When a hen goes broody, along with the typically aggressive, defensive body language and the fluffing of feathers, you’ll also quickly learn to recognize the noises a broody hen makes. If you’ve never seen a broody hen, you might not quite know what they’re like – but as soon as you’ve seen one once, you’ll never be in any doubt again about whether a hen has entered her broody state. This way, chickens can alert each other of a possible danger as soon as it is noticed – and as the danger becomes more imminent, they can also let the rest of the flock know about the increasing levels of the threat. In the case of a ground threat, chickens start making a rhythmic clucking noise that becomes faster, louder and seemingly more urgent the closer the threat comes. If a chicken spots a danger on the ground, the call is different because the threat might not be as imminent as when they spot a hawk circling above.

Repetitive clucking – danger on the ground When they notice imminent danger, chickens have two very distinct ways of alerting the rest of the flock, and the most urgent is when they see a potential threat from the sky.Ī bird of prey can swoop down in just seconds, carrying a chicken away with it, so if chickens notice a danger from above, they let out a high-pitched scream or shriek that tells the rest of the flock to either run for cover or to freeze.

Chicken sounds youtube