Tendency to display spontaneous incubation does not affect maternal responsiveness in the domestic hen

Induction of maternal behavior was performed in 63-week-old hens of the JV15 (or "Vedette") strain which had previously exhibited brief incubating phases during the preceding egg-laying period to discover if their maternal behavior differed from that induced in hens who had no previous record of incubating. The degree of maternal behavior exhibited showed large variation among individuals. However, hens with a history of one or more spontaneous, brief incubation bouts and hens without such histories showed similar responsiveness toward chicks and similar levels of general activity. In most of the subjects, the establishment of maternal behavior was accompanied by a significant long-term fall in the plasma levels of luteinizing hormone whereas the plasma levels of prolactin appeared to be unaffected.