Hypothetically-- Could you make a super friendly chicken breed?

[Amelise]

I'll disagree with the majority here and say that personality is absolutely within the genetics - though socialization absolutely plays a role. It's always nature and nurture, as they say. I'll I'm saying is - it's no accident my buff orpington is the friendliest hen I've got, as it's a known trait of the breed! If that isn't genetics, I guess all my university studies don't mean much haha!

https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/209/1/209/5930956
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1056617122000046
As some evidence.

Genetic correlations to behavior is nothing new and is a commonality between all living creatures. How else do fearful, timid wolves evolve into friendly pet dogs, or horses develop the flighty instincts to evade predators, or chickens the social behaviors to unite as a flock? It's all evolution - that is, natural selection of genetics over time.

Long-winded way of saying - yes, of course it's possible. What you'll REALLY be contending with, and the struggle all breeders of all animals have for millennia, is genetic diversity.

The thing is - when you want to breed for specific trait, that trait must appear /reliably/ in offspring. Otherwise you won't be able to continually select for it and you can't count on friendly hens producing friendly chicks. And if you can't do that, what's the point?

However for a specific trait to appear reliably, it must be one of the ONLY genes for that trait available when genes are mixed in offspring. If you're interested in genetics (or if you took upper level biology in high school) you may have heard of the Punnett square - if not, basically, if your genetic mix-n-match choices are aa, Aa, and AA, and the ONLY one you want is AA, well, you only have a 1/4 chance of getting that for each egg. Not great odds for selection. BUT if you only mix a chicken with "aa" genes with another chicken with "aa" genes, now your odds are 100%. Sounds good!

But this is the hard part - to really control the exact genetic outcome you want - that is, to make it reliable - you have to narrow down the gene pool to limit a "mean" gene (let's say, "Aa" slipping in and ruining your genetic line "aa". This means inbreeding - maybe not brother to sister, but possible second cousin to second cousin. And as you may already know - inbreeding often leads to health problems.

I'll be honest, I'm not really in the world of chicken breeding, but I am in the horse and dog world and know a lot about that. Many, many breeds of both species are facing extinction, because it order to maintain the exact appearance and personality of, say, a Dalmatian, you have to aggressively narrow down the gene pool to the point that those animals can barely stay alive long enough to breed themselves.

Now, especially in the dog world, there are genetic diversity "projects" aimed at reviving the breed by reintroducing genetic diversity through integrating other dog breeds into breeding programs. But, the drawback is, these new "Dalmatians" won't /really/ be "Dalmatians", since the new mix will not reliably produce the exact look and personality of that breed standard.

Creating a new trait in a genetic line, or to take that farther, a new breed, means constantly playing the game of balancing the predictability and strength of the trait you want with the health and other attributes of the breed.

Wow... that was maybe too much. Hope it was worth the read. Don't let me scare you off! I think genetic projects - when done with a lot of research and prep - can be awesome. Let me know when your super friendly chicks are on the market!

What! You’re not scaring me. Thanks for the super detailed answer! It sounds tricky but worth a try. Yes, I was thinking about genetic diversity… maybe finding a nicey from someone else’s flock and then correcting whatever unwanted traits come from her is doable.
I would love to take some classes related to this in college. I’ve already taken a few in high school but it’s still something I find interesting! (Though I know only a little about it.)

 

[phasianidae]

Yes, personality and behavior are highly heritable. I have multiple lines of chickens that are carried on through consecutive sibling matings and can observe large differences in behavior between the lines.

Don't show any favoritism to particular birds, let them come to you and you will find out which birds to select. Spend time sitting still in their pen and you'll quickly find the friendliest ones. Mine are the ones that fly up on me even though I never offer them treats, they are just curious and want to be close to you.

In my experience, the friendliest chickens have above average intelligence with down regulated adrenaline response. They are high in curiosity but don't have the fight or flight response that other intelligent birds would have.

 

[Amelise]

Yes, personality and behavior are highly heritable. I have multiple lines of chickens that are carried on through consecutive sibling matings and can observe large differences in behavior between the lines.

that’s what I was hoping!

Don't show any favoritism to particular birds, let them come to you and you will find out which birds to select. Spend time sitting still in their pen and you'll quickly find the friendliest ones. Mine are the ones that fly up on me even though I never offer them treats, they are just curious and want to be close to you.

Good advice! I will definitely do that if I try this project.

In my experience, the friendliest chickens have above average intelligence with down regulated adrenaline response. They are high in curiosity but don't have the fight or flight response that other intelligent birds would have.

interesting!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Temperament is definitely at least partly genetic. It’s the whole reason certain breeds are known for certain traits, such as leghorns generally being more flighty. Gamefowl are actually a pretty good example of breeding for temperament, since they’re bred to be docile towards people since their owners definitely don’t want to be attacked by them.

While it’s true that genetic diversity can be a challenge, inbreeding usually isn’t as much of a problem for chickens as it is for other animals. Also, assuming you’re using multiple friendly breeds, you won’t have problems with genetic diversity for a long time.

 

[Amelise]

Temperament is definitely at least partly genetic. It’s the whole reason certain breeds are known for certain traits, such as leghorns generally being more flighty. Gamefowl are actually a pretty good example of breeding for temperament, since they’re bred to be docile towards people since their owners definitely don’t want to be attacked by them.

While it’s true that genetic diversity can be a challenge, inbreeding usually isn’t as much of a problem for chickens as it is for other animals. Also, assuming you’re using multiple friendly breeds, you won’t have problems with genetic diversity for a long time.

If I were also to strive for a certain feather color or another external feature like that, would I work on it before I try to encourage the friendliness, after I’ve already got a lot of freindly ones, or just during the process?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

If I were also to strive for a certain feather color or another external feature like that, would I work on it before I try to encourage the friendliness, after I’ve already got a lot of freindly ones, or just during the process?

If friendliness is the most important trait for you, go for that first and try for color/other traits later. Though, if multiple traits are equally important, you could try selecting for both throughout the process.

 

[Sussex19]

Friendliness is up to the individual bird. Not really a trait.

I think it is genetic to a degree.
I don't have as much experience with chickens in this way, but with goats, cats, (partially the cats!) and horses it definitely is.

 

[Shadrach]

I'll disagree with the majority here and say that personality is absolutely within the genetics - though socialization absolutely plays a role. It's always nature and nurture, as they say. I'll I'm saying is - it's no accident my buff orpington is the friendliest hen I've got, as it's a known trait of the breed! If that isn't genetics, I guess all my university studies don't mean much haha!

https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/209/1/209/5930956
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1056617122000046
As some evidence.

Genetic correlations to behavior is nothing new and is a commonality between all living creatures. How else do fearful, timid wolves evolve into friendly pet dogs, or horses develop the flighty instincts to evade predators, or chickens the social behaviors to unite as a flock? It's all evolution - that is, natural selection of genetics over time.

Long-winded way of saying - yes, of course it's possible. What you'll REALLY be contending with, and the struggle all breeders of all animals have for millennia, is genetic diversity.

The thing is - when you want to breed for specific trait, that trait must appear /reliably/ in offspring. Otherwise you won't be able to continually select for it and you can't count on friendly hens producing friendly chicks. And if you can't do that, what's the point?

However for a specific trait to appear reliably, it must be one of the ONLY genes for that trait available when genes are mixed in offspring. If you're interested in genetics (or if you took upper level biology in high school) you may have heard of the Punnett square - if not, basically, if your genetic mix-n-match choices are aa, Aa, and AA, and the ONLY one you want is AA, well, you only have a 1/4 chance of getting that for each egg. Not great odds for selection. BUT if you only mix a chicken with "aa" genes with another chicken with "aa" genes, now your odds are 100%. Sounds good!

But this is the hard part - to really control the exact genetic outcome you want - that is, to make it reliable - you have to narrow down the gene pool to limit a "mean" gene (let's say, "Aa" slipping in and ruining your genetic line "aa". This means inbreeding - maybe not brother to sister, but possible second cousin to second cousin. And as you may already know - inbreeding often leads to health problems.

I'll be honest, I'm not really in the world of chicken breeding, but I am in the horse and dog world and know a lot about that. Many, many breeds of both species are facing extinction, because it order to maintain the exact appearance and personality of, say, a Dalmatian, you have to aggressively narrow down the gene pool to the point that those animals can barely stay alive long enough to breed themselves.

Now, especially in the dog world, there are genetic diversity "projects" aimed at reviving the breed by reintroducing genetic diversity through integrating other dog breeds into breeding programs. But, the drawback is, these new "Dalmatians" won't /really/ be "Dalmatians", since the new mix will not reliably produce the exact look and personality of that breed standard.

Creating a new trait in a genetic line, or to take that farther, a new breed, means constantly playing the game of balancing the predictability and strength of the trait you want with the health and other attributes of the breed.

Wow... that was maybe too much. Hope it was worth the read. Don't let me scare you off! I think genetic projects - when done with a lot of research and prep - can be awesome. Let me know when your super friendly chicks are on the market!

I think the OP was considering friendliness towards humans, not social interactions between the same species.
I've read the studies.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm daydreaming about the point when i'll have my own place and, therefore, as many chickens as I want. And while i'm at it, i'm thinking about different breeding projects that would be fun to work on (because I think it would be super fun to start a project and see my progress over the years.)
Anyways, i'm wondering if could I create a super friendly chicken breed? (i'm aware there already are friendly chicken breeds, but i'm thinking about friendly chickens that produce consistently friendly offspring. Also, i'm not just thinking about chickens that are simply docile enough to manage, but chickens that are personable and would love to be around people.)
By choosing the only snuggliest and least skittish of personalities, would one be able to eventually create a consistently friendly chicken? (with even consistently friendly roosters?) Would I have to worry about killing their survival instincts? Or could I get them to be friendly with humans but wary of predators?
If I was to go about it, would it be best to not socialize them as much as chicks, and wait to see which ones are naturally friendly, without any training, or would I try to make them as friendly as possible and just choose the friendliest ones?
I don't know, just something fun to think about

The answer is no. You would not be able to breed a bird that is consistantly friendly under any possible keeping conditions.
Even to make an attempt one would need more years than the average human lifetime allows for.

 

[Amelise]

I think the OP was considering friendliness towards humans, not social interactions between the same species.
I've read the studies.

I’m thinking that everything said in their comment can also be applied to the relationship with humans as well. If friendliness between the same species is genetic, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be at least partly genetic for cross species friendliness as well.