odd young chicken behavior - any thoughts?

[sals_chicks]

Decided to add a few new babies to my flock this year, and got 4 babies who are now about 10 weeks old, and fully integrated with my flock. Integration went well, they are doing well.

One of the chicks is a Cream Legbar, named Clara - and she is SUCH a sweetie. She will hop on your lap, snuggle up and take a nap, purrs, loves to be pet... Literally, she is such a little love.

She seems TOTALLY normal when she is bopping around the chicken yard, eats, drinks, scratches around normally, no visible signs of illness, poops look normal.

She just.... sleeps a lot. Like she'll sit and starts to take a dust bath, and then falls asleep. She will jump on your lap, falls asleep. She will be scratching around in the shrubs one second, then I glance again - she is laying down, eyes closed.

The little "naps" dont really last, she is not laying around for hours on end, and eventually pops back up and carries on like a normal chicken. My husband and I joked that she has narcolepsy - but honestly I am starting to wonder if that is an actual thing?!!?

Either way, we'll give her the best life we can, but has anyone ever experienced this?

Sleepy Clara:

 

[redinator]

I hope she's okay. I'll tag some others that have more experience than I do @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock. Good luck.

 

[Prunellopy]

I've never heard of narcoleptic chickens, but stranger things...anyway, how does her facial skin look compared to your other birds? She could be last at the food station, need some B vitamins, or slightly anemic. Check her for leg mites, and the coop too. Even if she's not anemic, if she's got leg mites or something, she may not be sleeping well at night. I had a pair of feather legged bantams get leg mites, but none of my other birds got them.

Another possibility is lice, but all your birds would have those if that's the case. All my birds had lice, once. All 20 got a delousing bath and a blow-dry, the coop got cleaned and dusted, and that was the end of it

I'm not trying to scare you. She looks lovely, healthy, just trying to think of scenarios that might make her sleepy. I'll be watching this thread to see what the answer is!

 

[thecatumbrella]

I have a 13 week-old cochin bantam like this. She's 100% normal in every other regard, but just loves a good shut eye. Makes me think of Stanley from The Office.

 

[sals_chicks]

I've never heard of narcoleptic chickens, but stranger things...anyway, how does her facial skin look compared to your other birds? She could be last at the food station, need some B vitamins, or slightly anemic. Check her for leg mites, and the coop too. Even if she's not anemic, if she's got leg mites or something, she may not be sleeping well at night. I had a pair of feather legged bantams get leg mites, but none of my other birds got them.

Another possibility is lice, but all your birds would have those if that's the case. All my birds had lice, once. All 20 got a delousing bath and a blow-dry, the coop got cleaned and dusted, and that was the end of it

I'm not trying to scare you. She looks lovely, healthy, just trying to think of scenarios that might make her sleepy. I'll be watching this thread to see what the answer is!

I do not see any signs of lice or mites on any of my birds.


I suppose it is possible that she is not getting enough food now that I have moved the babies out with the big hens. They always have at least 2 food & water stations available at all times, but I added several more pans of food around the chicken yard, and put some small bowls in the areas the babies have been hanging out so hopefully they are getting enough? Generally I have not seen much bullying, but better to have too many food spots than not enough I guess.

I would suspect the heat, but she was doing this even on cooler days before this heat wave.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

 

[dearmeghann]

She's gorgeous! Does she seem to have a healthy appetite? My friend makes a little mash for one of her girls; she's super picky and spoiled haha!

 

[D Uccle Uncle]

If you can, check her weight every couple days. So long as she's growing, I'd be less concerned.

Regarding sleeping during a dust bath, I think many a chicken finds itself waking up from a nap lying on its side covered in dirt. Mine do anyway!