The Egg song, it’s not about the egg; it’s an escort call.

This is such an interesting theory! Some, but not all of my hens sing the egg song, but I don’t have a rooster.

Almost all (nine) of my hens hesitate before they cross our road (an unpaved easement, really). Bridgey will call at the edge of the road (a different song from the egg song) until I arrive and will accept me as an escort across the driveway/easement. Several of them will
silently (without a call) accept me as an escort. I would love to have a rooster some day to see how this behavior would shift. But I must admit, I love being their rooster. Thanks for Shari g your observations and theory!

There is so much we can learn about chickens if we only take the time to observe their behavior. Interesting stuff here!

I will be observing my two flocks keeping this in mind. It is certainly a different perspective.

great info! Fun to read

The thing is that my cockerel dosen't listen to the escort call.

I too have several "tribes", which, with a little observation is clearly obvious. I loved the way you're experiment played out. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your results. I believe you are on to something with this! Great work!

Yes!- I’ve seen a lot of this and agree. These are location/ escort calls. Makes better sense.

I love it! My rooster which I call Mr.Rooster is a Sebright, he is half the size of the hens but he does such a great job looking after the girls. I will have to keep a closer eye on them to catch this ritual. Thanks for the info!

I'm wondering if someone will chime in who has multiple hens and no rooster. I'm curious if the egg song is longer, shorter or non-existent.

Thoughtful information to make me a better chicken mom, thank you for sharing. I have often wondered and it does make perfectly good chicken sense.

This is a very good explanation and seems to be backed up with experience. The article is very well written and clear.

Great observation! Not all of my gals make the call.. and it’s not very often... perhaps because they are in an enclosed run?? And there is no rooster?? I have also noticed that when they ARE calling.. if they see or hear me they stop.. don’t know if that means anything but I wonder... seems logical!

This makes a lot of sense, and I do believe you are correct. This article is also very well supported.

When the weather gets a little nicer I’m going to look for signs of this in my flock.

I have noticed this behavior with my one tiny flock as well. Every time I was outside to observe when I heard one of the girls start in with her "egg song", the cockerel would show up to bring her back to where ever the flock had wandered to.
I never really fell for the theory that the pullet was celebrating laying an egg. Didn't make sense. This does. Thanks for the article.

It makes perfect sense. I’ve observed the exact same behavior and inadvertently put myself in place of the rooster at times. We have a couple nesting boxes on our back porch, in addition to several in the coop. Frequently I will reward a hen singing the egg song with a treat of mealworms and she immediately stops singing. I thought she was just wanting the treat but now I see what was going on. My real roosters rush to the coop whenever one of the girls sing and immediately mate with her. In both situations it has only been when they were laying away from the rest of the flock. Great article!

Since reading in one of your earlier posts your ideas about this being connected with an escort request (rather than a celebration of having laid an egg), I have been watching my flock with it in mind, and my experience is consistent with your hypothesis. My hens call for an escort whenever they've laid in the coop and the rest of the flock is not in the vicinity, and the rooster (I have only 1) answers promptly and comes running, then the pair return whence he came, with or without him trying to mate her (he has no competition). If the flock is in the vicinity, the hen emerging from the coop after laying does not 'sing' but just joins the rest quietly.