I'll have a go.TRIBE OBSERVATIONS.View attachment 3021668
The little lady in front is my Birchen Japanese bantam, Desdemona. She has always been one of the friendliest, easy to handle ladies. She has spent nearly all summer broody. Olivia & Chavi have given up but Desi is still @ it. As she is waxing plump & healthy I haven't worried about it too much. She comes of the nest first thing in the morning & last thing @ night to eat & drink & have a quick run round the yard.
This morning I put Sif out the door & waited with her while she oriented herself & took her first few careful steps. She gets steadier & more confident as she progresses towards the patio. Next thing Desi comes rushing out of the shed, gets in Sif's face, drops her outside wing & starts circling her with her hackles flaring!I think Sif was as gobsmacked as I was. Then Desi rushed off towards the breakfast trays.
There was no contact but I have never seen a hen do that before. Their dominance stance is usually stretched necks & chest bumps. Anyone?
I've seen roosters do this to broody hens a lot. The hens leave the nest and the rooster when it sees the hen will do the herding movements and sometimes a hackle flash.
So, what does it mean?
All the chickens know who is broody and who isn't. They all seem to know where the broodies nest is. I found this difficult to understand with the tribes when a hen made a nest somewhere I didn't think other hens had been.
The hens and roosters know a broody hen should be sitting on the eggs.
I can't help wondering if the herding and flash are to tell the hen to get back to her nest.
I don't understand why this happens but when broody hens have joined the rest to eat when it's been normal mealtime (that is when I've provided commercial feed or treats) the rest of the tribe drive the broody away from the food and make it difficult for her to eat. This happens to even the senior broodies.
Does the tribe think a broody hen should forage for her food because that is what she will have to do once the chicks hatch?
Most hens get around this by coming out to eat not at normal feed times. I used to watch for them and provide food away from the rest of the tribe.
I had a few that would leave the nest towards dusk and the junior ones had to wait until it was lamost dark and the rest of the tribe had gone to roost before they could eat unmolested.
There's some very complex behaviour going on in these situations which one can come up with theories for but that is all they are.
Can you describe typical herding amongst your girls. I wouldn't have said it was herding but as I said, I've never seen this from a hen before & in all honesty it looked more like a rooster dance than anything else. It sure has confused me!
It didn't happen this morning but I have a new lot of broodies sitting with Desdemona. Shuri & Tsura will need watching as they tend not to get up off the nest.
