe painting your nose red will help?

The inborn clue of chicks is clearly the head of the mother and it should be a bird head too.

From the research:

Unlearned tendencies to approach animate (alive looking) creatures are of great adaptive value, especially for nidifugous (out of the nest walkers) social birds that need to react to the presence of potential social companions shortly after hatching.  

Domestic chicks’ preferences for taxidermized (stuffed) hens provided the first evidence of social predispositions. However, the nature of the stimuli  eliciting this predisposition is not completely understood.

Here we explore the unlearned preferences of visually naïve domestic chicks for taxidermized animals. Visually naive chicks were tested for their approach preferences between a target stimulus (an intact stuffed animal whose head region was clearly visible) and a control stimulus.

After confirming the predisposition for the intact stuffed fowl hen (Exp. 1), we found an analogous preference for a taxidermized, young domestic chick over a severely scrambled version of the same stimulus, whose body  structure was completely disrupted, extending to same-age individuals the results that had been obtained with taxidermized hens (Exp. 2). 

Chicks showed a preference for the duck stimulus whose wings have been covered over a similar stimulus whose head region has  been covered, providing direct evidence that the visibility of the head region of taxidermized models drive chicks’ behaviour in this test, and that the attraction for the head region indeed extends to females of  other bird species (Exp. 3).

However, no similar preference was obtained with the polecat stimuli (Exp. 4, duh). We thus confirmed the presence of unlearned visual preferences for the head region in newly-hatched chicks, though other factors can limit the species-generality of the phenomenon.

More details:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0222079

[batri-jopa]

science__works_best A chicken can be hypnotized, or put into a trance, with its head down near the ground, by drawing a line along the ground with a stick or a finger, starting at the beak and extending straight outward in front of the chicken

[batri-jopa]

Time for some chicken science!

How to catch a chicken with a leaf:

From achinesetranslator on Instagram

[supergameboytwo]

chicken science