Honestly, I imagine the usual use of the word "behavior" for this category refers to the behavior in regards to the egglaying, but eitherway, I doubt this is egglaying behavior, and I'll post here because this category seems most befitting. Alright, I finished my intro, now to the point.
I'm going to mention some facts which may seem irrelevant, but being that I don't really know the cause of the behavior of this chicken, I feel that perhaps the facts I'll mention may have possible clues to the cause. I own two older chickens of about 9-10 weeks old, one a cockerel and one a pullet, and three baby chicks bought recently. In the beginning, I used to spend time with the older ones before it got dark, when they like to hop onto my lap and either fall asleep or relax etc. Often I check their crests (they're Polish) to make sure it doesn't disturb their eyes or vision etc, and I pet them...and in general I'm pretty soft around them. I'll be honest, I have little kids which have to be carefully watched that they don't do something dangerous to the chickens, but even though they are pretty good with them, at the end of the day they make noise and run to them with their arms stretched out and smiles on their faces which scares them, well, naturally I guess...and my 2 yr old also cries a lot because the bird, understandably, just doesn't want to come to him, so he's somewhat offended etc, and I'll also ad, since the new chicks were bought, the older ones do get shooed away from time to time (by me as well) because they peck at them quite often (because they feel threatened by them of course...).
Now I'll mention the change of behavior, and we'll see if someone feels it's surely because of the above mentioned facts, or perhaps for other reasons. Today, I sat once again with my two older chickens on my lap. The cockerel is very comfy today, and kindly lets me pet it, check it over etc, to make sure it's healthy and has no issues. Then I began petting and checking the pullet, when all of a sudden she started making these "purring" noises, and then bit me! It didn't hurt, but not quite expected...I figured that pushing her off my lap won't make her feel more comfy, so I let it pass. Then, it looked like the cockerel looked at her, then at me, and gave a look as if to say "I dunno what got into her!"' ok that was just for the humor, but that's what it looked like...then, I said to myself maybe she didn't appreciate that I touched her crest, so I started petting her back, like she usually likes, when all of a sudden she made that noise again, lifted her head, and again-bite! Very odd, so I decided I'll stop touching her and limit it only to the cockerel. He didn't mind, but all of a sudden, she lifted her head, and bit me again, while petting the cockerel! Really strange, so I let them have a few more minutes, let them down and put them back in their run. I imagine such a young pullet isn't quite near egglaying, so is it because a hand which perhaps will grab her like my kids always attempt to (because they want to "play" with them) is just scary for her now? What's the explanation to this strange, moody behavior?
I'm going to mention some facts which may seem irrelevant, but being that I don't really know the cause of the behavior of this chicken, I feel that perhaps the facts I'll mention may have possible clues to the cause. I own two older chickens of about 9-10 weeks old, one a cockerel and one a pullet, and three baby chicks bought recently. In the beginning, I used to spend time with the older ones before it got dark, when they like to hop onto my lap and either fall asleep or relax etc. Often I check their crests (they're Polish) to make sure it doesn't disturb their eyes or vision etc, and I pet them...and in general I'm pretty soft around them. I'll be honest, I have little kids which have to be carefully watched that they don't do something dangerous to the chickens, but even though they are pretty good with them, at the end of the day they make noise and run to them with their arms stretched out and smiles on their faces which scares them, well, naturally I guess...and my 2 yr old also cries a lot because the bird, understandably, just doesn't want to come to him, so he's somewhat offended etc, and I'll also ad, since the new chicks were bought, the older ones do get shooed away from time to time (by me as well) because they peck at them quite often (because they feel threatened by them of course...).
Now I'll mention the change of behavior, and we'll see if someone feels it's surely because of the above mentioned facts, or perhaps for other reasons. Today, I sat once again with my two older chickens on my lap. The cockerel is very comfy today, and kindly lets me pet it, check it over etc, to make sure it's healthy and has no issues. Then I began petting and checking the pullet, when all of a sudden she started making these "purring" noises, and then bit me! It didn't hurt, but not quite expected...I figured that pushing her off my lap won't make her feel more comfy, so I let it pass. Then, it looked like the cockerel looked at her, then at me, and gave a look as if to say "I dunno what got into her!"' ok that was just for the humor, but that's what it looked like...then, I said to myself maybe she didn't appreciate that I touched her crest, so I started petting her back, like she usually likes, when all of a sudden she made that noise again, lifted her head, and again-bite! Very odd, so I decided I'll stop touching her and limit it only to the cockerel. He didn't mind, but all of a sudden, she lifted her head, and bit me again, while petting the cockerel! Really strange, so I let them have a few more minutes, let them down and put them back in their run. I imagine such a young pullet isn't quite near egglaying, so is it because a hand which perhaps will grab her like my kids always attempt to (because they want to "play" with them) is just scary for her now? What's the explanation to this strange, moody behavior?
