Hen tucks head under other chickens

[MrIgmo]

Maybe this is a common thing, but I haven't been able to find it searching (lots of posts about chicks going under moms, so maybe lost in the results).

Last year, we got my LB as a 12-week-old replacement friend for a lone hen. After a long intro period, they finally started roosting together - by then, it was winter. And I noticed that the first couple nights, the LB would shuffle the hen all the way to the wall and then put her head under the skirts of the hen. Exactly like a chick trying to get under her mom. I saw her one night really trying to put the *whole bird* under there, but the hen fell off the roost (and was also dominant enough to tell her to knock it off after that indignity).

We got four chicks in the spring and the original hen died in the summer. The LB is now sort of head of the pecking order in this flock of five; she seems to share duties with the RIR pullet.

Recently, I've seen the LB do the head tuck thing with the pullets a few times during bed check. But after our big cold snap week before last, she seems to be doing it most nights.

It seems like whichever bird makes the mistake of getting to her left at bedtime, she's got them up on their claws with her head underneath between their legs. It seems to happen most to the RIR and her Australorp bestie (and third in the order) - but that may be because the LB won't let the other two settle near her; she doesn't like them much.

It is *very* silly looking. You walk into the coop in the dark and there's this enormous white head between the legs of a grumpy looking pullet. And they may work it out after I leave; we don't have cams.

But my only concern is that the impacted bird might not be able to warm her feet adequately. The LB is tenacious about it - anyone to the left is getting smushed against the wall until her head is under someone.

Is this a thing? Should it not be a thing (and if so, how do I break her of this habit?)?

My LBs do this to my Orpingtons and the Orpingtons do not like it. They end up being fairly abusive trying to get the LBs to stop.There is plenty of room on the roost and yet all the hens cram together into a pile at one end of it. They've done it every night since I finished building the coop and for the most part don't have many pecking order fights anymore.

 

[Modafo]

Maybe this is a common thing, but I haven't been able to find it searching (lots of posts about chicks going under moms, so maybe lost in the results).

Last year, we got my LB as a 12-week-old replacement friend for a lone hen. After a long intro period, they finally started roosting together - by then, it was winter. And I noticed that the first couple nights, the LB would shuffle the hen all the way to the wall and then put her head under the skirts of the hen. Exactly like a chick trying to get under her mom. I saw her one night really trying to put the *whole bird* under there, but the hen fell off the roost (and was also dominant enough to tell her to knock it off after that indignity).

We got four chicks in the spring and the original hen died in the summer. The LB is now sort of head of the pecking order in this flock of five; she seems to share duties with the RIR pullet.

Recently, I've seen the LB do the head tuck thing with the pullets a few times during bed check. But after our big cold snap week before last, she seems to be doing it most nights.

It seems like whichever bird makes the mistake of getting to her left at bedtime, she's got them up on their claws with her head underneath between their legs. It seems to happen most to the RIR and her Australorp bestie (and third in the order) - but that may be because the LB won't let the other two settle near her; she doesn't like them much.

It is *very* silly looking. You walk into the coop in the dark and there's this enormous white head between the legs of a grumpy looking pullet. And they may work it out after I leave; we don't have cams.

But my only concern is that the impacted bird might not be able to warm her feet adequately. The LB is tenacious about it - anyone to the left is getting smushed against the wall until her head is under someone.

Is this a thing? Should it not be a thing (and if so, how do I break her of this habit?)?

Sorry to be jumping on this late, but my 7 month old EE has been doing that to my other 7 month old's too. It started during a cold snap and had continued. She also pecks at them a bit. All of this only happens when they first go into the coop. Then they settle down and sleep fine. She never does it or pecks them during the day. I found this thread in search of answers about her behavior.

 

[bannefin]

I have an Easter ether who has done this all three years of her life, every season, in Indiana and now in Florida. It makes her a very unpopular roostmate. She’s my second biggest bird and can’t fit much more than her head under anyone else. She’s low in the order and I assumed she was just trying to protect her head from her neighbors’ pecking, but if anything she gets a lot more pecking from insisting on being that close! She’s also quite a lap chicken when given the chance and will immediately shove her head into an armpit when she settles in. I think some chickens are just crazy.
I got her along with another Easter egger as month olds, they both liked to jump up to my shoulders and duck into my hair when it got dark. The other bird grew out of it, but this one is happiest relaxing with her head under someone.