How does a chicken gathers her chicks?

Answer 1

They announce to the rest of the flock what they have done.

This clucking usually starts a few minutes after the egg is laid and continues for about three or four minutes. If you want them to stop just throw them something to eat like a handful of chicken food and they will stop yelling.

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My observation of free-range chickens contradicts the above. Given the right environment, a chicken will hide its nest and sit quietly while laying. It waits until well after laying an egg and moves some distance away from the nest before clucking. This all points to a more common bird behavior : drawing the attention of potential predators away from the nest.

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I agree with the second observation made here. My life long observation of free-range chickens also, is to more of cackling than clucking. A cluck is a very subtle and low tone "wine". Where is a cackle is loud and announcing. The hen will cackle to announce to the rooster that she is ready to go to her nest. Once the rooster has scouted the area and sees that it is safe he will begin to cackle. The hen will very quietly, slowly and evasively go to the nest. All the while pecking on the ground as if she has no plan to go to a nest. The rooster will stay local until she is done laying. She will cackle very shortly and subtly to notify the rooster that she is ready to leave the nest. He will began cackling when the coast is clear for her to leave the nest. The hen will run from the nest to near the rooster.

Answer 2

Hens do not lay eggs for humans to eat. They lay eggs to reproduce. Humans just learned that they were a healthy food source and made them a part of their diets and everyday meals.

One view

Because roosters cannot.

Another view

Laying eggs is nature's way for chickens to reproduce. They lay eggs continually, fertilized or not.

Answer 3

Protection and safety. If you observe a nest you will see it is deep and soft. The eggs inside cannot roll out and when the hen sits on the eggs they have a "cushion" under them so they have a better chance of not getting broken.

Answer 4

Hens roost because of a built-in instinct. In the wild, birds fly high onto branches of trees to sleep to avoid predators. The perches that chickens roost on simulate tree branches found in nature.

Answer 5

Chickens brood because they were created to reproduce, and they can't reproduce without brooding. Brooding is when they sit on their eggs for at least 21 days to incubate eggs and hatch chicks. Sometimes female chickens will become broody even if there is no male around, because it is just her instinct to try to hatch chicks.

Answer 6

Usually when this happens the hens are trying to make more room on the roost for sleeping or bossing the rooster around. A rooster is not actually the boss of the chicken coop, he may be the aggressor when mating but when it comes to ruling the roost that is usually a position left to one or more of the older hens.

Answer 7

Mother hens will make a low clucking sound to call her chicks back to safety. They will also run to the chicks and herd them back in a group so she can keep them safe. When the hen settles back into the nest, she will cluck and lift her wings so the babies will settle under her wings to keep warm.

Answer 8

A hen will gather her chicks to get them to come and eat. She will call her chicks and show them how to peck food off the ground.