You might have noticed how birds move around so jerkily and how they are so incredibly twitchy. There’s actually a great explanation for this! Most birds have their eyes placed on either side of their heads .
Which is why you need to have enough space for your chickens to move around to ensure that they are healthy. This is a disease caused by the parasite and is regarded as one of the most common diseases of killing young birds. Other major parasites are worms, mites, and lice.
Chickens definitely don’t keep their brain in their bum. But just like humans, they have special fibres called “nerves”, which run like tiny wires all through their body, and some of them end near the surface of the skin. These nerves are what can make a chicken keep moving, even after its head has been chopped off.
A query we ran across in our research was “Can hens move eggs with wings?”.
Observations I have made indicate hens can only move eggs by pulling them back using their bill. That bill approach would not help move eggs between tiers of nest boxes. Would be really interesting to see if hens moving eggs with wings. More options… More options….
Why do chickens keep moving after their heads are cut off?
But just like humans, they have special fibres called “nerves”, which run like tiny wires all through their body, and some of them end near the surface of the skin. These nerves are what can make a chicken keep moving, even after its head has been chopped off.
Many birds use rapid head movements to achieve or aid their depth perception. That is often the case for birds whose eyes are located on the sides of their heads, rather than the front.
In simple terms, chickens’ eyes don’t have the ability to focus on a stationary objects while their bodies are moving. Keeping their heads still is their way of correcting their vision.
How do chickens focus their eyes?
So while we primarily use compensating eye movements, chickens have compensating head and neck movements. This keeps their field of vision relatively motionless, and they’re able to focus on what’s in front of them. It’s a pretty handy trick, but it still looks ridiculous.
How do I move my chickens to a new Coop?
Click to expand Keep the birds confined to the new coop for a week or so, that will ‘home’ them to the new coop. Stoppage of laying can be from the stress of new place to live chickens don’t like change. And/or if your birds are around 18 months old(give or take a couple months) they may be getting ready to molt.