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When I was growing up on a farm, my Aunt Hattie had chickens and it was normal when we went to her house for dinner to watch her chop the chickens head off (on

When I was growing up on a farm, my Aunt Hattie had chickens and it was normal when we went to her house for dinner to watch her chop the chickens head off (on a farm, such things were fairly common and not at all shocking when you are brought up with it). I remember asking her how she decided which one to take. She said that when she went out to get their eggs, whichever one pecked at her the most would be the next one to go. I asked her if that worked, did it send a message to the others. She very flatly said no, they are too stupid to understand that but it makes me feel better. I just thought that was funny and somehow is something I remember.

daveslash 8y ago
We had over a dozen chickens growing up in rural New England. The one at the bottom of the pecking order lost a toe due to it being pecked at by all the others. Our chickens were only for eggs. My Uncle & neighbor had a flock as meat birds; one fall we had a get together where we killed them all, de-feathered and cleaned them, and ultimately froze them. He said sorry to every chicken. You're right; such things are not shocking if you grow up with it.
- jimmux 8y ago
  Chicken pecking orders can be brutal. We had multiple flocks for eggs when I was growing up, and they were usually placid but some hens were so aggressive that I wish we had made dinner of them. One in particular systematically pecked to death every other hen, working down the pecking order until it was the only one left. She was eventually taken out by a fox. We raised them all together from chicks, so I have no explanation for it. As the Simpsons put it, some animals are just jerks.
  - daveslash 8y ago
    None of our chickens were taken out by a fox. However, we had a half-dozen ducks taken out by a fox. The ducks had an enclosed area that they were allowed to roam in during the day, but for their safety they needed to be put back in their duck-house at night. I was around 14 and it was my chore to ensure that the ducks were back in their duck-house. One night, around 4:30pm (after the sun had been down for half-an-hour), I realized that I had forgotten to put the ducks in and I ran outside. 6 out of 7 ducks had already been gotten. It's something that still bothers me when I think about it, but it's an experience that taught me to take responsibility seriously. I would say "Sorry for your [chicken] loss", but it sounds like she was, indeed, a jerk.
  - saghm 8y ago
    > One in particular systematically pecked to death every other hen, working down the pecking order until it was the only one left. Is this where the term "pecking order" comes from? It seems particularly apt in this case.
    - will_pseudonym 8y ago
      Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecking_order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecking_order
    - brazzy 8y ago
      It's mentioned in the first paragraph of TFA.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Was that "down the pecking order" or "up the pecking order"? Wouldn't it have started with the weakest one?
  - gadders 8y ago
    Since we've had a rooster, there is a lot less fighting going on, even when we introduce new birds to the flock. He really does keep the peace between all the hens.
mirimir 8y ago
That's ~similar to one approach in TFA: > Negative reinforcement was one proposed option. The suggestion is to stand by the chicken yard with a loaded water gun and squirt a bullying chicken as soon as it pecks at its target. Negative reinforcement isn’t exactly a groundbreaking idea and this didn’t strike me as a tactic that I wanted to pursue further, although the mental image of a school administrator blasting a bully in the hallway with a SuperSoaker was enjoyable nonetheless. Maybe school administrators can't blast bullies. But they can ignore bullies getting blasted. When I was 9-14, I changed schools a lot. So I tended to get bullied. But I was typically the top math and science student, so teachers tended to like me. So when I blindsided bullies, they played dumb.

daveslash 8y ago

We had over a dozen chickens growing up in rural New England. The one at the bottom of the pecking order lost a toe due to it being pecked at by all the others. Our chickens were only for eggs. My Uncle & neighbor had a flock as meat birds; one fall we had a get together where we killed them all, de-feathered and cleaned them, and ultimately froze them. He said sorry to every chicken. You're right; such things are not shocking if you grow up with it.

jimmux 8y ago
Chicken pecking orders can be brutal. We had multiple flocks for eggs when I was growing up, and they were usually placid but some hens were so aggressive that I wish we had made dinner of them. One in particular systematically pecked to death every other hen, working down the pecking order until it was the only one left. She was eventually taken out by a fox. We raised them all together from chicks, so I have no explanation for it. As the Simpsons put it, some animals are just jerks.
- daveslash 8y ago
  None of our chickens were taken out by a fox. However, we had a half-dozen ducks taken out by a fox. The ducks had an enclosed area that they were allowed to roam in during the day, but for their safety they needed to be put back in their duck-house at night. I was around 14 and it was my chore to ensure that the ducks were back in their duck-house. One night, around 4:30pm (after the sun had been down for half-an-hour), I realized that I had forgotten to put the ducks in and I ran outside. 6 out of 7 ducks had already been gotten. It's something that still bothers me when I think about it, but it's an experience that taught me to take responsibility seriously. I would say "Sorry for your [chicken] loss", but it sounds like she was, indeed, a jerk.
- saghm 8y ago
  > One in particular systematically pecked to death every other hen, working down the pecking order until it was the only one left. Is this where the term "pecking order" comes from? It seems particularly apt in this case.
  - will_pseudonym 8y ago
    Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecking_order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecking_order
  - brazzy 8y ago
    It's mentioned in the first paragraph of TFA.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Was that "down the pecking order" or "up the pecking order"? Wouldn't it have started with the weakest one?
- gadders 8y ago
  Since we've had a rooster, there is a lot less fighting going on, even when we introduce new birds to the flock. He really does keep the peace between all the hens.

mirimir 8y ago

That's ~similar to one approach in TFA: > Negative reinforcement was one proposed option. The suggestion is to stand by the chicken yard with a loaded water gun and squirt a bullying chicken as soon as it pecks at its target. Negative reinforcement isn’t exactly a groundbreaking idea and this didn’t strike me as a tactic that I wanted to pursue further, although the mental image of a school administrator blasting a bully in the hallway with a SuperSoaker was enjoyable nonetheless. Maybe school administrators can't blast bullies. But they can ignore bullies getting blasted. When I was 9-14, I changed schools a lot. So I tended to get bullied. But I was typically the top math and science student, so teachers tended to like me. So when I blindsided bullies, they played dumb.