Early Parent-Young Interactions in Red Junglefowl: Earlobe Pecking

Abstract

After hatching, Red Junglefowl chicks (Gallus gallus) remain in the nest where the hen broods them for 12 to 24 h before calling them out of the nest in apparent search for food. Although a few studies describe parent-young interactions in wild and domestic chickens (McBride et al. 1969, Stokes 1971), relatively little is known about the social interactions that occur in the nest during the pre-exodus brooding period. While recording maternal vocalizations of Red Junglefowl hens at nest sites in the field, I noted other types of interactions between parents and young during the pre-exodus period. These observations were made at a field station near Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. A free-ranging population of 10 to 30 nonwing-clipped adult Red Junglefowl is maintained year-round at the field station. The birds I studied were crosses of three subspecies of Red JunglefowlBurmese Red Junglefowl (G. g. spadiceus), Tonkinese Red Junglefowl (G. g. jabouillei), and Indian Red Junglefowl (G. g. murghi). (While the breeder of the stock believes these birds to be purely wild junglefowl, the possibility remains that there may have been some admixture of domestic fowl in their ancestry.) I watched the nesting junglefowl hens from a tent located 10 to 20 m from each natural nest site. Eight hens were observed with their young from the time of hatching until leaving the nest. The first hen was observed by Gilbert Gottlieb and me in the spring of 1974 without the aid of binoculars or telephoto lenses. During the brooding period, the young occasionally emerged from under the brooding hen to sit beside her or to feed. At these times, parental feeding (of the kind described by Stokes 1971) often occurred; that is, the hen, while still sitting on the nest, pecked at the ground (presumably at a morsel of food) and simultaneously uttered a food call, which prompted the young to gather