Chicken chest-bumping

[bertman]

Our girls regularly engage in a hilarious social interaction with each other that is very similar to that seen when athletes on a team score a goal or make a good play--they run up to each other, throw their heads back, and bump chests!!!

This is often accompanied with feather ruffling and a bit of hopping about, but nothing overtly aggressive or nasty. They usually BUMP, then back up and go about their bidness.

We have six pullets that are all roughly the same physical size: one white Ameraucana, one brown and white Ameraucana, one pearl black Ameraucana, one Brown Leghorn (now that's a beautiful chicken), one Golden Sex-Link, and one New Hampshire Red. They get along very well with each other.

My wife and I are endlessly entertained by this little dance routine, but are wondering if it is the prelude to some serious dominance/pecking order action to come. There does not seem to be one dominant hen in the group. I guess that make me the rooster because they follow me around the yard and into the run.

All of this chicken watching is pretty cool and entertaining at times.

 

[Delta2 23]

Oh, I love watching the birds. They are such interesting things

Thanks for sharing your story!

Today, one of my hens, Cherry, was grumbling hormonally when I came to change the water, and she was squeaking at me at three times her normal pitch. The lil' bugger launched a full scale attack on my leg, I think she almost pulled off some of my trackies back there

After things had settled down, she stood there serenely eating bits of fluff off my trousers and wiping her beak on my shoe. It was adorable

 

[DancingHen]

All my chicks have done this. It is how they set their pecking order at their age. It has never led to anything more serious in my experience. And, yes, it is very cute to watch. I think that when they settle their pecking order this young it actually leads to a calmer happier flock later. Chicks are definately endlessly entertaining!

 

[Delta2 23]

Mine set their pecking order by shoving each other away from the food tray

Who could shove the hardest = who's at the top of the roost

 

[DancingHen]

Quote:

 

[bertman]

Regarding the biggest food hog being the top hen, our food hog hen is the one who usually gets trompled upon when the evening pileup in the roost happens. She is almost always the one on the bottom.

Is there some kind of poultry prestige associated with being the bottom pullet in a pile of six??

Recently she has taken to separating herself from the pileup after a few hours and laying side-by-side with one or two of her peeps, with their bodies inside the coop and their heads on the porch platform for the ladder.

Got to love these wacky birds!!

 

[Delta2 23]

Our food hog was lucky enough to be Queen Chicken (or Queen Cock, as she tried to mount the younger hens once ) at our place: some of them aren't always that well-off, as in they don't have the guts, muscles or both to stand up to their superiors

It just means they are last in line to eat and get their living daylights pecked out when they're at the bottom of the ladder.

Poor things, you gotta feel sorry for them.

my chicks used to fly out of their brooder and walk around the room, pooing all over the creamy, thick carpet

Nothing we could do would keep them in until we got a fridge box that was way too high for them to fly over... yes, they're entertaining all right