Odd Behaviour

[iFairyx]

Hi All

Whilst collecting eggs today I noticed one of my new (ex-free range) hens behaving rather oddly.

She was picking up sawdust, and placing it on her back (where she is bald at the moment). I've not seen any of my other
hens doing this before.

I think she may also be going broody, as she was sitting on an egg and tried pecking me when I took it away.

Any ideas?

 

[gryeyes]

Several off my hens will pick up bits of shavings (bedding matterial ) or straw, or leaves, and place them on their backs either before or after they lay eggs. Supposedly, this is ancient "camouflage" behavior in their genes / instinct.

I prefer to think my girls are just prettying themselves up to win the Laid The Best Egg of All The Girls contest.

 

[janinepeters]

I've always thought this behavior is a remnant of nest building behavior which has been partly bred out of them. Red jungle fowl, the wild ancestors of domestic chickens, nest in small depressions on the ground, and line the nest with a few leaves and/or feathers. In the wild it helps camouflage the eggs because feathers/leaves might partially cover the eggs, which, being white (for jungle fowl) have no natural camouflage.

I've seen some of my hens throw feathers or shavings over their backs like you describe - sometimes they are in the nestbox, and sometimes they are only near it, but always it has been a hen that is about to lay. A normal wild hen would do this only at the nest, but breeding has messed up their behaviors. Anyway, that's my interpretation.