Do they get enough sun? If they need to sunbathe, they'll lay down and almost look dead. But sometimes if you've tamed your flock enough to when they'll let you pet them, it's happened to me before. I had a leghorn hen who would trust us to the point to where she would lay down right in front of us.
Well, in 4H, my grandson witnessed the other 4Hers taking off spurs with pliers. He said that there was still a small bit of the spur left that was much stronger than the rest of the spur. So what I'm guessing is that is the part of the spur that has developed more than the rest. I don't really...