Well I overslept by about 45 minutes this morning. Came up and Lily and Dash had escaped their box in the kitchen, but Lily was laying on the floor, on her side, all stretched out, with a tea towel over her head and half her body. She very apparently had something wrong with her. I thought she was dead for sure. My heart just dropped. We keep the tea towel over the handle on the stove. I went to scoop her up, and she leapt to life and jumped out of my hands! I was SO relieved. She keeps pecking at the tea towel every time she is out, the only thing I can figure is she pulled on it, it fell on top of her, over head and she fainted! ????? Anyone EVER heard of a fainting chicken? Jill
Oh, my! That is too bizarre! Sounds like she was scared out of her wits. Never heard of a chicken fainting, but I guess anything's possible.
Yea I have heard of heart attacks, but never fainting. ???? Its funny looking back on it, but darned near gave me a heart attack at the time.
Maybe it has to do with that old story that if you put a chicken's head under its wing, it will go to sleep. Maybe when the tea towel fell on her head, she thought it was night time! Has anyone ever been able to actually put a chicken to sleep like this? I've tried, and all it results in is a very angry chicken...
I have 6 Salmon Faverolle pullets, 1 of them has some bizarre ways that remind me of your post. when she has a meeting with the Roo, she stays down in a crouched position for about 20 seconds and then runs backwards for about 15 feet. at first I thought there may be some neurological problem and that may be. Otherwise she is happy and healthy and laying daily. It reminds me of the fainting goat thing, where some activity triggers something in their brain. Anyone else with similiar or equally funny behaviors?
i have a neighbor that claims as a youth he grew up on a farm. He said they used to tuck the chicken's head under it's wing, then lift their bodies gently and rock then back and forth. He said they would go straight to sleep. He said they would then see how many chickens they could stack on top of each other before they fell over. He asked if i had tried that with my chickens (the rocking, not the stacking) but i don't think any of my chickens would tolerate me trying to push it's head under it's wing without a fight. Jill, so glad your chick is okay. That has got to be one of the strangest things i've ever heard.
They do that with pheasants - tuck the head under the wing and rock them back and forth. Then they set them down and those birds will stay there (that's how they train the hunting dogs to find the birds.) A friend of mine told me he puts his chicken to sleep by picking it up by it's feet and hanging it upside down. Then he lays it down and it doesn't move until he gently touches it. I've been wanting to try but his is fully grown and mine are 7 weeks...I'm afraid...!! He says it's hysterical (and doesn't hurt them.) I'll bet she did fall asleep when the towel covered her, like parakeets when you cover the cage? Too funny -