sunbathing chickens?

[kagedgoddess]

this is the funniest thing, (so far) my chickies have done. ds thought they were dead.

this is my roo. so then the girls saw him there in the sun and said"that looks like a good idea" and this happened:

a chicken pile....

this IS normal, right??

 

[bishopschickens]

Are they sunbathing or dust bathing? Mine will all pile in the same sand whole to bath. Its hilarious.

 

[Holly O]

Mine do it ..lol

 

[M@M@2four]

LOL!! Yep, this is hysterical!!! My hens all do it and it looks like a big pile of dead chickens...I'll never forget when I thought they were out their dead--I went running, heart pounding, and then one popped up and hollered and then all the other hens jumped up--annoyed that I had disrupted their sunbathing!

 

[Judy]

Yup, a whole lot of us have walked up on this and thought they were not only dead but had broken wings, etc. What a jolt to have them jump up and glare at you for disturbing their fun!

 

[ElPasoMini Farm]

It happened to me also, almost had a heart attack when my favorite hen was sunbathing - she looked positively dead!

 

[aggiemae]

...almost had a heart attack when my favorite hen was sunbathing....

I think we all have this reaction the first time we come upon a chicken dusting!

 

[Lobos]

So they sit partially to one side with one leg sticking out? I just saw my polish roo doing this in a small sun patch and kinda got worried about Merek's or something because I heard of the leg paralysis. But I turned the corner to the pen and he was up scratching with the rest of them. At 18 years old this is my first venture raising animals by myself.. and bringing them up from a day old, it would be heartbreaking if something were to happen to them.

 

[barnaclebob]

They do this even when they are chicks, try holding a chick and bringing it closer to the heat lamp, they will roll to the side like they have no control over whats happening. Sometimes my chickens will be walking along like normal then accidentally hit a sunbeam or something and just lay over on their sides like they got stuck.

 

[scooter147]

Absorption of good ole vitamin D.