Behavior & Psychology

There’s no denying it–chickens are flippin’ flappin’ weird. And you are about to become one, congrats.

Chickens, as with most birds, possess the emotional and intelligence level of a 2 year old human child. Chickens feel emotions on that level including jealousy, fear, affection and sadness, among others. If you are going to be closely involved in your flock of chickens and not just keep them as barnyard animals, be prepared to be regarded as a member of the flock, and also be prepared to take and maintain the Head Roo position--whether you are male or female makes no difference. This is a position your chickens, as flock animals, will naturally place you in as All-Powerful Giver Of Food And Chicken-y Goodness. And if you are smart you will reinforce this position by handing out goodies and enforcing order, as chickens understand it. Read my section on ‘Roosters’ for how to do this without confusing and upsetting your roos.

Here, for example, is my flock’s reaction to my coming out one day after I’d finished mowing the lawn and had bits of cut grass stuck to my shoes–I was a walking chicken treat. My job was to be a beneficent God and gently stop any bullying that went on, but otherwise I just sat and let whomever would approach, approach. The reward for being friendly to humans in this case was FOOD, of course, which is a thing near and dear to every chicken heart. I didn’t chase anyone around and force them to participate, I just waited and let the less friendly birds see that by not getting in there, they were missing out.

This is the way to change chicken minds and encourage wary birds to learn to love and trust you.

Behavior & Psychology

THE FLOCK DYNAMIC

WHY AND WHERE YOU FIT IN AS CHICKEN GOD

AND THE WEIRD THINGS CHICKENS DO

Velvet Sparrow

In the absence of a rooster, you may discover that one of your hens--sometimes, but not always the Head Hen--takes on certain roosterly characteristics and duties. She may 'mate' other hens (especially egg laying hens), call them to a goodie she finds, do the 'Hey, baby!' dance and even crow! Some hens will even do this when there IS a rooster present, and may sometimes pick a fight with him. Sometimes this is due to a hen falling out of lay and undergoing a hormone shift. Some girls are just a little more 'butch' than others, it happens. It does not mean that the hen is changing sex, she cannot actually fertilize the other hens. She's just going through the motions. Sometimes a hen will do this, then go right back to normal. I've even had a hen that had tiny spurs, a trait which has been handed down to her daughter--both mom and daughter were and are very tough cookies. Another Polish hen had quite significant spurs. Some broody hens will also maintain a very maternal attitude towards other adult hens, call them to food, snuggle them under their wing at night, etc.

I have noticed some interesting differences in small flocks (3 to 8 birds) versus larger flocks (20 to 40 birds). Small flocks tend to be more tightly knit and laid back, with less fighting and more sharing of food. Larger flocks tend to be the opposite, with more 'cliques' within the pecking order, which is more rigidly enforced also. ALL chickens are lovers of routine and order, however. If you break your regular routine in some small way with your chickens--collect eggs before you feed when you usually do it the other way around, for instance--observe how freaked out your chickens look, and the noises they make to express their confusion. We normally have very quiet neighbors, but if suddenly one of them is out doing yard work, getting ready for a backyard party, etc. our chickens get upset with them for daring to break the routine. They will stand back and cackle loudly at them and come crying to us about it. If their routine is changed or upset enough and stresses them, it can even cause them to slacken or cease egg laying until they get used to it.

By the way, chickens don't know from vacations to Hawaii. To a chicken, you gone = you DEAD and gone, forever. Chickens can, do and will mourn your 'loss' and may even seem depressed, stop or reduce eating, etc. Don't be surprised if you check in with the neighbor who is tending your flock while you are away and he reports this kind of behavior. Sometimes it helps to have the neighbor come over a time or two before you leave, and you both hand out goodies together to get your flock used to another person. This is a help because most chickens do not like strangers and will run from them.

When you return they will be joyous at first and run to you begging for attention--THEN you will be in trouble as they realize the dirty trick you pulled on them and they will openly pout, shun you to punish you and maybe even give you a light peck or two. They are displaying the human 2 year old child intelligence and emotional level again. In this respect they are much like cats, who treat their absent owners much the same way upon their return. Chickens won't pee in your shoes to teach you a lesson, though.

Every so often there will be a small squabble if one of the lower birds gets too big for her britches or tries to move up in the order. There can also be a reshuffling of the pecking order when a pullet comes into lay and attains Egg Laying Hen status, or when a hen goes broody and attains Broody Hen status (everyone just plain RUNS from her). If you keep your birds long enough and have more than one rooster, there can also be the sad day when your long-time Head Roo gets too old and tumbles from his top spot via a thrashing from the challenger beta roo. Sometimes the old Head Roo regains his status, but most times he's down and out, and the fall from grace can be shockingly fast, bloody and painful as some of the hens have a go at him on his way down, too. Sometimes the new Head Roo is beneficent and gracefully allows the old roo to stay on as beta roo, sometimes he won't tolerate him around at all and you have to either choose which roo has to go or pen the old man separately with a few of his favorite hens for company. If you have to do this, usually the old man likes to be with his old ladies, since his mating duty days by then are done.

The Head Roo and Head Hen eat first, can run anyone else out of a dust bath and take it over, etc. They peck everyone else and no one pecks them. The Head Roo does most or all of the mating duties and will chase off the lower roos when they try to mate. Experienced roos tend to mate only the Head Hen and the hens that are in lay–youngsters not in lay yet and old ladies that have fallen out of lay are left alone. Youngsters roos have not learned to properly discern which are which yet though, and can cause general outrage and commotion when they run about blindly grabbing and mating hens. Remember in your flock that YOU are the Head Roo and/or Head Hen--more on why this is important in the ‘Roosters’ section of this site.

Sometimes roosters will cautiously greet each other (or you) with direct eye contact and a slow, languid flap or "wave" or their wings. The Lesser or Beta Roos wave first at the Head or Alpha Roo. This is a way of saying, "Hi, I'm friendly and mean you no harm, please don't kick my butt!" Some hens will do this as well. If a hen is feeling especially perky, she'll stand on her tiptoes and greet you with a faster flap of the wings, but the primary flight feathers actually make a 'clacking' sound as she whacks her wings together over her back. Kind of like a human clapping their hands.

Chickens have a social hierarchy called ‘the pecking order’ that is vigorously maintained. In the pecking order, there is usually the Head Rooster (YOU!), then the actual rooster Head Roo, the Head Hen, then the Beta or secondary roo, HIS Beta Head Hen and so on down the line. The birds will work out the pecking order themselves, and every time you add new birds to the mix the new birds will have to spend a certain amount of time getting pecked, sometimes just ceremoniously, by the birds that are above them in the hierarchy. One of your jobs as Head Roo is to put a quick end to any excessive bullying--usually just stepping between two prospective combatants is sufficient along with a sharp "No!". Don't try to break up a serious chicken fight (they are rare) with your hands, get the garden hose instead and spray them down, or wait until one breaks off and scoop that bird up. If that doesn't work and you have too much fighting going on, it may be time to rehome one of your birds.

The friendly hen that comes up to you, stands on your foot with her chest against your shin and gently pecks and tugs at your pants' leg isn't being mean, however--she wants attention, and is most likely asking to be picked up and petted. We have several that do this. Don't be surprised if while you are holding and petting one hen and another hen (who is higher up in the pecking order) notices, she gives the hen you are holding a jealous stare in the eye and a warning whine, as if to say, "Oh no, you DIDN'T!" This is usually enough to send the one in your lap scrambling to get down before she gets in any more trouble. Hens lower down in the pecking order don't do this to the higher up hens, and hens don't warn off the roos in your lap. Hens of equal status may attempt to share your lap at the same time, so if you are sitting down, relaxing and stroking your favorite hen in your lap, be prepared to have more chickens leaping into your lap. Catch!

Your chickens trust you not to hurt them, and can do some pretty daffy things because of this. They won’t move out of the way when you walk by, they’ll run between your feet while you are carrying something across the yard, etc. One day I was sitting in a chair out in the yard, petting one of the hens while she sat in my lap, other hens circling and waiting their turn–this was a Brahma hen and took up my entire lap, so no room at the inn for others while she was there. When I bent over to put her back down on the ground, another hen decided she’d get a jump on the competition and leapt for my lap…well, I was leaning over. So yeah, I pretty much took a pullet to the head.

Your chickens competing for your attention may remind you of preschoolers fighting over a favorite toy–everyone wants to play with it RIGHT NOW and they DON’T want to share, thank you.

Individuals can also develop, on their own and with no apparent rational reason, their own little quirks. Long ago Bear, our Head Hen, picked my husband as her particular favorite person and bonded to him. Years ago he fell into the habit of going out in the yard in the morning, wearing his robe and armed with a cup of coffee, to sit and watch the chickens…and every time, Bear would jump into his lap for pets, burying her head under his arm or in the folds of the robe, happy as a clam. Bear would ONLY do this if my husband was wearing his robe–a coat didn’t do it for her.

Time passed, and after a few years I got my husband a new robe. Strangely, after he started wearing it out into the yard for his morning routine with Bear, she showed no interest in sitting in his lap.

The new robe just wouldn’t do. Luckily for Bear I hadn’t tossed the old one out yet, so we experimented and my husband donned the old robe and went out into the yard.

Boom, chicken in his lap.

So now, years later, we still have to keep that stupid old robe around JUST so Bear can be happy and sit in my husband’s lap in the morning. By now it’s gotten ratty and developed holes, which only adds to Bear’s fun.

Meanwhile, our Head Roo, Phoenix, would stand nearby, stare in jealous dismay and whine at Bear to come down, which was what he did every time. In Phoenix’s case it’s not that HE wanted to be up there, he just wanted his Head Hen with HIM, not with the human Head Roo. When a chicken doesn’t trust a situation, they will look at it with one eye, because they see better that way. When they trust that what they are looking at isn’t questionable, they will look at it straight on with both eyes.

Here is my husband getting the ‘Do not like’ ONE EYE stink eye from Phoenix–he isn’t really looking at me taking the picture.

If he did anything like cross his arms or otherwise block where Bear wanted to be–namely his armpit or thrust into the folds of the robe–she’d get irritated and scratch at the front of his robe until he assumed the proper hen snuggling position. Bear is a total no-nonsense, straightforward girl.

There!

Dustbathing, by the way, is a highly ritualized event. Usually your chickens will have a favortie spot or two they dustbathe in that is mostly an area of deep, soft, fine dirt. One will start, and then it’s on–others will suddenly start to cram in, not content to dustbathe nearby or somewhere else–oh, no, this is the perfect spot, the favorite toy, and they must have IT, now. Lots of jostling goes on, they sit on each other’s heads, pull on tails to go someone to move, etc. It’s very entertaining to watch.

This began as Phoenix, my Head Roo, taking a solitary dust bath. He was soon joined by two Frizzle hens. Zevon, the brown and black hen, kept tugging on his cape and tail feathers, trying to oust him, which didn’t work.

They were soon joined by other hens as poor Phoenix continued to try and enjoy his dustbath.

He shot me a long-suffering look as I stood there taking pictures, but never once did he peck any of the hens who were pecking him, sitting on his head and trying to shove him out.

They all had a grand time fussing over this ONE spot.