Whats the squatting about.

[burntmuch]

Ive got 7 Isa browns that just started laying. Awesome. Kinda neat when one comes out of the coop cackling away. You know she just laid an egg. Well my question is now when I aproach one of the hens they do the squat. & shuffle their feet. They look like their scared to death. Is this normal. Thanks Jay

 

[Cowgirl71]

They are crouching because they want to be bred by a rooster.

 

[ChickLover98]

My hen Thalia did that to me when I go to pick her up. She squats and shakes, and shuffles her feet. Almost like she's scared of me... We do have a roo, but she only started this behavior after she started to lay.

 

[imthedude]

they're sexually mature, and they see you as their rooster and are submitting to you.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I have three chickens hat have been laying for just over a week. I used to pick them up all of the time but now whenever they think I am about to pick them up, they crouch down and stick out their wings a bit. I think they are a bit sensitive since they started laying and don't want to be picked up.

 

[gryeyes]

That's the submissive pose, the one they use for the rooster so he can mount 'em. Those girls are showing you YOU are The Boss. I get it too. I find it adorable.

What I do is give them a loving little skritch on the back of the neck and down between their shoulderblades, then pat them on their backs. When I stop, they stand back up, shake their feathers and go on their way.

 

[scbatz33]

Folks - that 's what hens do when they are breeding. they squat, spread wings and submit to the roo. It's typical, regular, normal hen behavior.

 

[kajhurley]

Does that mean that your roo's are not mating them??

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
No, it means that the pullets/hens equate the Person with "Status As High As A Rooster" - it's merely a submissive pose.

My rooster mounts and treads all my girls, their eggs are fertilized, and yet they still squat/submit for me, too.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

thanks gryeyes, I am going to do that too. It will make me feel good now instead of feeling like they no longer like me.