New Mum's vibrating tongue!

[Svalur]

I just gave some day old chicks to my broody hen. Initially she was scared and ran away to be with the other hens, so I shut her out and shut the babies in. After a while she seemed to want to go back inside and this time she accepted the babies. When she had pushed them under her, she did a strange thing with her tongue - she opened her mouth and vibrated her tongue up and down as if she was panting, for ages. It seemed to be almost an expression of joy. Does anybody know what this is?

 

[chooks4life]

:/ No, sorry, have never seen that before. Also haven't seen them vibrate their tongue up and down when panting.

Was she making any noise? Some hens will make a prolonged complaint/threat noise when humans or other unwanted individuals are around their nest, but there is a vocalization with it, not just a vibrating tongue.

However if you took the noise away it would probably look quite similar to what you're describing. If that's what's going on then it indicates she feels defensive over the clutch which probably indicates that she's accepted them.

Best wishes.