My flocks weirder behaviors

[Sandwitch]

So I kinda wanted to ask people what they think of a couple weirder things that our chickens will do.
Misty our oddly broody laying machine actually gets up hours before sunrise just to go sit in a nesting box? She will stay in there for a couple hours but it’s been weird how consistently early she gets up even in the dead of winter. She also does growl/hiss at the other chickens when they try and see what she’s up too. She is protective of the eggs and her favorite nesting spot and will actually gather the other eggs (fake and real) to put under her. But at the same time she also doesn’t seem to actually be broody? She’s still laying daily and isn’t on her eggs 24/7. She’s been our first egg layer and has almost been laying every single day for the past month despite it being winter with very limited daylight hours and being quite chilly. I had honestly thought we were gonna have to wait till spring to get any eggs from our flock since they turned 6 months or so right around October and didn’t produce any eggs till the end of November.
Another weird thing is ironically concerning Goldilocks another one of our hens… she likes to spend like an hour going in and out of each box. Which like yeah sounds normal what’s the problem. Well the “problem” is she also does this with the nesting boxes other hens are in. She looks like she’s trying to cuddle/crush the other hen or attempt to bunk bed with them. She even does this with the aforementioned Misty… ya know the grumpy growler? There are other spots to go besides on top of the angry chicken???
I’ve also been looking more into chicken noises and their meanings and one of them in particular doesn’t seem to fit with my flock. Basically the classic egg laying song tends to mainly signal alarm and comes from the rooster. Idk if we just have a weird rooster or what because he does also crow at night when I go out to feed horses lol. I’m sure there are plenty of other weird things my chickens do that I just can’t think of since it’s four in the morning. Sunrise isn’t even until 8am yet Misty and I both are awake lol. My question is basically just are what I’ve clocked as odd behaviors completely normal or do other people see them as weird too.

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

So I kinda wanted to ask people what they think of a couple weirder things that our chickens will do.
Misty our oddly broody laying machine actually gets up hours before sunrise just to go sit in a nesting box? She will stay in there for a couple hours but it’s been weird how consistently early she gets up even in the dead of winter. She also does growl/hiss at the other chickens when they try and see what she’s up too. She is protective of the eggs and her favorite nesting spot and will actually gather the other eggs (fake and real) to put under her. But at the same time she also doesn’t seem to actually be broody? She’s still laying daily and isn’t on her eggs 24/7. She’s been our first egg layer and has almost been laying every single day for the past month despite it being winter with very limited daylight hours and being quite chilly. I had honestly thought we were gonna have to wait till spring to get any eggs from our flock since they turned 6 months or so right around October and didn’t produce any eggs till the end of November.
Another weird thing is ironically concerning Goldilocks another one of our hens… she likes to spend like an hour going in and out of each box. Which like yeah sounds normal what’s the problem. Well the “problem” is she also does this with the nesting boxes other hens are in. She looks like she’s trying to cuddle/crush the other hen or attempt to bunk bed with them. She even does this with the aforementioned Misty… ya know the grumpy growler? There are other spots to go besides on top of the angry chicken???
I’ve also been looking more into chicken noises and their meanings and one of them in particular doesn’t seem to fit with my flock. Basically the classic egg laying song tends to mainly signal alarm and comes from the rooster. Idk if we just have a weird rooster or what because he does also crow at night when I go out to feed horses lol. I’m sure there are plenty of other weird things my chickens do that I just can’t think of since it’s four in the morning. Sunrise isn’t even until 8am yet Misty and I both are awake lol. My question is basically just are what I’ve clocked as odd behaviors completely normal or do other people see them as weird too.

Well yours aren't the only weirdos. I went to check water,make sure the troughs still had an opening and as usual my older flock was leaving their roost to go forage...I have a hen who routinely tries to lay in a box occupied with multiple others available

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Misty

It's not abnormal for hens to spend a few hours in a box, depending on their age. Lots of birds also will gather eggs under them while laying and may be quite grumpy during that time, even if not broody

Goldilocks

Is trying to figure out which box is best. Some choose an empty box, some like a laying buddy because it means that box is likely safer for the eggs if someone else is in it

crow at night when I go out to feed horse

He's responding to a disturbance. It's to warn the predator off and also wake his girls in incase they need to flee

Basically the classic egg laying song tends to mainly signal alarm and comes from the rooster

The egg song is an escort song hens typically sing it so that the rooster is aware of them and that they are leaving the flock for their egg to be laid.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Misty our oddly broody laying machine actually gets up hours before sunrise just to go sit in a nesting box?

I have not seen that before but I'm wondering how much light do you have in there at night? In my opinion they can see better in the dark than we give them credit for, but mine do tend to shut it down at night.

She also does growl/hiss at the other chickens when they try and see what she’s up too. She is protective of the eggs and her favorite nesting spot and will actually gather the other eggs (fake and real) to put under her. But at the same time she also doesn’t seem to actually be broody? She’s still laying daily and isn’t on her eggs 24/7.

Stuff like this may not be normal for most hens but it's not that unusual. Each one is an individual and boy can they be different.

Another weird thing is ironically concerning Goldilocks another one of our hens… she likes to spend like an hour going in and out of each box. Which like yeah sounds normal what’s the problem. Well the “problem” is she also does this with the nesting boxes other hens are in.

My nests are 16" cubes. It is fairly normal for me to see three hens laying in the same nest while all the others are empty. But I have had a nest hog that refused to share a nest.

Basically the classic egg laying song tends to mainly signal alarm and comes from the rooster.

That is two different calls, though similar. One is an alarm call, it seems they think something isn't right but aren't sure what. Sometimes the rooster and some of the hens give it, it can get pretty loud.

The other is what we call the "egg song". Not all hens give it after they lay an egg but some do. It seems that when the hen comes off of the nest she doesn't know where the flock is and calls for them. Some of my roosters leave the flock to go get her, but most of the time she gets ignored.

My question is basically just are what I’ve clocked as odd behaviors completely normal or do other people see them as weird too.

I don't know if there is such a thing as "normal" for chickens. There are things that they may typically do, such as roost at night, but you can find some that don't do things like that. I put it down to differences in individuals and some of the things that make Chicken TV better than anything on cable, antenna, or satellite.

 

[Paz]

It’s completely normal for a cock to crow at night if he hears anything. That way he wakes his flock and they can run away if they need to.

 

[Sussex19]

The egg song and the alarm call are two different things, but they sound very similar.
Even now, I can't always tell them apart, but if you listen carefully one can hear the difference.
The egg song tends to be a bit more rhythmical, whereas alarm calls are more loud and frantic. Sometimes a hen singing can set off a rooster, so they can get a bit mixed up.

 

[3KillerBs]

Nothing too unusual there.

Some hens get in the box, do their stuff, and leave while others putter and linger.

My rooster crows at night sometimes. Maybe something has disturbed him, maybe he's just up and letting the world know that this is his space and he's the man.

I do hear more night crowing during the full moon and, when I had the in-town flock, my in-town rooster would crow when headlights from cars at the intersection swept across the coop so there's probably some kind of light-awareness component.