My hen stares frozen at my foot and shakes her feathers aggressively

[mochimo]

I have a 1 year old Brahma hen. When I sit outside with her and don't have socks or shoes on she will run up to my foot, freeze, and stare at it. The other day she did something even more strange though. While she was staring, her feathers slowly rose and she did a very quick and aggressive shake with her feathers. She did this 4 times in the span of about 5 minutes. I'm just curious to know what this behavior is, and why my foot is triggering it. My guess is that she's scared or threatened by my foot but I don't get why she just stares for minutes on end and doesn't run away or peck at it. Also, why my foot? Anyone have a chicken that does this or something similar?

 

[azygous]

What she's doing is a combination of reacting with alarm at something she doesn't understand from experience and something (naked toes) that superficially resembles food (worms or larva) and excites her in an opposite way from fear and alarm.

Your hen is temporarily conflicted, but keep exposing her to the strange worms on the ends of your feet and she should eventually process it and resolve the issue in that regal head of hers.

Or, if you don't relish eventually getting your toes savaged by a hungry hen who is convinced they are worms, you might make a point of slipping your feet into some canvass slip-ons.