Hen postures herself at me!

[innercity51]

Any reason why my hen would posture herself and put her wings half way out and stand and not budge when I come into the cage to change the water? Why is she doing this?

 

[trilyn]

Do you have any roosters, sometimes when there are no roosters, the hen will then act as one. Hopefully someone with more knowledge comes soon!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Sounds like she is flirting with you. I have seen hens do this when the rooster comes over. She may squat if you pet her back.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

How old is she? Hens will do with when:

1.) there is no rooster in the group. (She is acting as if you are the dominant rooster. AKA, she wants you to mate with her.

)

or 2.) There might be a rooster in the group but you hang around with her so much, she sees you as the dominant force and not the rooster.

I have hens that do this in both cases, 1 and 2. Age will sometimes matter because pullets tend to exhibit this behavior more when they get close to laying time. (They can sense that they need someone to mate them for their eggs to be fertile.) But my adults will do this because they see me as the head figure. So, in other words, your he is submitting to you. If you pick her up when she does this she may, or may not, figure out that you have no interest in mating.

Some of mine will continue this behavior, reguardless of whether or not I pick them up.

 

[innercity51]

Thanks for all the good feedback. No, I do not have a rooster. So I guess she sees me as the dominant one! I wasn't sure if she was wanting to fight !

 

[Buff Hooligans]

If she's flattened out with her head down, she's just squatting which is a submissive thing.

If her head is up and she wants to be "in your face", that's another thing. I have a girl like that, but it seems she's more wanting more treats than being aggressive.