Chicken speak

cuwiar

cuwiar

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Can anyone let me know what it means when a hen does a very loud (and this is hard to describe):

Bok-bok-bok-bokkkawwk

It's kind of the typical chicken call you'd expect, at the top of her voice and over and over again.

Is this 'crowing'??!!
 
My dotte bantams do something like this. In their case it usually means there is a cat in the vicinity! ;)
 
Well, my top hen used to do it very occasionally and then last night the bottom hen (who wants to be top hen) was doing it just before dark - I did wonder if something had sppoked her as she seemed a bit nervy!
 
Could be a spooked call, or want to lay an egg call. If its a spooked call they usually all follow suit and start looking around and run for cover.
 
My Sussex did it last year to announce she'd laid. It was the bokkkKAWK! That's spot on! She's not doing it at the minute, she's just come back into lay.
 
My girls - all on their toes, all heads in the same direction, BAWKing their heads off, means fox in the garden.
Certainly enough noise to scare him, warn him not to trifle!!
 
1. It's a sign they have been spooked . 2. It's to announce they've laid an egg.
 
Sometimes mine will do it when someone else is already in their preferred nesting box, or the one in residence will loudly proclaim her rights.
 
I have also heard an odd soft sort of "purr" when they are just about to lay an egg..anyone else heard this? :D
 
Thank you!

I think the top hen's version was the 'I just laid an egg' and the other night was the spooked version...

What a complex language...

A bit like us saying rough and plough or bear and bear, or...
 
There's also the sqwawk of danger that broody hens use a lot to alert their chicks to danger or to call them back if they've strayed too far. This is also used by adult hens and males to alert others to danger. Then there's the call to food also used by broody hens and to males calling their hens to a tit bit.
 
46 different sounds apparently. Some are the same noise made at a different volume to signify the degree or level of whatever. We bought a CD called 'talking to chickens' about 4 years ago and have been listening intently to our chickens since then. Different breeds speak different languages but are universally understood, presumably because the call is supported with body language as well -or maybe they are far brighter in that respect than we give them credit for. Like their eyesight is twice as acute as ours for both size of object and speed of movement, so they can see tiny fast moving things that we can't. And of course they can process two images entirely separately, which we can't do either. They also show a range of emotions which, if you don't know your chickens well, you wouldn't normally notice.

Funny thing last night. We arrived back late and tired after 6 hours driving and Rosie raised her voice to me, unusually I add. Bottom immediately started the alarm call!
 
foxy said:
I have also heard an odd soft sort of "purr" when they are just about to lay an egg..anyone else heard this? :D
Click to expand...
My leghorn would purr when very content or frightened, its what she did when buzzards were in the garden.
 
Nancy gives off a giant BAAAWK if I seperate her from the others. Sounds very much like a huge protest call. I also love the wonderful purr they give out when they're happy. Mine have all spent the day in the kitchen and as soon as the radiator kicks in behind their box, they purr away to each other and start preening. Never heard it before :)
 
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