Feathered Friends...or not

From World Poultry January 2013A Royal Veterinary College study has found that hens reared in commercial conditions do not form friendships and are not particular about who they spend time with.  Full ArticleThe research published by Applied Animal Behaviour Science and funded by BBSRC, was carried out to discover if the welfare of chickens could be improved by taking advantage of 'friendships'. ************************************************************************************

Inseparable Cousins....yeah, really, cousins.

Sparky's Reaction: Do they truly have no desire to form relationships?  This is quite contrary to research done on birds in the past and goes against everything I've ever seen.  If it's true and not a research flaw,  what do we do with the knowledge that with selective breeding we are capable of eliminating social structure?  

PS I'm sure I'm taking this way beyond the researchers intentions...at least I hope so but, isn't there something a little slimy in thinking about how to take advantage of friendships in terms of food production.  Like, the birds with the most friends taste better?  Is the next step to genetically isolate and replicate popularity.  Eew.