Dominance rank, fear scores and reproduction in cockerels.
Cockerels were tested for dominance rank (509 tests) and sexual activity (79 tests). Fear responses to a human were estimated using a five-point scale (264 tests). The sexual activity of calm cockerels was 135.5 units, and that of fearful ones 66.6 units (P less than 0.05). There was a tendency to better fertility by cockerels from the first group (86.4% to 81.1%). In addition, eggs from this group showed improved hatchability compared with the fearful ones (88.5% to 77.6%). There was no clear relationship between dominance rank and fear score.
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear; D005298:Fertility; D008297:Male; D012098:Reproduction; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012930:Social Dominance