- Mar 21, 2010
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Background: We have 10 BR hens, about 18 months old. Had a rooster last year, he's been gone about 10 months now. I like to garden, so whenever I'm out working in the soil for any length of time, I let the girls out to free range. We had a predator issue about a month ago that appeared to shake them up a little bit, but they seem fine now.
Here's the weird behavior this week as I let them out:
They follow me in a loose single-file formation to the garden and then disperse, instead of the usual "every hen for herself" prison break. The two smallest/lowest on the pecking order stay within 3 feet of me the whole time. I was on my hands and knees weeding and Nike (the smallest) stood *under* me, picking through the dirt as I loosened it up. When we found a worm she starts carrying on like she hit the lotto, and bam, 6 of the girls are now milling around me.
After about an hour, I'm looking to head into the house to get ready for the son's baseball game, so I start rounding them up. Nike is wandering around my feet, so I sit down to hold and pet her. Then it gets weird, two other smallish hens start acting like they want mounted, walking around me and squatting with they wings spread out, and the two highest ranking girls come over and start pecking my hand as I pet Nike.
I'm just a little weirded out. The wife thinks the girls are *in love* with me.
Are the girls in need of a real rooster?
Here's the weird behavior this week as I let them out:
They follow me in a loose single-file formation to the garden and then disperse, instead of the usual "every hen for herself" prison break. The two smallest/lowest on the pecking order stay within 3 feet of me the whole time. I was on my hands and knees weeding and Nike (the smallest) stood *under* me, picking through the dirt as I loosened it up. When we found a worm she starts carrying on like she hit the lotto, and bam, 6 of the girls are now milling around me.
After about an hour, I'm looking to head into the house to get ready for the son's baseball game, so I start rounding them up. Nike is wandering around my feet, so I sit down to hold and pet her. Then it gets weird, two other smallish hens start acting like they want mounted, walking around me and squatting with they wings spread out, and the two highest ranking girls come over and start pecking my hand as I pet Nike.
I'm just a little weirded out. The wife thinks the girls are *in love* with me.
Are the girls in need of a real rooster?