Social and spatial organization of male behaviour in mated domestic fowl

Observations were made of male spacing, mating and agonistic behaviour in 2 pens of mated domestic fowl. In both pens, site attachment was found, with a bunching of observations for cocks living close to a wall. High-ranking males appeared to move over smaller areas than did low-ranking males. A simple model of dominance relationships between cocks provided a good explanation of the interferences to mating by threatening neighbours. In the larger pen (3.18 m2/cock), the interference was best explained by a territorial type of model, with the most dominant cocks threatening subordinate males mating close to the range centres of either. In the smaller pen (1.95 m2/cock), the effects of fixed sites were negligible, while the threats by dominant neighbours depended on the distance between the males and the orientation of the mating subordinate towards the dominant. The results emphasise the dynamic nature of social systems and the types of social control operating on interactions