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Nature 431, 645-646 (7 October 2004) | doi:10.1038/431645a; Published online 6 October 2004

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Chicken genomics: Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation

Linda Keeling1, Leif Andersson2,3, Karin E. Schütz1,4, Susanne Kerje2,5, Robert Fredriksson3, Örjan Carlborg3,6, Charles K. Cornwallis7, Tommaso Pizzari5,8 & Per Jensen5

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

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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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