Do baby chicks sleep with their heads on the floor?

[Luke13:34]

Is that really how they sleep.. with their chins resting on the floor.. or are all my chicks suddenly ill? (brand new babies, just arrived this morning.. first time chick-owner)

 

[CindyG]

Yeah, they do that. It's pretty funny, as they usually just stop in their tracks, head down for a quick nap then up and off again.

 

[Olive Hill]

Yes. They'll lay flat out on the ground. It's a good thing, that's the really deep restful kind of sleep.

 

[mrslb333]

No thats normal as is laying flat out on the floor like they're dead! lol. I would only worry if they seem sluggish when awake or go off their food or water.

 

[Bunnylady]

Yep, if they have room and it's warm enough in the brooder, they all sleep flat out on the shavings.

 

[KimberlyJ]

I've raised many baby birds....but I was unprepared for this when my chicks arrived in the mail. They drank alot and ate a little and SLEPT FLAT OUT for the whole first day and most of the second. Nobody prepared me for that! I had to stop watching them to keep from waking them up. Then my husband came home from work and yelled at me for not doing something to help them. Luckily I had posted here and was told not to worry! I had to make him stop reaching into the brooder to wake them up to see if they were still alive. It really is cute though once you know it's OK.

I saw several stores and the fair with chicks this weekend and all of them had a couple of their babies sleeping with their head straight out on the shavings. I would have been worried about them, but have learned it's normal. Bless BYC!

 

[Luke13:34]

Whewww! I figured as much as they kept perking back up. I have to say, it is sooo adorable to see them sleeping like that.

 

[pontoosuc]

Yeah, the cutest thing is to be watching them and they are running around and then it's like a switch goes off.
STOP, must sleep this instant! What a great time. Have fun.

 

[ChickLover98]

My chicks would lay their heads on the floor and streathch out to sleep!

 

[Kedreeva]

Scared the CRAP out of me the first time too!

Chicken chicks are pretty bad about it, but they have got NOTHING on peachicks for looking dead. The first peachick I ever hatched, I came into the room to look in the brooder... I kid you not, this bird was laying on the floor like someone had dropped him from a 15 story building... chest to the floor, wings out, head twisted around and get this: leg's sprawled out to the side! This bird was sleeping on his side! It was picture perfect for a dead chick, and unlike chickens, they do NOT wake up fast. They wake up like a teenager who wants 5 more minutes sleep. Talk about a heart attack!