Piling behaviour is defined as the dense clustering of laying hens and is frequently observed in loose-housed layer flocks. Despite these widespread reports, there is a lack of experimental evidence detailing how piles are formed, maintained, and dissolved, and sometimes lead to suffocation. The current effort sought to assess individual roles within the formation and dissolution of piles in an experimental setting previously shown to result in frequent piles. Our study used a commercially available radio frequency identification system in combination with video recordings to monitor the spontaneous formation of individual piles and determine which birds were involved over three specific days of a 14-week period. We predicted that involvement in the pile, as well as latency and duration, would be repeatable measures. A total of 210 piles were detected by video across eight pens and three observation days, of which 89 piles were used following our own exclusion criteria. A total of 86 hens (out of 568 in the study) were never recorded on the antennas during piles occurring in the three video focus days suggesting they did not participate in piles on these days. Random regression models were used to analyse individual variation in plasticity of piling behaviour. Repeatability of piling characteristics was also calculated. Piling frequency, duration, and latency to join were affected by age, though only the former two were associated with time of day. Hens were repeatable in how often they piled (pile frequency: R = 0.134 [0.074, 0.157]) and their duration in the pile (R = 0.106 [0.065, 0.146]), although repeatability estimates for both characteristics were low. Birds were not consistent in their latency to join an existing pile (R = 0.033 [0.002, 0.064]). We believe the current manuscript is the first to demonstrate repeatability in piling behaviour, a finding that has important implications for reliably establishing causal factors, as well as long term solutions including targeted breeding.