Versatile, vigilance, and gut microbiome support the priority of high-ranking hens.

ABSTRACT: Dominance hierarchy exists in social animals and shows profound impacts on animals' survival, physical and mental health, and reproductive success. Aggressive interaction, as the main indicator used to calculate social hierarchy, however, is not found in some female animals. In this study, we aimed to figure out the establishment of social hierarchy in hens that almost perform aggressive behaviors and investigated the interactions of social hierarchy with production performance and gut microbiome. Forty 49-day-old Qingyuan hens were randomly divided into four groups. The social hierarchy of hens was calculated by the relative position around the feeder. The rank 1 (R1), R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, and R10 birds were determined in ascending order. Then, R1 and R2 birds (four duplicates,

SUBMITTER: Xie Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10764595 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature