What is she & Why does she

[Alex Croft]

Feral chicken took up residence off and on in our backyard & neighbors about 6 months ago. She (not sure of this) looks like photos of RI Red hen except she has a moderately large black tail that she sometimes fans out. She has a small comb & may have laid eggs at a neighbors house. Rumored that police raided a fighting cock place a couple of streets away a few days before she first showed up. She pecks at a lot of things in our yard (we have a lot of desert plants) and also in plant pots (for grit, maybe?). She really likes strawberry tops (with some strawberry attached), apple peels & cores (no seeds), & cucumber peels. She can fly at least a little -- to the top of 6-foot wall and down.

She comes only during the day and usually makes only a soft clucking sound. However, a couple of weeks ago she showed up at 3am (we are night people & so were up). She was making a new sound: "cluck, cluck, cluck, BRAWWWKKK" and repeating it over and over. The BRAWWWKKK" was loud enough to be heard clearly inside the house over the TV -- surprised it didn't bring the police. I went out and she acted as she usually does around me: keeps about 2 feet away but doesn't run. I put out some food: she sporadically ate a bite or two but seemed relatively uninterested. The loud squawking continued for about half an hour until she finally calmed down and went into one of her hiding places among our plants.

I thought there might be a predator nearby, but she didn't seem scared and didn't fly up on anything which I would have expected.

Any explanations? Any idea if she is a she? Thanks.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Feral chicken took up residence off and on in our backyard & neighbors about 6 months ago. She (not sure of this) looks like photos of RI Red hen except she has a moderately large black tail that she sometimes fans out. She has a small comb & may have laid eggs at a neighbors house. Rumored that police raided a fighting cock place a couple of streets away a few days before she first showed up. She pecks at a lot of things in our yard (we have a lot of desert plants) and also in plant pots (for grit, maybe?). She really likes strawberry tops (with some strawberry attached), apple peels & cores (no seeds), & cucumber peels. She can fly at least a little -- to the top of 6-foot wall and down.

She comes only during the day and usually makes only a soft clucking sound. However, a couple of weeks ago she showed up at 3am (we are night people & so were up). She was making a new sound: "cluck, cluck, cluck, BRAWWWKKK" and repeating it over and over. The BRAWWWKKK" was loud enough to be heard clearly inside the house over the TV -- surprised it didn't bring the police. I went out and she acted as she usually does around me: keeps about 2 feet away but doesn't run. I put out some food: she sporadically ate a bite or two but seemed relatively uninterested. The loud squawking continued for about half an hour until she finally calmed down and went into one of her hiding places among our plants.

I thought there might be a predator nearby, but she didn't seem scared and didn't fly up on anything which I would have expected.

Any explanations? Any idea if she is a she? Thanks.

sounds like a hen to me, but it could go either way depending on age. if you get a picture could you post it for us, it would certainly help identify gender. possibly breed, but she/he is likely a mix.

 

[Elegantenvy]

I'm not for sure.... But I wanna say maybe it's the egg song? Maybe she laid an egg or is fixing to?

 

[TheLittleFarm18]

Kinda wierd it would be out and about at that hour? Maybe something spooked it awake. My first thought was egg song too . I have also heard my rooster do the egg song when his best girl was laying also though.

 

[pallas]

Probably the egg song but I used to have chickens who would do it even when they did'n lay an egg.

 

[aart]

Feral chicken took up residence off and on in our backyard & neighbors about 6 months ago. She (not sure of this) looks like photos of RI Red hen except she has a moderately large black tail that she sometimes fans out. She has a small comb & may have laid eggs at a neighbors house. Rumored that police raided a fighting cock place a couple of streets away a few days before she first showed up. She pecks at a lot of things in our yard (we have a lot of desert plants) and also in plant pots (for grit, maybe?). She really likes strawberry tops (with some strawberry attached), apple peels & cores (no seeds), & cucumber peels. She can fly at least a little -- to the top of 6-foot wall and down.

She comes only during the day and usually makes only a soft clucking sound. However, a couple of weeks ago she showed up at 3am (we are night people & so were up). She was making a new sound: "cluck, cluck, cluck, BRAWWWKKK" and repeating it over and over. The BRAWWWKKK" was loud enough to be heard clearly inside the house over the TV -- surprised it didn't bring the police. I went out and she acted as she usually does around me: keeps about 2 feet away but doesn't run. I put out some food: she sporadically ate a bite or two but seemed relatively uninterested. The loud squawking continued for about half an hour until she finally calmed down and went into one of her hiding places among our plants.

I thought there might be a predator nearby, but she didn't seem scared and didn't fly up on anything which I would have expected.

Any explanations? Any idea if she is a she? Thanks.

Welcome to BYC!

Only a pic will tell if it's male or female, tho I would think if a male you would have heard crowing unless it's an immature bird.
The 'egg song' sounds very much like the 'alarm call', I suspect it was spooked by something....maybe strange lights on in that one humans house that also may be waht drew it near your house(the lights on). It stopped alarm calling once it felt safe in it's hiding place.

What you want to do about this bird has several options. If it isn't kept in a safe enclosure at night it may eventually be some other critters meal.

If you'd give your general location maybe we can connect you with someone who will take it off your hands.

 

[Shadrach]

Feral chicken took up residence off and on in our backyard & neighbors about 6 months ago. She (not sure of this) looks like photos of RI Red hen except she has a moderately large black tail that she sometimes fans out. She has a small comb & may have laid eggs at a neighbors house. Rumored that police raided a fighting cock place a couple of streets away a few days before she first showed up. She pecks at a lot of things in our yard (we have a lot of desert plants) and also in plant pots (for grit, maybe?). She really likes strawberry tops (with some strawberry attached), apple peels & cores (no seeds), & cucumber peels. She can fly at least a little -- to the top of 6-foot wall and down.

She comes only during the day and usually makes only a soft clucking sound. However, a couple of weeks ago she showed up at 3am (we are night people & so were up). She was making a new sound: "cluck, cluck, cluck, BRAWWWKKK" and repeating it over and over. The BRAWWWKKK" was loud enough to be heard clearly inside the house over the TV -- surprised it didn't bring the police. I went out and she acted as she usually does around me: keeps about 2 feet away but doesn't run. I put out some food: she sporadically ate a bite or two but seemed relatively uninterested. The loud squawking continued for about half an hour until she finally calmed down and went into one of her hiding places among our plants.

I thought there might be a predator nearby, but she didn't seem scared and didn't fly up on anything which I would have expected.

Any explanations? Any idea if she is a she? Thanks.

Elegantenvy and others I think have identified the sound correctly but what many describe as the egg song is in fact the hen calling for a rooster.
She may, or may not have laid an egg.