The Pecking Order

The Marco Beach Boys and Girls often go on adventures, and one of these escapades was to an autumn music festival in North Carolina. During the drive, the highway wound through one of the small cities between the mountains where the beautiful trees of autumn were ablaze with color.

With the scent of wood smoke and a chill in the air, the car began driving through the town that was clearly all about raising chickens. There were huge chicken houses everywhere. Everyone laughed when there was a highway exit sign that read: “Chicken Shaving Department - Help Wanted!” This is when one of the Marco Beach Boys, who is a poultry science engineer, began to explain about the politics and pecking order of poultry and the never-ending hierarchy in a chicken house. As the narrative of poultry politics in the big chicken houses began to unfold it became impossible not to relate to the scenario.

“In the beginning,” the story began, “When the hens are very young and before they begin to show their fledgling feathers, some of the females begin to aspire and climb to the very highest of the pecking order. The born leader comes first on the ladder, the second-in-command follows the leader, but there is always a wannabe in third place - a wannabe alpha leader who can never seem to make it to the top. Much further down on the ladder of hierarchy are the passive hens who try to stay out of the way.

The pecking order begins during the first five days of a chick’s life. It begins with persistent and unwavering squawking. During and after this speech, many other chicks appear uneasy and move to the corners of the coop and away from the food. After a few weeks of learning to control the chicken feed, the born leader, the second-in-command, and the third-place wannabe move on to relentless feather pecking of the lesser hens. This aggressive action tends to finalize the leadership and reduce any further opposition from any other hens. 

With most chicks, the selection of leaders and pecking order in the coop is determined within eight weeks. The chicks in leadership have an advantage because they get more food and therefore become bigger and more aggressive. They want more of everything from water to nesting space to private dust baths. Soon the passive chicks in the coop learn to cope with the born leader, the second-in-command, and even the exhausted wannabe who is working the hardest to impress everyone.   

When dealing with roosters or male chickens, however, the ranking process is much more complex. Within large chicken coops with multiple hens and roosters, the behavior is beyond extraordinary.  

The alpha rooster is always in charge of the chicken house. He is another born leader who rises to the top of the competition early and tends to dominate the lesser roosters quickly. When dawn breaks over the chicken coop, the alpha rooster will always crow first. Each of the lesser roosters will then take their place to crow as they follow the example of their most popular leader.

In very large chicken houses, the passive are the subjects of all the roosters, the born leader hens, the second-in-command hens, and the wannabe hens. The alpha rooster is indeed a politician. From his first crow of the day to announce his leadership to all of the others, his feathers are perfect, his eyes are sharp, and his talons are groomed and shining. He misses nothing and watches everything during his days of eating the best food, escorting the finest born leader of the hens, and keeping watch over his entire domain. This is especially true concerning his second-in-command, the wannabe, and all the other lesser roosters that live and serve under his watchful alpha eyes.

The lowest pedestal in the pecking order of chicken politics, however, drops down to the very least of all the roosters. No true politician wants this rooster role, but all roles in the chicken house must have a member. The lesser of all roosters appears much different from the highest in leadership. The lowest rooster in the pecking order is a mess. His feathers are torn and ratty, and some are missing. He almost never sleeps. He finds trouble everywhere as the demands of his job are endless. Not only does he not have to take abuse from every other rooster in the house who outranks him, but he must also watch after and service the needs of all the passive chickens. His life as the lowest in the pecking order can only stop if he can find the wherewithal to topple the rooster above him and climb out from under the politics and a pecking order that has been in place for centuries. The pecking order truly depends upon the number of chickens in the coop, but the behavior of the chickens in a flock is always unwavering and steadfast.

During the month of November, the stress in the politics of poultry becomes intense. Throughout history, November has always been about choosing which hens and roosters will rise to the top and dominate leadership.

The business of poultry and politics has been around forever. The favorite Egyptian poultry during the reign of the pharaohs was the guinea fowl and the Egyptians were famous for studying the habits and behavior of these birds in captivity. It was not, however, until the science of poultry became refined and the lucrative production of chickens, turkeys, and ducks, introduced the modern-day chicken house to the age-old legacy of the pecking order.”

When the narrative about chicken politics in the mountains was over, everyone in the car began to consider if the politics of other large houses and organized groups were similar and also adhered to a special pecking order…especially in November and especially during upcoming election years.