Social interactions and antibody titres in young male chickens ( Gallus domesticus)

Abstract

The influence of social interactions on established antibody titres to a Salmonella pullorum antigen was determined in several Athens Randombred families. In two experiments, a large-bodied, aggressive family and a small-bodied, relatively non-aggressive family were placed in three social environments: (1) Four-bird control groups with no changes in membership once formed; (2) three-bird resident groups to which a new fourth bird was introduced daily; (3) the single bird that had been moved to a new group each day. The normal rate of decline in antibody titres was significantly accelerated in birds that were introduced as new members daily (group 3), but only in members of the small non-aggressive family. In a third experiment, using families relatively close in size and aggressiveness, the effects of social grouping on antibody titres were not significant.