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ground, picking up and dropping bits, or breaking an item into smaller pieces the chicks can handle more easily. Once in a great while, a hen without chicks, or a chick itself, will make this sound.
Its meaning:
“I found something tasty to eat.”
    Hush sound is a soft, vibrating sound, something like
errrr
, that warns chicks of potential danger and causes them to flatten to the ground and be quiet. When the chicks are young and staying close to the hen, they dive under her, and she spreads her wings to cover them. As they get older and begin to stray, they may flatten into the grass on hearing their mother sound the hush note, which she may repeat periodically if she perceives continuing danger.
Its meaning:
“Be still.”
Hen Sounds
    Some hens are considerably more talkative than others. Hens that are free to roam around their premises are noisier, in my experience, than hens that aremore closely confined, such as for breeding or exhibition. And some breeds are just naturally more talkative than others.
    My hens have a huge and fascinating repertoire of sounds, not all of which I have succeeded in learning the meanings of, mainly because they stop to look at me when I peek in to see what they’re doing. One hen occasionally repeats an unusual single-syllable sound I can best describe as a
howl
. It’s so loud it carries farther than a cock’s crow. She doesn’t seem to be doing anything particular while making the sound, and in decades of keeping chickens of many breeds, I’ve never heard any other chicken make that sound.
    Laying cackle is a series of sounds made by a hen after she lays an egg and is leaving the nest. Some hens repeat these sounds a few times, and others carry on far too long. It’s tempting to think they’re bragging about having just laid an egg, but chances are the cackle is designed to draw predators away from the nest.
Its meaning:
“Follow me and leave my egg alone.”
PRECOCIAL PEEPERS
Chickens, guinea fowl, turkeys, and other barnyard species each has its own distinct vocabulary. So how is it that guinea keets or turkey poults hatched by a chicken hen so readily recognize the hen as mom?
Any animal that can feed itself almost from the moment of birth is considered
precocial
, which certainly describes barnyard hatchlings. The word “precocial” comes from the Latin word
praecox
, meaning mature before its time. (A synonym for precocial is
nidifugous
— from the Latin word
nidus
, meaning nest, and
fugere
, meaning flee.)
The chief characteristic of precocial birds is spryness soon after hatching, and as a result they may easily get separated from their mom. They don’t have much time to learn to recognize the sound of her call, which is essential to their survival.
Another characteristic of precocial birds is that they communicate with their setting-hen mama just before they hatch; the chicks in the shell
peep
, and the broody hen
clucks
. These chicks learn to recognize the sounds their mother makes while they are still in the shell — even if she doesn’t speak their native language. Entering the world with the ability to quickly find their way back to Mom, the precocial peepers are ready to hit the ground running.
    Broody hiss is a hissing sound, something like the hiss of a snake, made by a setting hen that’s annoyed at having been disturbed on the nest to indicate she’s wary and has her guard up.
Its meaning:
“Stay away.”

    A defensive and mistrustful hen puffs out her feathers, growls, and may peck.
    Broody growl is a harsh sound, more serious and intense than a hiss, made by a disrupted hen on the nest. It may also be sounded by a hen with chicks in protest to a cock intent on mating; a low-ranking hen approached by a higher-ranking hen; or any hen on seeing a small, familiar animal such as a cat or rat. The sound is not particularly loud, but it indicates defensiveness and mistrustfulness. It is accompanied by feather ruffling to increase the intimidation and may be