Holding chicks on their backs: Cute or cruel?

Baby chicks are the cutest! We all know it. And we all want to hold them, snuggle with them, bond with them. Despite our intentions, they can be deathly afraid of us, their loving keepers.

I’ve found that more often than not, if I try to handle a baby chick, she will run off frantically, making distress peeps that break my heart a little.

Some people find that one way to calm their chicks is to put them on their backs. The chicks stop struggling and appear to be calm and peaceful as they are gently pet. However, this is in no way a natural position for a chicken.

So what is going on? Why do they appear to be so tranquil, so composed, so (dare I say it?) unruffled? And is it safe to put a chick in such an unnatural position?

Is it safe to hold chicks on their backs?

It’s not safe to hold chicks on their backs. They may appear calm in this position, but this is typically a fear response they can’t control, an involuntary reaction that may help them to evade predators. Holding chicks on their backs may lead to trauma or death.

What can you do to bond with your chicks instead of holding them on their backs? And what if you find a chick who fell or rolled onto her back by herself? Read on to learn the answers to these questions and more!

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Holding chickens on their backs

Why do people hold chicks on their backs?

People generally hold chicks on their backs because they look cute and it makes it easier to love on them. This is because an upright chick may not want to interact with a person at all, whereas a chick forced onto its back will usually lay there motionless for seconds up to minutes. Commonly, well-meaning children put chicks on their backs.

Why your chicks seem calm on their backs

The reason your chicks seem calm and remain motionless on their backs is typically due to a phenomenon called tonic immobility or “animal hypnosis.” This phenomenon is triggered by confinement of the body and an extreme amount of fear.

When you force your chick onto her back, which is a very unnatural position for a chick, you are terrifying her. The only time a chick would be forced on her back in the natural world is if she were picked up by a predator.

In fact, most scientists believe that tonic immobility developed in many prey animals as an involuntary defense mechanism. If the predator believes the prey animal is dead and sets her down for a few seconds, she may come to and make her escape.

I have seen this escape or attempted escape happen many times when my cat, Tuff, sets down a mouse he has caught—the mouse appears dead and then suddenly rolls over and runs away. Sometimes it works and the mouse lives.

Sometimes it doesn’t, but if the mouse were to struggle the entire time in Tuff’s mouth, Tuff would be much less likely to put the mouse down. In fact, Tuff bites down harder when the mouse struggles.

This is the same reason your chick stays motionless.

How chicks can die on their backs

Can chicks breathe on their backs?

Chicks don’t breathe well on their backs. To understand why requires some knowledge of a chicken’s anatomy, which is very different from a human’s. A chicken’s lungs don’t inflate and deflate the way a human’s do. Air travels through them in only one direction.

Chickens also have organs called air sacs that are fundamental in helping a chicken to breathe. Chickens have nine air sacs total, and most of these are located on the dorsal side of the chicken, that is, near the chicken’s back. Unlike a chicken’s lungs, these do inflate and deflate as air passes through.

When a chick is placed on her back, many of these air sacs will have the weight of the chick’s organs on them, causing them to compress, and the chick will not be able to breathe as well. The air sacs evolved to support an upright chick, not a chick on her back.

Can chicks aspirate crop contents while laying on their backs?

Chicks may aspirate crop contents while laying on their backs. When a chick is on her back, food or water may come out of her crop and be aspirated into her lungs. Chicks can die this way. A sick or weakened chick or a chick with a full crop are at an increased risk.

How long does it take for chicks to die on their backs?

If a chick’s crop contents come up and are aspirated into the chick’s lungs, she may die in a matter of a minute or two. It will take much longer for a chick to die from asphyxiation due to trouble breathing. I have not been able to find a reference for how long this will take.

What can you do to bond with your chicks instead of holding them on their backs?

I know it’s frustrating when you want to pet your chicks and hold them, but they run away from you, doing the chicken equivalent of screaming bloody murder. So, what can you do?

First, understand that you are a strange animal to your baby chicks, and that in nature, they would never be in a scenario where another animal is kindly picking them up. Their fear of you is a completely natural reaction that helps to keep them safe from predators.

Many chicks will need to bond with you before they are okay with being handled, and some chicks will never be okay with being handled. Part of loving an animal is respecting her preference not to be touched.

The best way to bond with your chicks is to spend lots of time with them. Always talk to them gently. Sit next to them (or next to their brooder). After some time, slowly put your hand on the ground near them (or into the brooder). Just leave it there and let them decide if they want to walk over it, or even stand on it for awhile, or not.

You could try putting some of your chicks’ feed in your hand to encourage them to approach.

Eventually a chick may let you pet her, and you can slowly increase your degree of handling from there as your chick allows. Always remember that bonding with an animal is a two-way street—you both need to be comfortable and willing partners in any physical interaction.

The more you listen to your chick, whether she is vocalizing or simply communicating through body language, the more she will trust you and learn to love you. This is an excellent lesson to teach young children as well!

Why you may find chicks on their backs

Sometimes you may approach your brooder and find you have a chick laying on her back. There are a couple of different reasons she might be in this position. Your chick may be voluntarily sleeping on her back or she may be weak and/or sick.

Why is your chick sleeping on her back?

I am not sure why some chicks choose to sleep on their backs. I do know that when a chick is in the egg, she will sometimes be positioned on her back. Whether she is born in an incubator or under a mother hen, her egg will be turned several times a day, so she is bound to be on her back sometimes.

I wonder if this explains why some very young chicks sleep on their backs—perhaps it feels natural to them because they experienced this in the egg. I have only ever seen very young chicks sleeping in this position. I have never seen a maturing healthy chick on her back.

I also wonder if very young chicks don’t have the same breathing difficulties on their backs as older chicks and chickens due to their respiratory system not being fully developed yet. A mature chicken’s air sacs have connections to some of the chicken’s bones (called pneumatic bones), and air travels from the air sacs into these hollow bones. A newborn chick doesn’t have these connections yet.

Shortly after hatching, the air sacs in the front of a chick’s body grow into the neck vertebrae. The air sacs in the hind of a chick’s body take more time to grow into the vertebrae near the pelvis.

These air sacs slowly develop as the chick grows. I wonder if somehow this immature setup doesn’t hinder the breathing of a very young chick on its back as much as it does an older chick. I unfortunately have not been able to find any resources addressing this.

If I ever find a chick sleeping on her back, I will gently roll her upright. However, I have come across a lot of anecdotes where people have just allowed their chicks to sleep like this and they have turned out okay.

The chicks tend to grow out of it pretty quickly. However, some have said that sometimes their chicks have trouble rolling out of that position, so if you decide to let one sleep like that, make sure to keep a close eye on her.

See the video below of an adorable baby chick sleeping on its back—you can see it right itself near the end. Notice that this chick is newly hatched (very young!). You can see broken egg shell nearby and the chick appears to still be in an incubator.

Why is your chick falling or throwing herself on her back?

Sometimes newly hatched chicks will fall or throw themselves on their backs or their sides. This is a bad sign. If these chicks were incubated, it may be the temperature was not set correctly, and now the chicks have some serious neurological problems.

Some chicks who fall on their backs or sides just need a little help from you. Roll them upright a few times. Sometimes this will do the trick.

If your chick still won’t stay upright, you may try to put her on top of paper towels in an open container (a coffee cup works well). Arrange the paper towels under and loosely around the chick to keep her upright. Often after a day or two, the chick will have no problem staying upright and walking around.

Another reason your chick may be on her back is because she is sick or unhealthy. If you are not feeding your chicks a balanced diet, they may suffer from a vitamin deficiency, which can cause them to fall on their sides or backs. I always feed my chicks commercial chick feed as I know it has been formulated to meet all their nutritional needs.

Is it okay to hold adult chickens on their backs for medical treatments or health checkups?

For the same reasons discussed for chicks, it is not okay to hold mature chickens on their backs. I have heard many stories from heartbroken chicken keepers who have had their chickens die from aspirating crop contents during an exam or treatment.

Sick or weakened chickens are at an increased risk for this happening. As with chicks, death may happen in just a few minutes.

If you have any good tips on how to safely and respectfully bond with your chicks, please share them in the comments section below!