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Chicken Support Insights - Episode 39: What Your Chickens Are Trying to Tell You · Valley Hatchery Podcast

• 0:09
  Tina: Hi everyone, welcome back to the Chicken Insights Podcast.
• 0:12
  Tina: I'm Tina, and I'm joined by Courtney.
• 0:15
  Tina: Today we're talking about something every chicken keeper does, whether they realize it or not.
• 0:20
  Tina: Reading their flock.
• 0:22
  Cortney: Your chickens are communicating with you all day long.
• 0:26
  Cortney: Their posture, sounds, eating habits, and even how they interact with each other can tell you a lot about what's going on.
• 0:33
  Tina: The trick is learning what those behaviors mean and recognizing when something changes before it becomes a bigger problem.
• 0:41
  Tina: So today we're talking about what your chickens are trying to tell you.
• 0:46
  Cortney: And later in the episode, we're putting each other to the test with a quick flock behavior challenge and sharing a couple of memorable customer stories.
• 0:55
  Cortney: Let's jump in.
• 0:56
  Tina: So, Courtney, why is simple observing your flock one of the most important habits a chicken keeper can develop?
• 1:04
  Cortney: So, one of the best tools any flock owner has isn't something you can buy.
• 1:09
  Cortney: It's simple paying attention.
• 1:11
  Cortney: And the more familiar you get with your chickens and their normal behavior, the easier it is to notice when something changes.
• 1:18
  Cortney: So watching and observing how your chickens communicate constantly through their behavior.
• 1:24
  Cortney: Knowing what's normal makes it easier to notice changes.
• 1:28
  Cortney: So if something's not in that normal category that you see every day, then that's a change that you want to start watching.
• 1:34
  Cortney: Small behavior changes often appear before obvious physical symptoms.
• 1:39
  Cortney: So it usually starts small with has something changed?
• 1:43
  Cortney: Are they eating the same, drinking the same?
• 1:45
  Cortney: Are they moving around free ranging the same?
• 1:48
  Cortney: Spending a few minutes observing your flock each day can make a big difference.
• 1:54
  Tina: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:55
  Tina: You don't have to stare at them for hours, just a few minutes each day gives you a really good sense of what's normal for them.
• 2:03
  Cortney: For sure.
• 2:04
  Cortney: When you let them out and they all are running out the coop every morning, I have two that's up in my loft.
• 2:11
  Cortney: And if I don't wait for them to come out, because they're flying out.
• 2:16
  Cortney: I walked underneath them one time just the other day, and it almost landed on my head as I'm coming out the coop.
• 2:22
  Cortney: It's flying out the loft.
• 2:23
  Cortney: So this is all normal behavior.
• 2:25
  Cortney: If they didn't fly out of the coop like that, I wouldn't know what was going on.
• 2:29
  Cortney: Something's wrong.
• 2:30
  Cortney: A little thing that I can add for my own personal watch.
• 2:34
  Cortney: What are some of your biggest behavior changes people should pay attention to?
• 2:39
  Tina: Well, Courtney, when you're watching poultry or other flock animals, the biggest warning sign is often one behavior, you know, not just one behavior all by itself, but it's a change from the animal's normal, like you literally just mentioned.
• 2:55
  Tina: Birds are especially good at hiding illness.
• 2:58
  Tina: They're so subtle, you know, and changes, those little changes can really, really matter.
• 3:04
  Tina: So some of the most important things that I would watch for is posture changes.
• 3:09
  Tina: Are they standing hunched or puffed up?
• 3:12
  Tina: Do they have their head tucked, wings drooping, maybe, you know, holding their tail lower than normal, repeatedly sitting when others are standing and running around and just acting normal.
• 3:24
  Tina: So when you're observing, you really want to observe the flock, but you also want to really look at each individual one and kind of see what their normal is, because then you'll see some changes.
• 3:34
  Tina: And then you might have more vocal things going on, like suddenly everything being super, super quiet or extremely loud and distressed.
• 3:44
  Tina: They're gonna show you by vocal, crying, chirping, something like that.
• 3:49
  Tina: As far as eating and drinking, that is a really easy one to follow.
• 3:53
  Tina: Are they eating and drinking less?
• 3:55
  Tina: Are they walking up to the food but not eating, just kind of standing there or pushing it around or just not really getting in there?
• 4:04
  Tina: Are they dropping food or drinking a ton, you know, more than normal?
• 4:08
  Tina: So not just less than normal, but maybe a lot more too.
• 4:12
  Tina: Visiting the water repeatedly, but struggling maybe to swallow or having trouble there with eating and drinking, keep an eye on those things.
• 4:21
  Tina: Their energy, what is different about their normal activity?
• 4:25
  Tina: And you know, different breeds have different temperaments.
• 4:28
  Tina: Some are very chill and laid back, and some are crazy little suckers and they're running around all the time.
• 4:33
  Tina: So if you see that they're sleeping more, they're moving more slowly than they typically do, or they are reluctant to walk, less scratching or foraging.
• 4:44
  Tina: If you know, you don't really notice them doing that.
• 4:47
  Tina: That's something to definitely take note of.
• 4:50
  Tina: Not following the flock around, kind of staying all by themselves all of a sudden, is something to definitely look at.
• 4:57
  Tina: Like I mentioned with the separated from the flock.
• 5:00
  Tina: This is particularly important because a bird standing alone or hiding or remaining behind when everyone else is doing their thing and they're all together foraging or whatever, that's a very obvious sign of early illness.
• 5:15
  Tina: So you definitely want to take note if something like that happens.
• 5:20
  Cortney: One unusual behavior might not mean much, but several changes together are worth paying attention to for sure.
• 5:28
  Tina: Absolutely, yeah.
• 5:29
  Tina: And never negate the one behavior either, because that could really tell you something.
• 5:34
  Tina: And then, like you just mentioned, it's so important when you see there's a combination of behaviors.
• 5:41
  Tina: So a bird that's puffed up and quieter than normal and eating less and standing away from the flock, that's a lot of changes in that bird's day-to-day.
• 5:51
  Tina: That's considerably more concerning than a bird that just happens to go off on its own for, you know, a few hours.
• 5:58
  Tina: Um, you know, paying attention to those things is so important.
• 6:03
  Tina: One of the most useful rules, I think, is to look for changes in several categories all at once, and like you had literally just mentioned, and compare the bird to both its own normal behavior and the rest of the flock.
• 6:20
  Tina: Um, a noticeable change that persists, that worsens or occurs alongside physical symptoms, such as maybe abnormal droppings, those are things you need to look for too.
• 6:31
  Tina: Breathing difficulties and in swelling, trouble walking, anything like that.
• 6:36
  Tina: Those are things that great observation.
• 6:39
  Tina: Yes, yeah, absolutely.
• 6:42
  Tina: We've both had conversations with flock owners over the years, Courtney.
• 6:47
  Tina: Is there one support call you remember where the customers' observations really helped identify what was going on?
• 6:56
  Cortney: Yeah, so let me think of something that happens often that we talk about.
• 7:01
  Cortney: I remember talking with someone who called because one of their hens had sudden suddenly separated herself from the rest of the flock.
• 7:09
  Cortney: She was also missing feathers on her back.
• 7:12
  Cortney: And they wasn't just sure what was going on.
• 7:15
  Cortney: They were supposed to have a flock of all hens.
• 7:18
  Cortney: So I started asking questions of are there other hens missing feathers?
• 7:23
  Cortney: Are they eating like they normally do, drinking like they normally do?
• 7:28
  Cortney: Any kind of behavior that you're observing from others that have feathers on their back.
• 7:33
  Cortney: So after talking to the customer who thought that they had a group of girls, there was a girl who kept getting on the back of others.
• 7:44
  Cortney: And after observing what was going on, we realized that they were reproducing, creating fertile eggs, that there was, in fact, a rooster in the bunch.
• 7:54
  Cortney: So seeing that for the first time and thinking you have a hen, a whole flock of hens can be concerning.
• 8:02
  Cortney: Why is this hen keep getting on the back of others?
• 8:04
  Cortney: And maybe the pecking order hasn't been established.
• 8:08
  Cortney: Maybe she's just a really vocal hen or maybe a more aggressive breed.
• 8:13
  Cortney: But after realizing none of those things were it, definitely was the rooster in the bunch.
• 8:18
  Cortney: So I think that would be something that stuck with me because me knowing what it is and seeing it all the time, I've got a flock in the backyard and have to tell about my Romeo rooster.
• 8:29
  Cortney: But, anyways, I know what it looks like, and I know that if I had never seen that before, that that would maybe concern me as well.
• 8:36
  Cortney: So I was so happy when they called and could tell me all the little details so I could help them figure it out.
• 8:43
  Cortney: Yeah, what a surprise that was, I'm sure.
• 8:46
  Cortney: For sure.
• 8:47
  Tina: I like that story because it shows how paying attention to behavior gives you information before you even pick the bird up.
• 8:54
  Tina: So that's and what about you, Tina?
• 8:57
  Tina: Is there a customer conversation that still sticks with you?
• 9:01
  Tina: There is.
• 9:01
  Tina: I had a woman call and she said, you know, I've had this hen for almost two years.
• 9:07
  Tina: It was into the second year, and she was laying fine.
• 9:11
  Tina: And then all of a sudden she wasn't.
• 9:12
  Tina: She would not lay and she would not leave the nesting box.
• 9:17
  Tina: Initially, I thought maybe she's getting ready to molt and, you know, ask some questions there.
• 9:24
  Tina: It turns out that she was broody.
• 9:27
  Tina: And I even learned something in this particular call because I did not realize that they would possibly stop laying.
• 9:36
  Tina: You know, she didn't want to eat, she wasn't ready to lay, but really opened her eyes.
• 9:43
  Tina: And one thing that I can say is that she really was quite observant, and that's so important.
• 9:48
  Tina: Oftentimes we have to ask our customer a lot of questions, and then they're not really sure.
• 9:54
  Tina: And then we kind of have to get back with them, like, hey, what did you see?
• 9:58
  Tina: I think that the broodiness can be a real problem.
• 10:02
  Tina: And they think something's wrong with their bird because she was laying just fine, and then now she's not, you know, and is there something wrong?
• 10:09
  Tina: And you tend to panic, you tend to think the worst case scenario, and she got sick, something's wrong.
• 10:14
  Tina: When you never want that.
• 10:16
  Tina: That combination is so classic.
• 10:18
  Tina: And I know you and I, Courtney, have talked about it.
• 10:20
  Tina: You've taught me a lot about it.
• 10:21
  Tina: And a broody hen can also eat and drink less because she's so committed.
• 10:26
  Tina: She's so committed to those babies, and she will kind of sacrifice her own needs.
• 10:32
  Tina: And that's something that we need to remember.
• 10:34
  Tina: And what would make broodiness even more likely?
• 10:38
  Tina: And this is some of the things that she would have experienced, is they flatten themselves down in the nest box and puff up.
• 10:45
  Tina: And that's just a natural reaction because they want to cover babies, keep them warm, and all that.
• 10:50
  Tina: And if you pecking, pecking a little bit more aggressive.
• 10:55
  Tina: Yes, pecking.
• 10:56
  Tina: Yeah, exactly.
• 10:56
  Tina: Pecking when you try and put your hands in there.
• 10:58
  Tina: Have you ever collected eggs and had a hen peck at you?
• 11:01
  Tina: Absolutely, you have.
• 11:03
  Tina: Yes.
• 11:05
  Tina: Absolutely.
• 11:06
  Tina: Yes, like because she doesn't want you touching her babies.
• 11:09
  Tina: So making low clucking sounds is something else that was observed.
• 11:14
  Tina: And these are all classic signs of broodiness.
• 11:16
  Tina: So don't be alarmed if they're broody, but they're not necessarily laying.
• 11:21
  Tina: Give her time to find her rhythm.
• 11:23
  Tina: But she looked otherwise fine.
• 11:26
  Tina: So having that broody tendency is it's not always just a bam, I'm laying eggs, and that's that.
• 11:31
  Tina: Sometimes there are difficulties.
• 11:33
  Tina: And I would like to say chickens are humans too.
• 11:36
  Cortney: Yeah, and I know stories really show that chickens are communicating with us all the time.
• 11:41
  Cortney: We just have to learn how to listen.
• 11:43
  Cortney: Right, right.
• 11:44
  Cortney: They can't tell us, so they poof the body up.
• 11:46
  Cortney: They can't tell us, so they peck it.
• 11:48
  Cortney: Yeah.
• 11:49
  Cortney: Small behavior changes.
• 11:51
  Cortney: Absolutely.
• 11:51
  Tina: Yeah.
• 11:52
  Cortney: Oh, I think we're almost to wrap it round fire.
• 11:54
  Cortney: Here we go.
• 11:55
  Cortney: Yeah.
• 11:56
  Tina: Oh, here we go.
• 11:57
  Tina: So, all right, let's see here, Courtney.
• 12:00
  Tina: It's time for our behavior challenge.
• 12:02
  Tina: I'm gonna describe a situation and you tell me what you'd be looking for first.
• 12:08
  Tina: Okay.
• 12:09
  Tina: Okay, okay.
• 12:10
  Tina: All right.
• 12:11
  Tina: So, Courtney, a hen suddenly starts spending more time by herself.
• 12:17
  Cortney: Well, I'd say I would start watching her more closely and look for other behavior changes before jumping to any conclusion.
• 12:26
  Cortney: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:27
  Cortney: Tina, your flock suddenly gets unusually quiet.
• 12:31
  Tina: Well, so I think first I'd treat it as a signal to investigate rather than assume something.
• 12:38
  Tina: Assume that they're just resting, because they may be.
• 12:41
  Tina: But there could be stress.
• 12:43
  Tina: There could be a predator they're aware of and they're just kind of laying low.
• 12:47
  Tina: There could be illness or something affecting, maybe like the feet in water, perhaps.
• 12:52
  Tina: I would first stand back and observe and kind of look.
• 12:55
  Tina: And then if they're hunched and puffed up and drooping their wings or tails, closing their eyes, any of those types of things, especially not reacting normally when I approach, then listening for like breathing issues, maybe something like that.
• 13:10
  Cortney: Observing.
• 13:11
  Tina: Yeah, observing, a lot of observing, paying special attention to whether they're still go out of that or they're remaining in that situation.
• 13:20
  Tina: Those are definitely some things I would take a look at first.
• 13:24
  Cortney: I'm sure.
• 13:25
  Tina: And Courtney, a normally active chicken isn't interested in breakfast.
• 13:30
  Tina: What do you do?
• 13:31
  Cortney: That's something to be concerned about.
• 13:33
  Cortney: Um, definitely something I'd keep a close eye on because if I open the door to the coop, then my girls run out.
• 13:39
  Cortney: Some of them fly out, sometimes even over my head.
• 13:42
  Cortney: But they are going out, they're starting to forage as soon as I open the door to the coop.
• 13:47
  Cortney: So if someone's not coming out for breakfast, I will go in and observe and see what's going on for sure.
• 13:54
  Cortney: Absolutely.
• 13:55
  Cortney: Absolutely.
• 13:56
  Cortney: You notice a bird standing puffed up on a warm day, Tina.
• 14:00
  Tina: Oh, yeah.
• 14:01
  Tina: So if they're puffed up on a warm day, that definitely deserves a closer inspection because they're likely to be hot.
• 14:10
  Tina: They are trying to cool down.
• 14:13
  Tina: I want to observe where the water things are, if they're fresh and cool, if there's enough shade for them.
• 14:20
  Tina: I would also watch for other symptoms like if her eyes are closed, where she's located, what she's doing, shade ventilation, feed temperature, all of that is going to be so important on those hot days.
• 14:34
  Tina: Even for warm-hardy birds, they can still certainly get hot.
• 14:39
  Cortney: They're still gonna show those signs of open-mouth breathing and under the shade because the trampoline has shade underneath it, and digging them holes and taking them baths in that dirt to cool off.
• 14:51
  Cortney: Yes, I see that happening all the time.
• 14:53
  Cortney: So I definitely am observing every time I go out, they are doing something.
• 14:58
  Cortney: So it's always so much fun to watch them.
• 15:01
  Tina: Right.
• 15:01
  Tina: And Courtney, one hen suddenly becomes much louder than usual.
• 15:07
  Cortney: Well, I feel like she would be trying to tell us something.
• 15:10
  Cortney: So I would be trying to go down to my bird talk and try to see what she's trying to communicate, seeing what's happening around her, maybe seeing if she's trying to sometimes they'll take on the role of a rooster and and warn the flock of a predator.
• 15:25
  Cortney: So maybe there's something going on.
• 15:27
  Cortney: So I definitely would observe around her and see maybe what she's trying to communicate.
• 15:32
  Cortney: Right, absolutely.
• 15:33
  Cortney: Yeah.
• 15:34
  Cortney: What about the flock suddenly avoids one bird?
• 15:38
  Tina: When the flock suddenly avoids one bird, something about that bird has changed until proven otherwise.
• 15:43
  Tina: Let's just say that.
• 15:44
  Tina: Watch for isolation, weakness, puffing up, just like we often watch for for many other reasons.
• 15:51
  Cortney: The posture a little bit more time with them and see why they're why they're making that one stay kind of isolate.
• 15:59
  Cortney: Right.
• 16:00
  Tina: Right.
• 16:00
  Tina: Yeah.
• 16:01
  Tina: Are they pecking, getting pecked at, chased, blocked from food or water, you know, because that happens.
• 16:07
  Tina: And that goes back to not having enough water and food options.
• 16:11
  Tina: That can certainly happen, especially when the weather's hot or there's stress around, maybe there's predators and things that they're worried about.
• 16:18
  Tina: And how are they treating that bird?
• 16:19
  Tina: Are they attacking the bird?
• 16:21
  Tina: What are they here?
• 16:22
  Cortney: Kind of like, hey, leave us alone.
• 16:24
  Tina: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 16:26
  Cortney: That happened when I introduced my flock of my one-year-old to my five-year-old.
• 16:31
  Cortney: And I don't know.
• 16:32
  Cortney: I think it was just like, I don't want to be with those kids right now.
• 16:36
  Cortney: But now they love each other and everybody's good.
• 16:39
  Cortney: Nobody was ever mean, but she kind of isolated herself for a little while.
• 16:42
  Cortney: And yeah, I think she would rather hang out with us humans because she knew who we were.
• 16:46
  Cortney: And then all these other chickens come along.
• 16:48
  Cortney: We're like, who are they?
• 16:49
  Cortney: But now she's like, you know, she's the queen of the roost back there because she's been here the longest and she's loving everybody and everyone, and she's glad the rooster's gone because she gets to be the queen.
• 17:00
  Tina: Yeah, she's living all her best days.
• 17:03
  Tina: She is.
• 17:05
  Tina: And let's be honest, sometimes we only want to be around the chickens and not the people, you know.
• 17:09
  Tina: So I get it.
• 17:11
  Tina: Yes, I get it.
• 17:12
  Tina: I feel like behavior.
• 17:15
  Tina: And Courtney, last one, what's the one behavior change you never ignore?
• 17:21
  Cortney: That's gonna be any sudden change from the bird's normal routine, anything that's out of the normal, I'm going to observe, watch, and then maybe come up with a solution.
• 17:35
  Cortney: But I want to watch first.
• 17:37
  Cortney: I want to make sure that there's an issue before creating one.
• 17:41
  Cortney: That's right.
• 17:42
  Cortney: I'd give the same answer, Courtney.
• 17:44
  Tina: Absolutely.
• 17:44
  Cortney: All right, Tina.
• 17:45
  Cortney: So, what is the biggest piece of advice you'd give someone who's still learning how to read flock behavior?
• 17:53
  Tina: The biggest piece of advice is just start watching them, like we've mentioned already.
• 17:58
  Tina: Start watching them, get used to not just as a flock, what their behaviors are, what their day-to-day looks like, but each individual bird as well, because they do have their own little nuances about them.
• 18:12
  Tina: And compare it from day to day.
• 18:14
  Tina: Don't just look at it one during the week and then another.
• 18:18
  Tina: Every day when you go out, be aware of your surroundings of the birds while you're feeding, while you're checking for predators, all those things, just kind of keep an eye and get used to what their normal looks like.
• 18:29
  Tina: Learning through experience is really the only way we can do it, Courtney.
• 18:32
  Tina: I mean, you know this as well.
• 18:34
  Cortney: Yes, yeah.
• 18:35
  Cortney: The more NBA, the more we learn every day.
• 18:38
  Tina: Yeah, every day for real.
• 18:40
  Tina: And don't be hard on yourself, just take it day by day and be patient, be consistent with watching your flock and observing, as well as all the other things that we've mentioned in previous podcasts, like looking for predators that maybe have been trying to get in, just as you're observing the habitat.
• 18:59
  Tina: The biggest thing I'd tell someone is don't feel like you have to know every behavior immediately.
• 19:06
  Tina: The more time you spend around them, like you mentioned, the easier it becomes.
• 19:10
  Tina: Exactly.
• 19:11
  Cortney: Chickens are pretty good communicators once you know what you're looking for.
• 19:15
  Cortney: And if you'd like to learn more about reading chicken behavior, we also have a blog called How to Read Chicken Body Language.
• 19:22
  Cortney: Signs Your Flock Wants You to Know.
• 19:24
  Cortney: We'll include it in the episode description.
• 19:26
  Tina: Yeah.
• 19:26
  Tina: And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow the Chicken Insights podcast so you never miss future conversations about raising healthy backyard flocks.
• 19:36
  Cortney: And if there's a topic you'd like us to cover in an upcoming up episode, send us your questions using the fan mail feature on Buzz Sprout.
• 19:46
  Cortney: We love hearing your stories and they often inspire future episodes.
• 19:50
  Tina: And for more educational resources, breed guides, and seasonal flock care tips, visit valleyhatchery.com.
• 19:58
  Cortney: We want to thank you all for listening.
• 20:00
  Cortney: Until next time, happy flock keeping and bye for now.