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Chicken genomics

Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation

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A genetic factor that encourages this form of farmyard bullying has been identified.

Abstract

Feather-pecking in domestic birds is associated with cannibalism and severe welfare problems1. It is a dramatic example of a spiteful behaviour in which the victim's fitness is reduced for no immediate direct benefit to the perpetrator2 and its evolution is unexplained. Here we show that the plumage pigmentation of a chicken may predispose it to become a victim: birds suffer more drastic feather-pecking when the colour of their plumage is due to the expression of a wild recessive allele at PMEL17, a gene that controls plumage melanization3, and when these birds are relatively common in a flock. These findings, obtained using an intercross between a domestic fowl and its wild ancestor, have implications for the welfare of domestic species and offer insight into the genetic changes associated with the evolution of feather-pecking during the early stages of domestication.

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Figure 1: Chicken vulnerability to feather-pecking.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 234, Skara, 53223, Sweden

    Linda Keeling & Karin E. Schütz

  2. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Box 597, Uppsala, 75124, Sweden

    Leif Andersson & Susanne Kerje

  3. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75124, Sweden

    Leif Andersson, Robert Fredriksson & Örjan Carlborg

  4. AgResearch, Animal Behaviour & Welfare, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Karin E. Schütz

  5. Department of Biology, IFM, Linköping University, Linköping, 58183, Sweden

    Susanne Kerje, Tommaso Pizzari & Per Jensen

  6. Roslin Institute, Roslin, EH25 9PS, Midlothian, UK

    Örjan Carlborg

  7. Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Charles K. Cornwallis

  8. Evolution & Ecology Group, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Tommaso Pizzari

Authors
  1. Linda Keeling
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  2. Leif Andersson
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  3. Karin E. Schütz
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  4. Susanne Kerje
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  5. Robert Fredriksson
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  6. Örjan Carlborg
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  7. Charles K. Cornwallis
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  8. Tommaso Pizzari
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  9. Per Jensen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Per Jensen.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Keeling, L., Andersson, L., Schütz, K. et al. Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation. Nature 431, 645–646 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/431645a

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