?? Strange Behavior ??

[RossGirls7]

Hi, I'm new to chicken keeping. With that said, I lack experience

We bought our girls just over 21 weeks ago at Big R on Good Friday, April 3rd. Anyway, three days ago we got our first egg. Very exciting! With anticipation that soon all my girls will be laying. I'm not sure what behavior I'm seeing or if it could be related to this change in them. I spend a bit of time with my girls and hand feed them, pick up a select few & hang out. So today I was sitting on the deck with the girls hanging around me and I went to pet Emily my big white. Well she put her head down, shoulders out & butt up. She seemed to really welcome the attention. That kind of behavior makes me think "in heat". So as I'm sitting there and my Holly (White with Black tail but not a bantam) is standing by the edge of the deck when Oreo jumps up landing in front of Holly & takes that same stance. Holly is second on the top of the pecking ladder from Ringo (Speckled Sussex), so to me that looked life Oreo was being submissive. What am I seeing?
Thank you

 

[chicapee]

Hi, I'm new to chicken keeping. With that said, I lack experience  We bought our girls just over 21 weeks ago at Big R on Good Friday, April 3rd. Anyway, three days ago we got our first egg. Very exciting! With anticipation that soon all my girls will be laying. I'm not sure what behavior I'm seeing or if it could be related to this change in them. I spend a bit of time with my girls and hand feed them, pick up a select few & hang out. So today I was sitting on the deck with the girls hanging around me and I went to pet Emily my big white. Well she put her head down, shoulders out & butt up. She seemed to really welcome the attention. That kind of behavior makes me think "in heat". So as I'm sitting there and my Holly (White with Black tail but not a bantam) is standing by the edge of the deck when Oreo jumps up landing in front of Holly & takes that same stance. Holly is second on the top of the pecking ladder from Ringo (Speckled Sussex), so to me that looked life Oreo was being submissive. What am I seeing?
Thank you

It sounds like squatting, which can mean they are getting ready to lay or mate.

 

[Toddrick]

It sounds like squatting, which can mean they are getting ready to lay or mate.

Yup, normal. Only one of my four chicks ever exhibited this behavior, so maybe only the most submissive personalities do it? My other girls all run instead of squat.

 

[shelby h]

Two of my girls do the same, only the butt goes down. They're my little butt dippers!

 

[aart]

Two of my girls do the same, only the butt goes down. They're my little butt dippers!

If you vigorously scratch her back and/or pull on her neck feathers in back, she'll probably lift her tail.

 

[N F C]

Most of our girls started doing the squat shortly before laying. Now that they are between 14 - 20 months old and all are laying, some of them enjoy the scratching they get for squatting and some just "limbo" right out from under our hands. The ones that enjoy the scratching will do this big fluff & shake when they get up again. Fun stuff!