She flattens herself to the ground when I go to pet her

[joetta]

Hi everyone! I have 4 seven month old girls. One RIR and one Dominique, both sweet as can be, can be held, carried around and petted. They jump in my lap and hang out. I have two Buff Orpingtons, both are a little shy, in that they don't really like to be handled too much. They come to me and hang out and eat from my hand, but scatter off when I try to pet them or pick them up. Still, I try every day. In the past few days, I've noticed that when I reached down to pet one, instead of run off, she stops and flattens herself to the ground. Is that NORMAL? Is that a sign of submission? Or is she just terrified of me now? It made me feel sorta bad, thinking that she may be afraid of me. I know that a hen will do this when a rooster wants to mate with her. We did recently re-home two roosters because they were fighting and were bullying the girls. And ideas why she is doing this now? Thanks for any input. Joetta

 

[Reurra]

Is she going tail up, wings out and stomping? Or is she chirping and huddling up? If its the first, she is telling you that she accepts you as the boss. If she is tightening up and huddling, she is scared.

Being seven months old is breeding age, so i would bet its submission. My australorps are a bit shy of being held or touched, but before i got my rooster, they always squatted for me.

 

[duckinnut]

Sounds like typical squatting for mating position to me. Does she spread her wings out a little with a little of hunching down? If so she sees you as a rooster. At 7 months is about normal point of lay for Buffs so she is getting ready to lay if she hasn't started already.

 

[Reurra]

Watch how the wings go up and the tail goes down. If you are able to touch them on the back their tail will go up and they rock forward. After you walk away, they will fluff up.

The wings go up so the rooster can hold on with his feet. Her head will go down and he will hold on with his beak to the feathers behind her head. She will stomp her feet to get a good stable stance.

 

[joetta]

Thanks guys! She does squat with her tail up a little but I did not notice stomping. As soon as she did it, I backed off. I thought she was scared of me. Anyway, my RIR started laying a month ago and as of two weeks ago, we are getting four eggs a day, almost every day. Being a first time chickie Mom, I'm loving it and learning something new every day!

 

[Stang65fst]

I have a chicken "Littlest Red" she goes down in the mating position when I come up to her. She also knows that I will pick her up and carry her around a little bit and possibly a treat.