Sitting with a cup of coffee. (coffee lovers)

[Puddin Fluff]

Okay, question that I have been pondering, maybe the rest of you chicken folks out there can clear this up for me: Is it bad/harmful to lay your chickens on their back? I keep reading differing opinions on this and I don't know the answer. Chickens will calm down/fall asleep when placed on their backs but is this actually calming to them, or does it cause some kind of weird medical thing to happen that can be harmful to them?

Please ponder this while you sip your coffee. I look forward to the responses.

 

[ronott1]

Okay, question that I have been pondering, maybe the rest of you chicken folks out there can clear this up for me: Is it bad/harmful to lay your chickens on their back? I keep reading differing opinions on this and I don't know the answer. Chickens will calm down/fall asleep when placed on their backs but is this actually calming to them, or does it cause some kind of weird medical thing to happen that can be harmful to them?

Please ponder this while you sip your coffee. I look forward to the responses.

Well, I am an old time chicken keeper and if they are going wild, I hold them by their feet....Upside down. They calm right away. The only way they can get hurt is if a Rooster has spurs and you pinch a spur into the other leg. Put a finger in between the feet to stop it.

Apparently social media has be a buzz recently with rabbits and the predator response. That is where the putting them on the back comes from.

Me, I would not pay any attention to it. They are your animals and there is no real proof that they are hurt by it.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Well, I am an old time chicken keeper and if they are going wild, I hold them by their feet....Upside down. They calm right away. The only way they can get hurt is if a Rooster has spurs and you pinch a spur into the other leg. Put a finger in between the feet to stop it.

Apparently social media has be a buzz recently with rabbits and the predator response. That is where the putting them on the back comes from.

Me, I would not pay any attention to it. They are your animals and there is no real proof that they are hurt by it.

I was just wondering because there are so many wives tales about everything out there. My daughter enjoys carrying her favorite around like a baby on it's back. She doesn't seem uncomfortable at all but I have read/heard so many different things here and from other old timers, some for, some against. It hurts my hands to hold them by the feet, that's why I don't do that one. They often seem to go to sleep when I lay them in my lap on their backs. I know a girl who insists that they "pass out" because they can't breathe but that is obviously not true because you can watch them breathing.

 

[ronott1]

I was just wondering because there are so many wives tales about everything out there. My daughter enjoys carrying her favorite around like a baby on it's back. She doesn't seem uncomfortable at all but I have read/heard so many different things here and from other old timers, some for, some against. It hurts my hands to hold them by the feet, that's why I don't do that one. They often seem to go to sleep when I lay them in my lap on their backs. I know a girl who insists that they "pass out" because they can't breathe but that is obviously not true because you can watch them breathing.

It is a prey response and I think it is like playing dead so that a bear will not hurt us as much.

It will not hurt them so let your daughter hold them that way.

It is great that your Daughter is into chickens!

 

[chickwhispers]

All caught up here! Been gone for a couple of weeks. For those who aren't on other threads I'm on DSO's mom passed just after Christmas. She was a very nice lady with a big heart and was a nurse who loved her job. We had his brother and SIL and kids from Arkansas for almost a week. I had never met them but they were awesome and we hit it off right from the start.

I really missed hanging out on BYC, But there's only so much time in a day!

See (most) everyone in the morning! With a cup of coffee!

 

[Alaskan]

I had to look up Range Science Wow....

"Range Science is the study and management of landscape ecosystems dominated by natural vegetation of grasses, forbs, and shrubs. These often vast and wild landscapes are rangelands and cover 40% of planet Earth's land mass."

deb

yep, it was a super cool field of study. I loved it, and still love it.

They changed the name from "Range Science" to "Rangeland Ecology and Management" to get more students, mostly ecology people.

Some of the kids would make a T-shirt every year for everyone in the major. One year it was a list about the Major, I forget the title on the T-shirt, but anyway, one of the points was "You can always use explaining your major as a conversational topic" or something like that.

 

[Alaskan]

All caught up here! Been gone for a couple of weeks. For those who aren't on other threads I'm on DSO's mom passed just after Christmas. She was a very nice lady with a big heart and was a nurse who loved her job. We had his brother and SIL and kids from Arkansas for almost a week. I had never met them but they were awesome and we hit it off right from the start.

I really missed hanging out on BYC, But there's only so much time in a day!

See (most) everyone in the morning! With a cup of coffee!

good to see you again, and I am am glad things went well (well, as well as those sorts of things can go)

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
So can you apply it in Alaska? I know the tundra has very important ecological impact

deb

 

[Alaskan]

sure.

The lovely thing about Range Science is that it is a very broad degree, verses a specific one.

Or, to say it better... we learned about water management, erosion, healthy ecosystems, animal nutrition, wildlife management, etc. etc.

So it actually applies to any BLM job, or Forest Service or Parks job, any livestock raising, as well as any wildlife management, or dude ranches, or hunting ranch set-ups.

It basically covers all plants and animals, mostly in their natural settings (so, not big factory farms).

Unfortunately we mainly focused on cattle, then horses, goats, sheep, pigs, and wildlife. Chickens weren't covered, since we didn't do factory farming type stuff, mostly ranching type animals.

But we did at least cover turkey and quail and dove.... wildlife that you can hunt.

We only very slightly covered non-hunt-able wildlife.



Gotta say though...learning all of that in Texas, I don't remember them teaching us anything about the tundra.... it might have been mentioned.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh, I do a tiny bit of consulting work..... "what to do with your land and how and why" kind of stuff. But that isn't much money.