Creepy Hen

[HeadHen]

I have about 20 hens and they are not quite laying yet. One of them constantly makes this croaking brrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaak brrraaakbrraakbrraak sound. I've notice when she does this (which is almost all the time when they are up and active) the other hens all sort of twitch their heads, like a super quick shake motion. I thought I read somewhere that is something they do when they are afraid. Can anyone decode this chicken speak for me so I know why she is doing this and why it worries them?

 

[Wildsky]

Do you have pic's of this "hen"?
Could it be a Roo?

 

[HeadHen]

She doesn't have any roo feathers and she looks just like all the rest of the black stars I have (I did end up with one roo and I was able to figure out he was a roo by his feathers before he crowed last week, but he is an EE). She has nicely rounded feathers, and she has "talked" like this for weeks.

 

[ella]

I've noticed some of my hens do that as a prelude to the egg song. Or when they're thinking about something, like something is going on in the yard.

It's a step below an alarm call, it's more of an I'm alert and looking around call.

It's one of those things you figure out just by watching them, which is what makes having chickens so much fun.

 

[aiwetir]

i have an hen who does this to me, i'm pretty sure she's a hen. i don't know why she does it though. but she gets pretty chattery when i'm around and likes to sit on me, if i try to handle her before she sits on me though, she does this squaking thing. i posted this photo of her doing it

the head twitching thing i've seen the chickens do to a low droning noise. like a didgeridoo (if you know what that sounds like) or other similar sounds, maybe it rattles their little brains or just tickles their eardrums.

 

[CityChook]

Love the photo - what personality!

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
It looks like the buff hen is waiting for her turn to sit on your lap. Kinda like kids lined up to see Santa.

 

[SproutGirl]

Our hens do that, too. We call it their dinosaur noise. Our friends who raise eggs professionally say that this means that your hens are getting ready to lay eggs. In fact, you may have some tiny, olive sized pullet eggs hiding somewhere in your yard! We never found ours when they started making this noise until the eggs were close to standard sized! Get ready for some omelets!

 

[HeadHen]

Quote:

I scrolled back up to look at the photo after I read this and cracked up, that is exactly what it looks like.

 

[Kev]

Excellent caption lol.

Yes the quick head shake is a response to an annoying noise. Mine do it when there's a loud noise going on like a chainsaw or even sometimes when a rooster is crowing right next to a hen. If you find a noise that makes hens shake their heads.. do an experiment.. be quiet and compare how often the head shaking goes on during periods of quiet and when annoying noise is on..

They can and do get used so after repetition, sometimes they stop the head shaking.. or just go away.. lol