Why do ready-to-lay hens squat or dance

[epeloquin]

I have six pullets who are 12 weeks old. My father-in-law has seven laying hens. When someone walks up to them they squat low to the ground and do a wierd little dance with their feet. I have also heard of layers or almost-layers who squat when someone comes near.

Why do they do this?

 

[Delta2 23]

I have wondered exactly the same thing. Mine do it all the time: some slink away when you try to pat them, others get right down and stay squatted for ages!

Perhaps they think we're rooster

 

[saddina]

It's a submissive mating posture. Sorta a hen's way of saying "take me big boy".

 

[pjknust]

In my personal opinion, I think its submission, coz you are top chicken. Mine do that too.

 

[karlamaria]

same as a cat in heat, they are ready to
breed.

 

[gryeyes]

They are submitting. If you were a rooster, you would hop right on and take advantage of the opportunity to mate.

When mine do that for me, I give 'em a skritch on the back of the neck just above the shoulders, another skritch at the base of the tail, and a final pat on the middle of the back, saying, "Good girl!" Then the hens stand up and fluff up their feathers with a little shake.

I prefer to think they're just adjusting their coifs so they don't walk around with "bed feathers," even though I actually know why they do that shake. (It moves the rooster's semen up from the cloaca to the proper location for egg fertilization.)

When they first start to squat, it's a signal they're sexually mature.

 

[epeloquin]

Quote:
Ew...

 

[the Pollo Loco]

They do think you're ready to mount... it's funny... humor them, reach over and give them a shake. believe it or not hens that are ready to lay will start laying not too long afterwards

 

[epeloquin]

Quote:
X2 Ew...

 

[saddina]

Quote:
Ew...

Yeah poor thing you now know more than you ever wanted to about chicken sex.