Weird behavior, I wonder if it's normal :)

[ethingtonart]

Okay, my kids have decided that it is fun to hold the chickens upside down supporting their backs with the palm of their hands. The weird thing is the chickens will just stay there. The chicken almost seems relaxed. In fact, my youngest daughter can turn over her Mille Fluer chick (about six weeks old) and he will fall asleep like that!! The first time she did this my husband and I thought that she had killed or somehow injured the poor bird!

So my question is this, is this normal chicken behavior? If it is normal (or abnormal) why do they do this? And are my kids going to injure the birds by handling them in this way?

I should also mention that both of my kids are very gentle with the chickens and my husband and I are always around to supervise.

 

[LoreenH]

You can do that with probably any bird. I've seen it done with parrots, parakeets, and a crow. I've been told they are confused as to why the sky and ground have switched places so they usually will stay that way until they are turned over....silly birds. I'm guessing the only way they could hurt the chickens would be if they drop one.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I did that when they were chicks, but now they'd probably scratch the crap outta me.

 

[ethingtonart]

i'm glad to hear that they are not being hurt! Now I know it's okay to laugh (a little)!