How Chicks Sleep

One of the things I did to keep from running to the barn so frequently was to install cameras everywhere, including inside the brooders.  It might seem silly to some, but my time is valuable. I'm self-employed on top of the farm so the less time I spend trotting back and forth to check on things the better.

One funny side effect of having the cameras is that I'm witnessing animal behavior that I've never seen before despite living on a farm for three decades.  

This is the overnight view of some 2-week-old Speckled Sussex that I hatched a few years back.  They sleep flat on their faces! 😂

While funny to see, I've learned a bit since I first started hatching chicks on the farm.  One of the bigger things is that if you leave the lights on all night, the chicks grow and feather out faster because they eat 24 hours a day.  I always assumed since naturally hatched chicks would huddle under the mother hen and it would be dark at night that I should mimic that in my artificial brooder.

NO! 

Keep that light on, y'all!  The faster they feather up, the faster they can graduate from the brooders!