Mystery of the Freaked Out Chickens

[greytgrey]

Welcome We have a small airport nearby, just for small private planes..... years ago my girls acted similar and I sat on the back porch wondering what spooked them.

Ha! So do we! One night I was watching and they all RAN into the coop... that's what it was. And once we had a police helicopter circling (we live near the lake and I think they were looking for someone), and the chickens kept running to one side of the yard, then moving when the helicopter "chased" them into that area, for about three minutes.

Mine once got spooked by a huge flock of maybe robins in the next field over. They froze at first then scrambled for their run.

Interesting! We have a TON of vultures (the lake probably provides much food) and it took the chickens a few weeks to realize that those giant birds soaring over the yard at twilight were not any cause for concern. I feel like they might take their cues from local wild birds? We have a lot of mourning doves, and they will often hang out in the yard foraging together. I might be anthropomorphizing them all, but I feel like the doves and other birds at our feeders aren't as spooked by us now, either, maybe because the chickens welcome us?

 

[greytgrey]

II suggest keeping them in for a day or two if you could and sealing up the coop nicely.

Fortunately, we're fairly confident that the coop is secured. It's a modified pigeon loft that we learned the hard way was NOT previously secure. However, because it IS a 6 x 4 pigeon loft with a flight deck but no access to grass/the ground outside of any kind, I worry that the birds might get bored locked in the whole day? What do you think? We only have six, and they were fine the first week get got them, but they were only 8 weeks then and are significantly larger now.

 

[greytgrey]

This morning, I'm sitting outside with them for an hour or so before my little kid wakes up. They emerged very tentatively and are keeping more under cover than usual, but are foraging. They're also doing something they've never done before: CHEST-BUMPING! The primary bumpers are two I've suspected might be roosters (none is supposed to be) but they have not displayed this kind of behavior before. I wonder if a threat woke this up in them?

It was funny; one of them definitely clucked loudly and repeatedly for the first time last night when they were split up. She did not like it.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I'm betting a hawk darted down at them. They are fast and you likely would never have seen it.
Post pictures of your chest bumpers. At 15 weeks, gender will be easy to determine.
I too had a mystery "what happened?" that freaked out my whole flock. I actually caught it on my security camera.

 

[greytgrey]

Post pictures of your chest bumpers. At 15 weeks, gender will be easy to determine.
I too had a mystery "what happened?" that freaked out my whole flock. I actually caught it on my security camera.

My 17-year-old watched the video and said, "Oh, poor babies!"

Here are the bumpers. I don't think the white and brown one has a particularly "rooster-y" appearance, but is HUGE (I call it Monstro) and seems to be trying to crow, making these whistling/humming sounds at times. Also acts very much like a mother hen. The grey one, I'm only going by the tail feathers.

I have no practical experience so have just been obsessing over online guides for the past couple of weeks.

 

[DobieLover]

My 17-year-old watched the video and said, "Oh, poor babies!"

Here are the bumpers. I don't think the white and brown one has a particularly "rooster-y" appearance, but is HUGE (I call it Monstro) and seems to be trying to crow, making these whistling/humming sounds at times. Also acts very much like a mother hen. The grey one, I'm only going by the tail feathers.

I have no practical experience so have just been obsessing over online guides for the past couple of weeks. View attachment 1858153

No current signs of cockerels there. I'm leaning towards dominant pullets.

My chickens were just fine after the incident. The hens ran towards the coop (where the camera is mounted). The pullets and cockerel where all roosting on the branches and I think their instinct was to get to the chicken bush... on the other side of the hardware cloth. Kinda tough to do kids. The rooster was snoozing when all the hullabaloo broke out and looks a little dazed standing in the middle of everything trying to figure out where the threat was coming from.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. The two EE pictured are pullets. The behaviors you describe strongly suggest that they may have been threatened by an aerial predator. Be on guard as it may very likely return.

 

[drumstick diva]

Thank you for joining us at Backyard Chickens, the pulse beat of the chicken community.

 

[N F C]

My 17-year-old watched the video and said, "Oh, poor babies!"

Here are the bumpers. I don't think the white and brown one has a particularly "rooster-y" appearance, but is HUGE (I call it Monstro) and seems to be trying to crow, making these whistling/humming sounds at times. Also acts very much like a mother hen. The grey one, I'm only going by the tail feathers.

I have no practical experience so have just been obsessing over online guides for the past couple of weeks. View attachment 1858153

Your grey bird is beautiful! (Not that the other one isn't too )

 

[ValerieJ]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I'm betting a hawk darted down at them. They are fast and you likely would never have seen it.
Post pictures of your chest bumpers. At 15 weeks, gender will be easy to determine.
I too had a mystery "what happened?" that freaked out my whole flock. I actually caught it on my security camera.

I have had that happen when I was sitting right there. I put it in the category of "why do cows up and run to the other side of the field for no reason?" I think if one of the chickens gets too close to another chicken that it would normally be wary of, it jumps and that gets them all going. Too funny.