I brought home a new chick tonight..I don't have any pics because I don't want to stress him any further yet. What has me freaked out is the way he's sleeping. The rest of my chicks sleep like..uh..'proper' chickens (or, in what I presume is the proper sleeping position for a chicken)..upright, compact.. When I sleep, I have a tendency to sprawl out on my stomach, head turned to the side, arms and legs flopped around wherever..and that is the only way I can describe the way this chick is sleeping--exactly like me. Is that normal?! I kind of assumed that there was a standard position for chickens to sleep in. Aside from this, he seems perfectly healthy and normal..his legs are fine, he walks, balances, flaps his wings, etc... Am I being ridiculously paranoid? I thought he was dead when I checked on him the first few times. :faint:
How old is your chick? Is the chick eating and drinking? I have 4 brooders going right now and sometimes all the chicks are spralled out like you described. As long as it is doing normal things while its awake and it is a small chick it should be O.K. If its not eating and drinking, let us know. Sara
It's normal. They sprawl out when they're little. They just kinda drop over in whatever position they used to be standing in, it's quite funny IMO. They learn to sleep "like proper chickens" as they grow up.
Our new wellie chicks were doing what we were calling the "fainting chicken" thing for the first couple days. It was funny as all get out. They would be walking and just fall over sound asleep. They stretch out all the time. Even the 4 week old ones out in the coop will lay on their sides and stretch their wings out under the heat light to warm up occasionally. I wouldn't worry.
I can't tell you how many heart attacks I've had this week. My (first) chicks are 8 days old, and every time I walk in and see one stretched out like that, I freeze until I see breathing...
They do that as adults also, especially on a nice warm deck on a sunny day. On such days I can look out and see 7-8 of my flock all thrown down like rag dolls, feet askew and happy as can be. It's crazy. Wait'll you see them roll themselves upside down while dusting.
All of mine do this at night to sleep. When I first checked on them I was appalled. I thought they were all dead.
Thank you so much, everybody. I swear..I'm more paranoid about these chicks than I was about my children. I never hovered over my kids, but these birds are making me a basket case. The good news is, the goofy little thing made it through the night just fine; I posted a pic of him in my thread in the identification category. I'm not positive on age, btw..I'm going with approximately 2 weeks. He got up this morning, ate, drank, plopped down and then ooooozed back into his preferred sleeping position. And yes, even after all the reassurances here, I still find myself crouched over top of him, wide-eyed, holding MY breath, waiting to see that he is in fact breathing. I have seen my Cochin and my as-yet-unidentified chick that keeps her company rolling in the dirt. It's hysterical!
