There are two behaviors I’ve seen in my flock that I don’t understand. One is when a hen picks up and drops something a few times, making a quick higher pitched cluck. It seems just like the sound a mama hen makes when calling her brood to a treat. But I’ve had at least two non-broody hens do this when I spoke to them and approached. To whom are they announcing their find? Is this display for me? Is it tidbitting? I thought only roosters (and mama hens) did this?
The other behavior is something that is definitely directed at me. A little history... Bridge will sometimes call me for an escort before crossing the road. Then she started calling me, but sat down when I approached. Then she started doing this thing where she drops a wing in my direction and make almost a growling sound. What is that? Bridge is also one of the hens who does the tidbitting thing. Since Margo died, Bridge is top girl. Lucky also started doing the drop wing growling thing. What is that? My flock is pretty docile and both these birds will lap sit.
Hoping
@Shadrach will weigh in.
I think people who keep hens only primarily as pets get viewed as tribe members by the chickens far more often than with some other keeping arrangements. Of course this will depend on how much time you spend with them and often more importantly, when you spent time with them. None of the hens or roosters here tidbit for me. But, I do have two hens that will show tidbitting behavior to the rest of their tribe. In both cases there is/was a tribe rooster.
Meet Gedit. For hens here she's a big. She's 8 years old now I think. What I believe may be important is she has never laid an egg and she is the most senior in age and status in the tribe.
I've assumed that she has some kind of hormone imbalance given she is otherwise healthy. She has also seen a couple of roosters come and go in her tribe and basically she is the tribe leader. Despite not layinng eggs the males still want to mate with her. This is quite interesting in itself because the males it seems know when a hen is producing eggs. While hens here are producing eggs the roosters mate with them regularly. When they are not producing eggs the roosters tend to leave them alone.
Cockerels are different to a certain extent.
So, for Gedit, she's the tribe leader and finding food and calling the tribe for it is part of the head of the tribes job description.
It seems possible that your hen is doing much the same. The only concerning news is she things she's senior to you.
The other hen here that tidbitted for her tribe was in general far more aggressive and generally bossy than the rest of her tribe. She wasn't the most senior hen though and her position in the tribe and how she got to join it was complicated.
The wing dropping sounds like herding. This is I think quite unusual and I have never seen a hen try to herd other hens here, but there have always been roosters here even if a tribe had lost their rooster and hadn't replaced him for a period of time.
What I find fascinating is the hens ability to make these social adjustments according to the circumstances they are kept in. If you consider the behavior of the chickens ancestors there was no need for a pecking order. They didn't live in flocks. In most cases. There are a few studies of both 'wild' game fowl and zoo kept game fowl where family groups are evident and that is what I have here. Chickens are essentially tribal creatures and not flock creatures. The pecking order is an adaptation to the circumstances they are kept in rather than a 'natural' behavior current evidence would suggest.
I find it incredible that hens (roosters are technically not in the pecking order) have manged to adapt to the unnatural keeping circumstances and established a quite complex social hierarchy that helps to ensure that the most successful genes go forward (senior hens here will try to prevent juniors from mating, sitting and hatching) and at the same time minimizing conflict within the group.
I think you better grow some feathers.
