My EE (Hawkface - my avatar pic) has started this behavior over the past couple weeks. Whenever I get close to her, or when she comes up to me, she squats down and spreads her wings out a little. Nothing else really changes, she keeps talking the way she had been, she's just squatted down with her wings puffed out. I usually pick her up or pet her when she does this since I'm not really sure what it is that she wants or expects me to do, and she doesn't seem at all bothered when I pet her or pick her up. When I hold her she just keeps on talking, or leans her head against me and closes her eyes. Definitely doesn't seem like the way someone would act if they didn't want to be held. At the same time, it seems a little odd. I'm also not sure why she's just started this the past few weeks. I think someone suggested to me in another post that you can tell which hens are laying by holding your hand over their backs...but we haven't seen any EE eggs around anywhere. The other three girls that are laying now all lay their eggs in the chicken house (the Barred Rock that laid her first egg on Saturday can't quite figure out how to get into the nest loft yet, so she laid hers on the floor in their house today). I can't imagine why Hawkface would be hiding her nest/eggs off in the woods somewhere if everyone else is laying theirs in the house.
