PECKING ORDER: What is it and how to avoid problems in your flock?
The secrets of the PECKING ORDER in flocks of hens, chickens and chicks
Understanding the social hierarchy of the chicken flock or herd is one of the keys to keeping or raising happy, healthy chickens.
We have all heard the phrase “the hierarchy.” In our minds, we probably see colleagues and co-workers neatly arranged in order of “merit.” From the CEO to the janitor, everyone has their place in the hierarchy.
The term “pecking order” was coined in 1921 by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe to describe the hierarchy of the herd dynamic, and it became popular in the 1930s.
Sometimes hierarchy can make life extremely difficult for chickens and those who raise them! Keep reading to understand exactly what hierarchy is and how you can better cope, avoid, and even end common problems caused by hierarchy.
What is prioritization?
So what exactly is it, and how does it affect you and your flock?
It’s a system by which birds organize their social position in the flock. The highest ranked birds get the best food, water and perches, while the lowest ranked birds get the scraps.
This method of organization places each member of the flock on a ladder of inheritance. At the top of the ladder is the lead rooster (or the hen if there is no rooster). This complex social order is designed to ensure good cohesion between members, better protection against predators, repelling the weakest birds which can create tensions, and petty quarrels.
This type of cooperation between flock members ensures the survival of the flock by giving the best chance to the most able birds to survive.
This way of maintaining social order has served their needs well for millennias. It’s a bit bossy by our standards, but the pecking order – in which each bird has a rank in the flock’s descending hierarchy – is how hens, chicks and chickens govern themselves. This mode of operation is also found in many mammalian species.
The benefit of the few hours of earlier hatching time allows the older chick to gain the upper hand over its younger counterpart. Surprisingly, the older chick will maintain this dominant attitude even if the younger chick becomes stronger, and conversely, the younger chick maintains its subordinate attitude. A hierarchy can thus be formed from experiences and almost psycho-social effects. Experiments show that an animal can become emboldened by its past victories or discouraged by its previous defeats. In many species there is a winner effect as well as a loser effect, so much so that one may wonder if animals do not learn to be dominant or dominated.(1).
The hierarchy is expressed, among other things, by pecking. The biggest, strongest and most aggressive chickens work their way to the top of the flock by subduing the others with their sharp beaks. At first they strut, puff out their feathers and scream, but if that doesn’t get through to them, they peck. This can become violent. Sometimes bloodflows, sometimes the opponent is killed.
This is a flexible structure, and within the flock there are generally four different types of social order:
- Hens versus Hens
- Rooster against Rooster
- Roosters versus Hens
- Hens versus chicks
- Dominants et dominés chez les animaux. Petite sociologie des hiérarchies animales, d’Alexis Rosenbaum, Odile Jacob, 184 pages, 22, 90 euros.
A rooster can rise through the ranks if he mounts a successful campaign against his boss. He then becomes the new leader of the hens! And defeated roosters go down the ladder, as do weak or sick birds.
Roosters at the bottom of the ladder crow less often and rarely mate. The hens have their own ladder reserved for girls. The matriarchs of the flock are at the top of the ladder, the less dominant birds at the bottom. In this system, the oldest, strongest and wisest hens are at the top.
Young pullets that are just about ready to lay will quickly move up the social ladder.
https://youtu.be/ZYbmoSBr3S8
If a pullet doesn’t respect her turn, her place, she is likely to be stared at, pecked at, and feathered by the higher ranking pullets. Usually, a quick glance or peck is enough to remind the lower-ranking hen that she has crossed the line.
The serious games of hierarchy begin when the chicks are about six weeks old. The chicks begin to rush each other, bang their chests and spread their feathers. These are all methods used to intimidate mates at any stage of life. By the time they leave the incubator, they have already established their own hierarchy.
The objectives of the pecking order
The pecking order determines the order in which hens are allowed access to food, water and dust bath areas. It determines who gets the most comfortable nest boxes and the best spots on the roosting bar. The good news is that, at least in a flock of chickens born and raised together, the hierarchy is established early on and the birds live in relative harmony, with only the occasional small skirmish to reinforce the hierarchy. However, if you try to integrate chickens once the order is established, I say good luck.
The chicken or hen at the top of the hierarchy has a special role to play in the flock. It has a heavy responsibility. You will notice that it is often the biggest, the most beautiful and the one with the best crest and plumage. Because she’s so strong and healthy, it’s her responsibility to constantly watch for predators and to keep the others safe when a hawk circles around her or a strange rustle is heard in the nearby bushes.
The top hen is also expected to be adept at identifying food sources, such as a tasty worm nest under a fallen tree trunk or a pile of kitchen scraps the farmer dropped on the way to the compost pile. Although the dominant hen is allowed to eat first, she usually lets the others feed, while keeping a careful eye out for predators, and only eats when everyone else has had their share. I have often noticed that my dominant hens can be very wise, patient, and have a higher intelligence.
Problems with hierarchy
While hierarchy can create a sense of harmony within a flock, it can also create absolute chaos, with hens fighting each other for their position in the hierarchy.
A full-scale attack on the hierarchy is a violent and terrible thing to see. Older birds can lash out, drawing blood, causing serious injury and even death. There is nothing gentle about hierarchy.
Adding new birds to your flock
Adding birds to your existing flock will result in a change in the hierarchy. The older birds will be very wary of the new members and can be quite abusive about it. Needless to say, your older birds will be under tremendous stress and stress means vulnerability to infection and disease.
If you are adding new birds to your flock, it should be done slowly and carefully. You should never add just one bird to an established flock.
The method that has worked well for me in the past is the separation pen.
This is a place where new hens can be safely put after quarantine. This isolation is absolutely necessary to prevent disease transmission. They can look at each other, pace around the pen, but they can’t go in. I do this for a few weeks and then I open the pen.
When you open the temporary pen, you have to have places for the new birds to hide or run if the group members get really nasty.
I haven’t had any integration problems using this method – a few pecks here and there, but nothing too serious. As a chicken keeper, or breeder, you should not intervene unless blood has been shed, then you should quickly remove the injured bird and isolate it.
Be sure to read this article on how to introduce new chickens into your existing flock for more help!
Bullying birds
Sometimes you have a hen that is a bully to everyone. She is often in the middle of the hierarchy, rarely at the top.
A bully is often in the middle of the hierarchy. When she sees a new hen approaching the food, she makes a point of letting her know that she is not entitled to a portion of the food – it’s hers! She dutifully “patrols” the food stations for a day or two, then loses interest. She has made her point, and newcomers avoid her.
If you have a hen like this, the best way to straighten her out is to isolate her for a few days. The hierarchy will change while she is in isolation, and when she is reintroduced, she will be a “newbie” and will be treated accordingly.
Occasionally you will have two or more hens that form a “bully club”. Apply the same treatment to these hens, but reintroduce them into the flock on different days, which should break the bullying pattern!
Sick or injured birds
Chickens rarely show signs of illness or weakness. If they do, the other members of the flock will attack them and drive them out of the flock or kill them.
This sounds horrible, but remember that a herd in the wild is only as strong as its weakest member. This is simply a survival tactic.
If you have a hen that is constantly being pecked, you will need to isolate her for safety. A large cage or “chicken hospital” area will do the trick. Examine it carefully to see if it has been pecked and also try to find out what is wrong with your chicken.
The victim will need to be isolated until her injuries have healed. Now comes the hard part: trying to reintegrate the affected bird. Use the isolation pen, which I mentioned above, for a few days, then introduce her.
When it comes to roosters, the battle can be lost. Adding an unknown rooster to an existing flock with an established rooster is a recipe for disaster.
The first encounter between two unknown roosters usually ends in bloodshed. The established rooster sees the newcomer as a threat to his flock and his leadership role. Immediately, the established rooster will try to put the newcomer in his place. And, as you know, roosters don’t like to be challenged, and the newcomer may want to take over the flock.
In other words, the newcomer may accept the challenge and engage with the established rooster. Often, they fight to the death.
On the other hand, if you raise the roosters together from the chick on up, the hierarchy will be a bit friendlier and, in most cases, the roosters will be able to coexist in the same flock.
That being said, there must be enough hens for each rooster. Otherwise, the two roosters may fight over the handful of hens available to them. A good rule of thumb is to have 4 hens per rooster. This is good for both the hens and the roosters.
How to avoid hierarchy problems
The good news is that there is a lot that the chicken keeper can do to ensure that old and new flock members integrate fairly peacefully. Alleviating this stress is critical.
First, and most importantly, each bird must have sufficient “personal space”.
There are formulas recommended by authorities for the space requirements of the chicken coop and aviary, and 1 square meter per bird (about four square feet) is often quoted for the floor area of the aviary. If they are confined to the chicken coop 24 hours a day, I would certainly add as much space as possible, as boredom leads to mischief!
If, on the other hand, your birds are confined to the chicken coop space, there will be a problem during the winter. I provide my girls with 15-20 cm of roosting space per hen. Sometimes they like to pile on top of each other, and sometimes in the summer during the heat they will spread out. As you can see, it’s an individual matter – some birds like space, others not so much.
It is difficult to provide places to “hide” from the dominant in a small aviary: while those who keep chickens in large sheds or cages can place old boxes, dark and quiet areas where stressed hens can take refuge to get away from it all.
In order to calm this anxiety, there are formulations that can be added to the drinking water to reduce the stress of our hens. These essential oil based products act as an anxiolytic and help them get through these trying times.
To summerize: Don’t forget to provide extra feeding and drinking stations. I usually provide 2 for a flock of 5 hens, 4 for a flock of 30 hens; this allows everyone to eat and drink in peace.
Mitigating territorial disputes
The bloodiest battles occur when a new hen is introduced into an existing flock – it upsets the hierarchy, which must then be re-established. If the new hens are younger or significantly larger than the existing flock, the consequences can be particularly serious.
Never introduce young hens under 20 weeks of age with an adult flock.
Chickens have a habit of gathering around a bleeding hen and pecking at the red wound.
If the injured hen is not separated from her attackers, she may be pecked to death.
The other hens then eat it, as they are cannibalistic animals.
To avoid these conflicts and to counteract the cannibalistic tendencies of the hens, experienced breeders and keepers try to gradually introduce the new hens to each other.
The most common method is to fence off an area inside the chicken coop for the new hens, so that each hen can express her aggression without causing physical damage. After one to two weeks, remove the fence and let them mix. Read the full article: how to integrate chickens into an existing flock.
https://urbanchickencoops.ca/how-to-integrate-new-hens-in-an-existing-flock/
However, keep an eye out and remove injured chickens before they are killed. After treating them, try to bring them back into the flock a second time.
One last thing: humans are also part of the hierarchy. Hens tend to respect the human as the default leader of the flock, but some roosters question this wisdom and seek to overthrow his guardian at the top of the hierarchy. Aggressive roosters range from annoying to dangerous – small children have suffered serious facial injuries from beaks and dewclaws. One solution is to put on thick leather gloves and tackle an overly aggressive rooster to the ground every time he attacks you, which usually establishes dominance and stops the pecking. But if that doesn’t work, most breeders opt for plan B: a stew, a good broth, a crockpot meal, or just have it slaughtered. Don’t risk having a family member get hurt.
Chickens taking a dust bath together. Notice the strategic position of each head to protect themselves from a possible predator.
Conclusion
Hierarchy is a necessary behavior for birds to understand exactly where they fit in their own hierarchy.
Birds at the top of the hierarchy get first dibs on food, water, and roosting sites, while the lower members of the hierarchy are left with the scraps.
Sometimes the hierarchy can become a real problem, but if you follow the steps outlined above, all will be well and harmony will be achieved!
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