Shoutout to the chicken vet who told me about their weird sleep thing

I always thought my hens were just being lazy when they sat still with their eyes open in the afternoon. I mentioned it to Dr. Miller at the county animal clinic last month, and she told me it's called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. Basically, one half of their brain sleeps while the other half stays awake to watch for danger. She said they can even sleep with one eye open, literally. I looked it up in a book at the library called 'The Private Life of Chickens' and it's totally true. It blew my mind that my little backyard flock has this built-in survival trick. Now I feel bad for ever shooing them off their favorite spots. Does anyone else's birds do this really obvious staring-into-space nap?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin6582d ago

That unihemispheric sleep thing is why they can nap on a perch.

the_hayden2d ago

Doubt it's that deep, robin658.