Squatting

I have learned so much in the last 24 hours.  A few weeks ago, I blogged about the girls acting like teenagers.  A week or so ago, they started acting needy.  They were loud and really interested in me.  A few days ago,  a LittleFood and Scramble started squatting every time I went to pick them up.  I thought they were scared of me so I looked it up (on the only source of information for raising chickens I've found, backyardchickens.com) and found this...

"Squatting, that's what a hen does to allow a rooster to mount her. So, when a hen squats for a person, she is showing submission to her human.  The squat itself is when the pullet crouches down, tucks her head, and holds her wings slightly away from her body. Some hens will also stamp their feet at the same time, but not all do that. Not all hens or pullets will squat for people, either.  They generally stand up after a few seconds and shake their feathers, as they would do after a rooster dismounts."

WHO KNEW!?

Dottie, squatting

So what I've learned is that only 3 of the chickens are mature and ready to lay.  I guess that means Ginger and Miss Bunny are still teenagers.  So immature.

Scramble, squatting