pul·lus   [puhl-uhs]
–noun, plural pul·li  [puhl-ahy]
a young bird; a chick.
Origin:
1765–75; < NL, L: from pullulāre to sprout

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Chapter 5: Tammy is NOT in love: The Pecking Order

It's been a while since I last posted and much has changed in the henhouse. Shortly after my last post, the chicks were moved from the brooder into Tammy's pen along with a head of organic cabbage that was supposed to bewitch them into instantly evolving beyond their hierarchical tendencies—specifically, foregoing establishment of a pecking order. However, chickens are not yet ready to do away with their pecking orders, something that has probably been an innate part of their social structure for multiple millennia, for Tammy was more interested in pecking Lemonhead (and the rest of the chicks), than the head of the cabbage. That attempt at flock-building was quickly abandoned to ensure the safety of the chicks.


Round two lasted a bit more than a week and consisted of all the chickens living in separate sections of the same pen—Tammy in one area and the chicks safely in the other. Despite the screen that separated them, each evening I found several of the chicks' feathers lining Tammy's digs. Strangely, I'd also find treats that I put solidly in Tammy's territory in the chicks' side of the pen. I imagined Tammy dangled those treats in front of the chicks to entice them within striking distance.


Finally, in the middle of a balmy autumn night, Tammy and the chicks were moved from the divided pen into their new coop together. After a few squawks, they all settled peacefully in for the night.


Then came morning, and havoc ensued. Sweet Tammy turned into a monster. Time with the chicks as neighbors had not quelled any of her bloodlust for the spot at the top of the pecking order. For days she effectively kept the chicks imprisoned within the henhouse, guarding the ramp that led into the run and attacking each time a chick dared to question her authority. Sometimes the chicks would all barge out at once but that did not deter her.


As stressful as it was to watch, after putting second food and water dishes in the henhouse for the chicks, we did only that—watched. We watched Tammy tear out feathers, clamp down heartily on wings with her beak, and peck at any part of the chicks she could get her beak on. We watched Tammy simultaneously hoard all the meal worms and grasshoppers that we put in the coop as a treat for all the chickens. We watched Tammy hold the chicks at bay as she gobbled up all the tasty food scraps we put in the coop.


As difficult as it was, we adhered to the "No blood, no intervention" rule and after a week it began to pay off. Tammy continues to hold her place at the top even though the chicks are now at least three times her size. Waffles is a strong second. Holyfield is third and I think Lemonhead and Dot are fourth and fifth, respectively. I'm not quite sure about those last two spots in the order, which is indicative of the relatively mild manner of all the chickens at this point. None seem particularly put upon at this point or beaten down to door mat status. Though I still see Tammy clamp down on a wing every now and then, she is so firmly ensconced at the top that her mere presence, as tiny as it is, is enough to keep the rest of the chicks in line.


So yes, Virginia, there is a pecking order, also know as the "peck order". It was first noted by a Norwegian zoologist by the name of Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe in 1921 after he observed what he called Hackordnung, or a "dominance hierarchy" in chicken flocks. And as is their way with democracy, chickens turn their beaks up at feminism as well. If there is a rooster in the flock, he will be the dominant chicken.


Though no one seems to know the reason for the pecking order in chicken social structures, theories include that its existence eliminates social stresses in the flock once each chicken knows where he or she falls within the pecking order, that it prevents chickens from wasting precious energy fighting with other flock members once the pecking order is established, that it ensures the traits of the most fit chickens are passed along to future generations, and that it creates a more cohesive society that is better able to defend against external threats.


Each of those reasons alone is enough to support the existence of the pecking order, though the more I get to know chickens, the more I believe there is something more going on than humans will know for a long time, if ever. And even if there is no reason for the pecking order at all, humans have little room to judge given the complex tax systems, and other cumbersome structures, we live by.


Moral of the story:  Don't dismiss to the bottom of the pecking order what you don't understand.