Normal and abnormal behaviours

Several abnormal behaviors (pecking, cannibalism, aggressiveness) are often caused by a poor integration of new chickens, or stress caused by a sudden change. Make sure you always do a good antler test and integrate new chickens gradually. Hens carrying diseases such as Marek could decimate your entire flock.

Social behaviour of hens

Chickens live in a finely organized political and social world. They have a lot of things to put in place in their hierarchy (pecking order). Chicken culture is a fascinating world to observe. Older chickens pass on a lot of knowledge and experience to the younger ones. Research on the behaviour of chickens is still going on in several universities around the world.

Feeding from beak to beak and empathy

A very interesting event happened one day after I took Ginger, my dominant, with me to an outside  workshop.  As soon as she came back home, around 3:00 pm, she directly went in the garden in the sun and took advantage of this bath to relax. Vera was so happy having her back that she kept feeding her beak to beak and to care for her, soft gentle pecking at her and gave her lots of attention! So cute… researchers and scientists are observing and analyzing these social behaviors which are very developed in our chickens who feel empathy.

Need to hatch eggs: normal behavior

This behaviour is normal and hormones are involved.  It is seen in almost all breeds of hens. Hybrid hens have generally lost this trait in their characteristics.  There is no need to have a rooster or fertilized eggs.  The hen will want to hatch eggs, any, even nothing at all…Laying position, higher body temperature. Sometimes they are in a trance and in an almost self-hypnotic state. When you take them out of the nest, they may stay motionless for a few minutes on the ground before waking up from their trance and going to feed, drink, and scratch the ground.

The incubating hen will go to feed and drink from time to time but spends most of her time in the nest.

If your chickens stop laying and want to brood, you can try the temperature drop technique. See video below

Another way is to place the hen on the perch every evening to prevent her from spending the night in the nesting box. The periods of brooding are frequent in hens of fancy breeds, such as silk hens. Redheaded hens are not used to wanting to brood for a long time, but there are exceptions. Leghorns that are used in industries do not have this instinct to want to hatch eggs at all.

Nesting territory fight: normal

If your chickens become aggressive towards others who want to enter the nest box, isolate them for a while in your separate cage.

Abnormal behaviour

Feather picking and cannibalism of the head

Sometimes, two hens that are fond of each other may give each other a light peck on the head and neck. If the hen receiving this pecking stroke remains relaxed and closes her eyes, everything is normal unless the hen pecking the head becomes obsessive for hours. Sometimes, when a hen enters her moulting phase, others may be tempted to peck the flesh if she has lost a lot of feathers all of a sudden in a particular place.

Cloaca Picking

This form of grazing is one of the worst. It can start if the nesting boxes are not dark enough and a laying hen with a slightly protruding cloaca attracts the attention of the other hens. Young hens that are laying their first eggs may have a small blood trail and this too will attract the hens. Another cause could be that the perch allows other hens to get under it and have the hens’ cloaca perched directly at the right height to prick the cloaca. Do not place the lowest perch in your chicken house more than 45 cm from the floor. At night, the hens should not see anything and sleep in the dark.

Eating their own eggs :

This problem can occur if the hens have been under stress, (integration of new hens, lack of space) do not have enough nests, if they are too bright, if space is very limited in the henhouse. Moreover if your eggs are not collected regularly, your hens could accidentally walk and break the eggs especially if they have a soft shell and eat them. Once a hen has tasted the raw eggs, she will spontaneously break the eggs to eat them. Sometimes, if the hens are deficient in vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin, which often occurs when hens are locked up in a shed or garage in the winter) or calcium, they will have soft eggs and eat them. Vitamins D and E can be added to their water three times a week:
Source: The chicken health disease handbook, by Gail Damerow p. 297.

How to prevent cannibalism :

Some species of chickens that have a strong instinct for exploring and scratching the ground will have the strongest tendency towards cannibalism if they don’t have enough opportunity to walk around in search of food. This need is both to keep them busy and to satisfy their nutritional needs for fiber and insects of all kinds. Certain more nervous species with a more sensitive temperament such as Leghorns and Mediterranean species are more at risk of developing cannibalism. More aggressive species that are very territorial and constantly engage in conflicts of rank within the group will be more inclined to develop this behaviour. Some chickens will exhibit this behaviour only if living conditions are not adequate. Space too small, boredom and lack of entertainment.

How to control cannibalism:

At the first signs of cannibalism, isolate the injured hen. Next, try to isolate the culprits. If your chicken house has windows that make it very bright, reduce the brightness. The chicken house should always be dark and the little light that comes in will hardly allow you to read a piece of newspaper.   At night, make sure the hens sleep in total darkness for at least 8-10 hours. Do not give red meat with blood to the hens. Do not let the hens get the taste of blood by pecking the cloaca of other hens.  Nesting boxes should be in the dark and provide privacy to prevent the attraction of the cloaca. If some hens have sores, cover them so that other hens cannot peck them,

Give less food at a time, but on several occasions to keep them occupied during the day to be explored. Install small toys hanging from the ceiling and at head height, and poles or swings to distract them. Sometimes the chickens need extra fibre in their diet. Add oats (oatmeal) to meet this need. Another cause could be that your chickens have a salt deficiency. Occasionally, you can add one Tbsp of salt per gallon of water for a day.