Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
INTRODUCTION STUDIES of behavior patterns in the chicken have been reviewed by Guhl (1953) and Wood-Gush (1955). Significant associations between individual social status and various quantitative traits associated with the well-being and productivity of the hen have been found by several investigators, including Guhl (1953) and Tindell and Craig (1959). The latter authors and King and Bray (1959) have also detected significant competition effects when strains and breeds were kept in intermingled flocks and compared with the same strains and breeds in separate flocks. Guhl (unpublished) was able to separate lines with high and low aggressiveness from the same foundation stock of White Leghorns, by selecting for these traits in both sexes over a period of a few generations. The present study was carried out in order to estimate the importance of genetic variation for social aggressiveness within each of six strains, including four breeds of chickens. A total of …
Komai et al. (1959) studied this question.