Weird and really random question about chickens sleeping.....

[JensChickies]

This is all very interesting.

 

[AKchicken1]

I agree. And I think we can all agree that chickens sleep

 

[centrarchid]

I should have omitted the my birds part as using it as a stand in for IMO, which is a weasel-phrase. All chickens I have seen in good health do not go into torpor. Birds in poor health will exhibit hypothermia which does look a lot like torpor but I doubt many people take note of that. Torpor of the overnight variety seems to be the realm of the relatively small animals where energy expenditure of active metabolism would exhaust energy reserves or at least cause changes in body mass that could not be recovered in the following day. Periods of sleep are also periods where food consumption ceases. Larger animals like the chicken go into cold long nights with crops chock-full of high energy density eats such as seeds / mast with bits of animal and greens as well. The crop provides the digestive tract with storage and dispensing equivalent of a hopper where its contents are metered out through most of the night allowing the bird to continue extracting energy from food even while sleeping for several hours. The birds also strive to conserve energy hunkering down on roost with breast and abdomen touching it, fluffing up body feathers to increase insulatory value, covering legs with those feathers to prevent heat from being dumped there, and the head is tucked as in my pictures to protect that heat leaking structure from exposure. The sleeping posture I show requires less energy to maintain than standing. The sleeping enables shut down of some energy using activities and effectively overnight waste management for restored function the following day. The chickens are so specialized for daytime operation that they have very limited sensory capacity for nocturnal operation, especially when it involves vision.

When it gets hot sleeping posture changes to expose extremities to allow more dumping of heat and my birds as adults tend to eat less as well. The funky sleeping patterns the birds exhibit are all about energy management which torpor is a tool for when conditions are more extreme that what chickens have adapted to.


Right now it is pitch black in my cock yard, temperatures are down in the 20's F and the breeze is blowing from the NW at about 15 mph. And they are outside currently without wind breaks. The cold stress they are experiencing approximates that of indoor / cooped birds where temperature is approaching 0 F. The environment can also play a role in how the birds adjust. Other interesting variations involve impacts of predators such as owls that cause changes of alertness that can interfere with staying warm and conserving energy even when owls are not able to cause harm. Stress.



A big part of the mystery concerning how chickens sleep comes from the fact we seldom go out and check on them. Take a lawn chair, good blanket and a flashlight with a red lens and sit out with your birds after dark. Listen and periodically shine your light on them. You will see all sorts of interesting patterns pop out. Consider not only the hens, also the roosters, juveniles, chicks and broody hens. There is a lot more to these birds than simply fluffy things that eat at your feet.

 

[perchie.girl]

Humming birds employ torpor as a night time strategy because of their high metabolic rate. I just read this a few days ago.... amazing.

Yep every time I have ever peeked in at my birds they peeked right back at me

deb

 

[Kadu]

I think mine sleep like logs, lol. Once it's dark in that coop, it's lights out in more ways than one!

I can go into the coop with a torch at night and touch them all (even the rooster) and whilst they will occasionally mutter a quiet "bockle, bockle" to me they are really quite out of it!

From what I can tell, they sleep pretty soundly from about 9pm to 4am - but that's just my flock. They are all different I'm sure.

- Krista

lol! I do that too!!! That's the only time I can touch them without 'em freaking out.

 

[Kadu]

I have often wondered the same thing! I don't know if one of my roosters ever sleeps. Every time I go outside in the middle of the night (which is quite often), if I make any noise at all, he will start crowing. The coop is a good 70 yards from my house, so he can hear pretty good too. My other 2 roosters don't make a sound. Is it common for roosters to crow in the middle of the night?

Mine will crow if he hears something. Sometimes even at like 1 or 2 in the morning! We go out and usually finds out that its just bunnies right outside the coop. So I would assume its common... =)

 

[AKchicken1]

Me too. I do all of my banding, and inspections after midnight when they barely even react to the handling.

lol! I do that too!!! That's the only time I can touch them without 'em freaking out. 

 

[AKchicken1]

Centarchid, you win, I am wrong. I will send youvyhe citations referred to- they are referencing extreme conditions from what I understand in the abstracts. Interesting info. And for the record, I observe my birds daily at night and during the day and indeed they are very interesting animals.

My birds are very well cared for, get fermented food, fresh veggies etc. Every day. Yet at night I can literally go into the 45 above hen house and grab birds at willll for banding or whatever with very, very minimal reaction? Why is that? I am only wearing a headlamp so maybe it's just an an inability to see well enough to react? What are your thoughts. I have mistakenly believed this a weak torpor. Maybe my birds are just very comfortable with us? Even the roosters are the same. After a bit the flock gets more aware and agitated, but I have banded and moved over 20 birds before that starts to happen. They are aware and looking at us just seemingly not really responding?

 

[Kadu]

Sometimes I go in the coop on Saturday evenings and just sit there and watch them do their thing. This is my Saturday night entertainment... =P They take a nap for about 15-30 mins every time. Same with guineas. When they sleep, somehow they all sleep together at the same time. =)

 

[centrarchid]

Centarchid, you win, I am wrong. I will send youvyhe citations referred to- they are referencing extreme conditions from what I understand in the abstracts. Interesting info. And for the record, I observe my birds daily at night and during the day and indeed they are very interesting animals.

My birds are very well cared for, get fermented food, fresh veggies etc. Every day. Yet at night I can literally go into the 45 above hen house and grab birds at willll for banding or whatever with very, very minimal reaction? Why is that? I am only wearing a headlamp so maybe it's just an an inability to see well enough to react? What are your thoughts. I have mistakenly believed this a weak torpor. Maybe my birds are just very comfortable with us? Even the roosters are the same. After a bit the flock gets more aware and agitated, but I have banded and moved over 20 birds before that starts to happen. They are aware and looking at us just seemingly not really responding?

Your birds are tame which a sign of good husbandry. Many of mine are as well. They will allow me to walk over and pick them up even during day, come to me when called by name, fly to keep up with me when I walk fast though high grass, and broody hens will bring very young chicks up into my lap where entire group will go to sleep.

I also use them as outreach tools where they must allow close contact with total strangers in locations they have never been before (see link below). Such birds are much calmer than birds not so conditioned. Same birds not conditioned or disturbed by a predator will go crazy and explode from roost to fly as previously described.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/407880/ambassadors-for-the-farm/20#post_14314948


With game birds in locations where they are not frequently handled, they are harvest at night using lights because they are easier to approach and catch. Biggest part of that is their very limited ability to see in low light levels. They do not like running or flying from roost in the dark.