So, we all know that roosters crow, hens cluck and chicks peep. And, that’s pretty much the extent of fowl language, right?

Well, no.

Chickens often exhibit what we may think of as strange behavior. Hens, too, will crow. Yep. It’s rare, but it does happen. They will also “sing.” It’s called the “laying cackle” or “egg song.” (See video at the top of this post.) Shortly after laying an egg, some hens will launch into an extended cackle. Although it isn’t known for sure the purpose of her boisterous call, it may be an instinctive attempt to distract a predator’s attention from her egg.

The egg song usually lasts only for a few minutes, and then a hen will return to what she’s known for: a contented clucking. Here are some other weird behaviors:

Dust Bathing

When your chicken flails around in the dirt and kicks her feet up in the air, don’t worry — she is not having a seizure! This is how chickens bathe and is a normal part of their personal hygiene. That’s right: they use dirt to keep clean!

Dust bathing removes dead skin cells and excess oils from the chicken’s body. More importantly, it is a deterrent to harmful parasites, such as lice and mites, that like to attach themselves to your bird’s feathers and legs. Dust that is stirred up by the chicken’s gyrations clogs the respiratory pores of these parasites, causing them to suffocate.

Taking a bath can also be a social activity for your flock, so don’t be surprised to see several hens bathing together.

Roosting

If you let your chickens free range, don’t be surprised to find them sitting in trees or perched on your fence. They are, after all, birds and they can fly short distances. So, though it may seem strange for a chicken to be on the roof of a building, to the chicken it’s completely normal!

Even inside your coop, they won’t necessarily conform to your idea of roosting. Some will face forward on the roost, others backward. One or more will likely decide they need to sleep in the nesting box or in the rafters.

Don’t be concerned with their sleeping arrangements and don’t try to force them to roost as you prefer. You just need to let them be chickens and roost where and how they want!

Egg-Laying Behavior

You can be the most loving chicken owner ever, going to great lengths to provide quite, private and comfortable nesting boxes for your girls to lay their eggs. And yet, somebody will undoubtedly decide she wants to lay her eggs in the run…on a bale of straw…or in the yard…or under the porch. Good grief!

Worse yet, they may even hide their eggs. Take it from Spartan22: “We had a sitter to take care of them while we were on 1 wk vacation, we told the sitter that we have 8-10 eggs a day and she can have them all. When we came back home, she told us she only get 2 eggs a day which puzzled us, since they were very consistent w/ # for months, couple of days later while I was checking the coop I found over 40 eggs stashed in the corner behind the nests stacks. The little boogers hid their eggs from the stranger lady.”

Squatting

When your chickens get to be 5 to 6 months in age, you may begin to see a new behavior. You’ll reach down to pet them or pick them up and they will squat, laying their belly on the ground.

This is a submissive posture, most associated with their response to a rooster who desires to mate. A chicken that is too young to mate (and therefore, too young to lay eggs) will not squat. So, if you see your young birds doing this, take it as a sign that the first egg is soon to come.

In the absence of a rooster, squatting is also a submissive response to a human or even another hen. 

In the absence of a rooster, squatting is also a submissive response to a human or even another hen. So, whereas it may appear that your chicken is saying, “Sure, go ahead and pet me,” it’s actually an act of submission.

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