Whether you are starting off with your first homestead flock or you have been raising chickens on the homestead for years, we all find ourselves asking, what is my chicken doing? Chickens are entertaining to watch, but knowing what their different behaviors, sounds, and body language means makes watching them even more fun and educational. Learning how chickens communicate can help you take better care of your flock and will give you an inside glimpse into the life of a chicken!
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In Chicken Behavior 101, you will essentially learn how to speak chicken. That doesn’t mean you will be able to communicate with chickens or listen to chickens and know what they are saying, but it does mean you will be able to understand the motives behind different behaviors and actions of flock members.
Maybe instead speaking chicken, you are learning how to read chicken. Learning how to read your flock allows you to pick up on flock dynamics faster. You may even find that you can better care for your flock when you realize why they are behaving the way they are.
Watching different chicken behaviors can be entertaining and can indicate different needs, such as if a chicken is too hot or has external parasites. Learning to read chicken body language is helpful when interacting with the flock. Recognizing the meaning of different vocal noises gives you a small glimpse into how chickens communicate both to each other and to other animals in the surroundings. Gauging a chicken’s attitude is helpful for monitoring health and wellness within the flock.
Basically, a crash course in Chicken Behavior allows you engage appropriately with your flock and understand them better!
These are behaviors that you may see individual chickens doing on a regular basis. Some behaviors have a flock effect, and once one chicken does a behavior, the rest of the flock members follow suit.
Preening is a chicken’s way of ‘combing its hair’. A chicken will run its beak over individual feathers to help knit the feather barbicels together to create an insulating and water repellant web. While preening, a chicken will also spread oil from the preen gland (located on the back at the base of the tail). The oil makes the feathers glossy and water resistant.
Chickens will often rub their heads in the oil gland to help coat the feathers on the top of the their heads as well. Preening often becomes a flock activity and most chickens engage in this behavior on a daily basis.
Excessive preening could indicate an external parasite issues.
Mounting is what roosters do when they are mating with a hen. It involves the rooster grabbing ahold of the hen’s head/neck feathers and balancing on the hen’s back. Treading occurs once the rooster is balanced on the hen’s back. He then moves his feet back and forth to maintain balance and aid in the mating process.
Excessive mounting and treading can result in feather loss for the hen. Roosters who have a favorite hen will often over mate with that hen and cause bald patches on her head and back. A hen saddle can provide relief for hens who are subject to over assertive roosters.
Roosters who get aggressive with their mating, meaning they force the hen to mate, may need to be quarantined or separated from the flock to prevent the hens from becoming too stressed.
Tidbitting is the behavior a rooster does when he has found something tasty and wants to share it with his hens. It’s a roosters way of providing for his flock and wild roosters would engage in this behavior if they found an abundant source of food while foraging. While tidbitting, a rooster will often pick up a food article, make repetitive clucking noises, and continually drop the food item until a hen consumes it.
Sometimes roosters will fake tidbitting just to attract a hen to mate with. Sometimes the hens will catch on to roosters who fake tidbitting too often and they will just ignore him.
A mother hen with chicks will also do tidbitting to encourage her chicks to try a new food.
Courting is also part of a rooster’s mating ritual. When a rooster courts a hen, he drops his wing and does a shuffle dance in front of the hen. Mating with the hen may or may not follow the courting. A rooster may repeatable court a hen if he persistent about mating with her. A hen can refuse to mate by ignoring the courting ritual.
Some roosters will totally skip the courting and go straight to the mating, however, polite roosters will pay attention to the wants of their ladies and are often more accepted amongst the hens when it does come to mating.
Sunbathing is what chickens do to rid themselves of parasites and to receive other health benefits, like vitamin D. When a chicken sunbathes, it will lay out on its side in the sun, spread one wing out, and raise its head and neck feathers. This position optimizes how much sunlight penetrates through the feathers.
You may think your chickens are dying when you see them out sunbathing in the yard, but don’t be alarmed! It’s just your flock’s way of managing parasites and staying healthy!
Brooding is the behavior a hen does when she wants to hatch eggs and raise chicks. A hen who is brooding is often called a broody hen. A brooding hen will remain in the nesting box but will stop laying eggs. She may hiss, growl and peck when you or another hen try to approach her. Broody hens will fluff out their feathers, flatten themselves close to the nest, and pull out their breast feathers (creating a broody patch on their breast).
When a hen is allowed to brood, she will go through the entire process of incubating eggs and raising chicks. This is considered brooding.
I’m not sure how much explanation this one requires. Pretty much anyone who gets chickens will be familiar with the flying behavior. Even chicks at a young age will test out their wings and explore their ability to fly! While chickens are not the best flyers on the bird kingdom, they are able to fly short distances and use their wings to fly up to roosts and other raised areas. Some breeds of chickens are better at flying than others. Light breeds are obviously going to be better flyers than heavy breeds.
Dust bathing is a chicken’s way of taking a bath. A chicken will find (or make) an area of loose dirt. It will then proceed to lay in the dirt and use its feet to kick dirt over its body and into its feathers. The whole procedure involves feather fluffing, rotating, rolling, pecking at the dirt, and kicking lots of dirt all over the place!
Dust bathing helps manage external parasites and helps clean the feathers. The fine dirt particles suffocate any tiny parasites which helps control external parasite issues.
Chickens love to dust bath in groups, and a dust bath spot will quickly become a popular place once it is established. You will notice that your flock prefers different areas depending on the weather and what type of dirt is available. During the spring and winter, sunny dust bath spots are a favorite for sunbathing and dust bathing at the same time. When the weather turns hot, shaded dust bath spots are more popular for staying cool in the damp, cool dirt.
A chicken’s way of exploring its world is through pecking. Pecking is used for exploring new things, moving objects, establishing hierarchy, and fighting. In its more innocent form, pecking occurs when a chicken is foraging, eating, or sampling new foods. In its more aggressive form, pecking is used for fighting, giving warnings, or defending.
Bullying can be a collection of different behaviors, but the most common behavior of a chicken who is being a bully includes repeatedly targeting another flock member with aggressive pecking. Being a food and water hog or nesting box bully can also be behaviors of a bully hen. It can also occur as a flock behavior when the flock gangs up on a weak, sick, or injured bird in an attempt to keep the whole flock healthy and safe.
Hens that are higher up in the flock pecking order are more likely to become bullies while flock members at the bottom of the pecking order are often the victims of bullying.
Basically, a bully chicken disrupts the peace provided by a stable pecking order.
Another behavior that chicken keepers will quickly become familiar with is roosting. Roosting is the perching behavior that chickens do on a nightly basis. Roosting is basically another term for perching, but it commonly refers to the nightly perching habits of the flock.
A chicken will often choose an elevated, protected area to roost. Coop training your flock involves teaching them that the coop is the appropriate place to roost on a nightly basis. Having adequate perches installed in the coop can make roosting in the coop more appealing and natural.
Panting is a key indicator that a chicken is experiencing some heat stress. A chicken will pant to increase air flow for assisting in cooling off during hot weather. Typical panting behavior is when a chicken breathes with its beak slightly open and is sometimes accompanied by the chicken holding its wings out away from its body.
This behavior means the chicken is too hot and is trying to cool off.
Foraging is the natural behavior that a chicken does when looking for food. It can involve scratching away dirt, leaves, and grass, pecking at the ground, or slowly wandering over an area with the head lowered to look for tasty morsels.
Chickens will forage in their coop, in their enclosure, when they are let out to free-range, or basically whenever food might be involved! Some breeds or individuals are more inclined to be good foragers than others. Good foragers will be able to supplement their diet with edible findings when allowed to forage in pasture or free-range.
Fighting is a behavior that every chicken keeper wants to avoid, but it is sometimes necessary to establish a peaceful and co-existing flock. A chicken will fight to establish hierarchy, to defend territory, and to defend flock members. Fighting is also not just delegated to roosters. Hens will fight over hierarchy position, nesting boxes, chicks, or roosting spots.
A fighting chicken will raise its hackle feathers (neck feathers) crouch low to the ground, often with a lowered head, and will take on an intimidating, concentrated appearance. As the fight progresses, pecking, spurring, wing flapping, jumping, and mauling may occur.
Sparring is an activity that young cockerels engage in when they establishing hierarchy as they mature. Basically, sparring is play fighting that serves the important role of establishing dominance peacefully and preparing the young cockerels for when they may have to fight for a flock of their own.
When young cockerels face off with each other, with raised hackle feathers, and jump at each other, they are sparring. Sparring is usually harmless and only lasts a few minutes until the lesser cockerel backs down.
While reading a bird’s body language is definitely more difficult than reading a horse’s or a dog’s body language, it still can be done. Bird body language and bird behavior are closely linked, so even if you don’t catch onto the subtle body movements that mean a particular cue, the behavior that follows will clue you into what’s going on.
An aggressive posture typically includes concentrated and direct eye contact with the head slightly lowered. The hackle (neck) feathers may be raised along with other feathers on the body to give the chicken a bigger, more imposing look. A chicken may also hold out and drop down its wings to add to its appearance.
Chickens can show this aggressive body language to other chickens, predators, or humans who they think are threatening.
Squatting is the body language that a hen does that tells a rooster she is willing to mate with him. A hen will crouch low to the ground and hold her wing shoulders out slightly to create a flat, wide back for the rooster to balance on. Sometimes a hen will instinctually squat when a person goes to pick her up, this can be a cue when displayed by young pullets that they are nearing laying age.
Shivering is the body’s natural response when the body temperature starts to lower due to being cold. It functions to stimulate the muscles and generate heat through energy usage. You can visually see when a chicken is shivering by watching for slight body vibrations accompanied by lethargic behavior and fluffed feathers. Shivering is one of the first signs that a chicken is experiencing more severe cold stress.
Beak rubbing is an interesting body language to see your chickens doing. We often refer to it as ‘sharpening the beak’. Beak rubbing is when a chicken swipes its beak across a hard surface multiple times. This behavior does serve to keep the beak filed down (since beaks are always growing) and it can be used to clean the beak of any debris gathered while foraging.
Feather ruffling is when a chicken thoroughly shakes out all its feathers. The chicken will puff up all its feathers and give a little shake. Feather ruffling can serve several purposes. It is often done after the chicken has finished dust bathing to rid itself of any remaining dirt particles.
A hen will also ruffle her feathers after a rooster has mated with her. She may be able to re-arrange and fix her feathers after the rooster has mounted her by ruffling her feathers back into place. A chicken may also ruffle its feathers after it has been held for the same reason of rearranging its feathers.
Chickens are notoriously known for their habit of bobbing their heads while walking or being carried. They also tilt their heads in a cute and curious manor. Both of these behaviors are linked to how a chicken sees its world. A chicken’s eye is composed of five different cones that detect light and color. When a chicken bobs or tilts its head, it is allowing all the cones within the eye to process and record what the chicken is seeing. It also allows the chicken to cover multiple areas several different times which can be helpful when watching for predators or looking for food.
While companionship is more of a general term, I like to use it to refer to a chicken’s behavior when they are seeking the company of another chicken or their chicken keeper. Companionship body language will include a friendly, curious posture and welcoming actions such as running to greet the other chicken/person, insisting on nearness, and actively seeking out the other chicken/person.
Some chickens within a flock will form special bonds with each other. Chickens can also form bonds with their human care takers. Both of these relationships can result in companionship body language.
The protective body language can have some overlaps with the aggressive body language since a chicken can become aggressive when it is trying to be protective. Protective body language includes when a chicken puffs up its feathers, holds out and drops down its wings, and hisses or growls. Brooding hens will often display protective behavior when they are approached by another chicken, human, or animal.
When a chicken stretches up on its tip toes and flaps its wings back and forth it is engaging in wing flapping. Wing flapping can mean several different things depending on the context in which it is done. Sometimes, wing flapping is merely done for the purpose of stretching.
Other times wing flapping means the chicken is content and happy. Content wing flapping is sometimes done while a chicken is free-ranging or after the flock has been let out of the coop.
Wing flapping can also be a warning. Roosters that are about to fight or who have just fought will engage in wing flapping to further enhance their display of dominance.
Yes! Chickens can wag their tails! A content chicken will sometimes flatten out its tail feathers and ‘wag its tail’. This behavior generally means the chicken is happy and content. Sometimes tail wagging is accompanied by content wing flapping. I see a lot of tail wagging going on in my flock when I let them out to free-range after they have been cooped up for a while.
The term lethargic can be used to identify the body language of a chicken who is feeling ill. A lethargic chicken will be inactive and may have a hunched over posture. The chicken will keep its head tucked close to its body and its tail will be droopy. Lethargic chickens may stand stationary with their feathers slightly puffed out and their eyes closed.
The ‘let’s play!’ body language is most often exhibited by young pullets and cockerels. This excited behavior may occur when the young chickens are let out to free-range or are moved to a large outdoor play area. Pretty much, the ‘let’s play!’ language requires big open spaces!
The young birds may run around wildly, flapping their wings and doing little hops. They may run up to each other and greet one another or the young cockerels may spontaneously engage in a bout of sparring. This kind of behavior is just young chickens having fun and being content!
Aside from behaviors and body language, chickens also have a wide range of different vocal noises that communicate a different meaning to flock members. It is even though that chickens have a distinct ‘name’ sound for each member in the flock that they use for communicating with each other! We will never know all the different meanings of the sounds a chicken makes, but some distinct vocal noises can be easily recognized and translated.
Crowing is a very distinct and well known chicken noise made by roosters of all different chicken breeds! Each rooster will have its own unique crow, some having a more long, drawn out crow while others have a more deep, short crow. Crowing is used by roosters to communicate with each other, display dominance, and establish territory.
Roosters will crow at any time of the day. If multiple roosters are in the area, they may have a crowing contest to establish hierarchy, dominance, and position. Sometimes you can tell if a rooster is frustrated, angry, or content by the tone of his crow.
The greeting noise is one that is shared by all the flock members and is used on a daily basis to create other flock members as they come and go. Chickens will also do their greeting noise to greet their care takers! Listen carefully and you may be able to distinguish a unique noise that your flock uses as their greeting call throughout the day and to greet you!
The warning call can take on a variety of meaning and may have varying degrees of urgency. Chickens issue a warning call when they perceive danger or something startling in their surroundings. A broody hen may also use a warning call to threaten you away from her nest and to communicate danger to her chicks.
Roosters use the warning call to warn the flock of any danger. A rooster will have several different warning calls that mean different things, such as if the danger is aerial or from the ground. Typically, a low-pitched warning means ground danger whereas a high pitched alert means danger from above.
The alert call may proceed or follow up a warning call. An alert call is usually issued by all the members of the flock. It means there may be danger near and everyone needs to be on high alert to watch for predators. This call may last for a little while after a predator attack.
Dispute noises are varied, but generally sound very chaotic and noisy. These are noises that a chicken, or multiple chickens, make when there is an argument amongst flock members. It may not be all out fighting, just a quick dispute between birds over hierarchy, access to food, nesting boxes, or a favorite roosting spot. Disputes may include squawking, squabbling, and minor pecking.
The egg song is the noise a hen makes after she has laid her egg. A hen’s egg song can get to be very loud, and sometimes other hens will join in, even if they haven’t laid an egg! Roosters will also join an egg song if the rest of the hens are participating as well. A hen will sing her egg song while leaving the nest and re-joining the flock.
It is thought that the egg song functions as a distraction from the nest. By making a loud noise away from the nest, a hen can distract predators away from her nest and thus protect her eggs.
The pre-nesting noise is the sound a hen makes prior to laying her egg. She may ‘sing’ this song while choosing a nesting spot or she may walk amongst the flock and continue her gibbering to communicate that she needs to lay. I often hear the pre-nesting song when I clean up the coop every morning and one or more hens are getting ready to lay their eggs.
As with greeting noises, a flock will also have ‘good night’ noises. These are noises that the flock members share with each other when they go in to roost for the night. They are often soft calls that the flock uses to take roll call in the evening and ensure that everyone is safely in and roosted for the night. If a rooster is present, he may issue the good night call to take tabs on all his hens and ensure they are all near.
If you go into the coop at dusk, as your flock is roosting or after they have just settled in for the night, you may be able to distinguish your flock’s good night noises.
Trills are a noise unique to baby chicks. As they mature, the chicks outgrow these baby trills. Chicks communicate with trills when they are content and happy within the brooder or with a mother hen. These soft, purr-like sounds are soothing and indicate peace and content within the brood. A mother hen will sometimes respond to the trills of her brood with a deeper sound herself that reassures the chicks that she is content too.
Sweet peeps are another ‘chick only’ noise that maturing chicks will out grow. These are the sounds you hear coming from the brooder as the chicks go about their business of exploring their surroundings, eating, drinking, and enjoying the heat. Chicks use sweet peeps to communicate with each other so that they can stay together.
Another distinct chick noise that you may hear baby chicks make is the discovery peep. The discovery peep is used by a chick who has just discovered something new and interesting in its surroundings. This could be a morsel of food, a loose feather, a bug, or a piece of litter. The discovery peep often sounds exciting and may be repeated several times.
The distress call is made by both adult chickens and young chicks alike. The distress call will differ depending on the chickens age and what kind of distress they are in. For chicks, distress peeps are often loud pitched, drawn out and repetitive. Chicks may make distressed peeps when they are cold, separated from each other, or separated from the mother hen.
Adult chickens may make a similar, more desperate distress call when they are suddenly injured or attacked. It’s kind of like a chicken’s way of saying ‘ouch!” but in a much more serious way. The distress call more turn into a more plaintive, hurting cry if the distress continues.
Broody clucks are made by a brooding hen. A brooding hen will make a series of past paced, continuous clucks when she leaves the nest throughout the incubation period, or when she is kicked out of the nest by another hen or the chicken keeper. The broody clucks seem to be a way that the hen communicates with the rest of the flock saying, “I’m broody, don’t mess with me”.
Hopefully this crash course in Chicken Behavior will help you answer some of your ‘What is my chicken doing?” questions! From learning how to recognize chicken behaviors to identifying different vocal noises, learning how to read your flock better can be eye opening and entertaining! Not to mention the functionality of being able to adapt your chicken care routine to the needs of your flock based off of what they are communicating to you and the other flock members. Learning to read chicken is helpful for raising and caring for a happy and healthy homestead flock!
Have questions about your flock’s behavior? Ask away and I’ll do my best to explain their actions! Also, feel free to sign up for our weekly email newsletter to get in touch with us and receive weekly tips on caring for a homestead flock!
by Alexa
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