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Chicken Hypnotism
31–40 of 49 posts
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#32Is this really a hypnosis or just some primal defense system that kicks in, like "snake ahead, freeze". I had a pet python and I know for a fact that snakes will only eat moving food, if you just leave a dead mouse snake will not touch it (same as frogs and many other lizards and amphibians). Pray needs to move to attract the interest. So if you don't want to get eaten by a snake the perfect defense is exactly this,…
This isn’t entirely true. Pythons will happily eat a dead mouse. In fact, it’s even common to buy and store frozen mice and rats for small pythons. In my personal experience: 1) snakes that were fed frozen mice from a young age handle it better and 2) the mice needed to be microwaved or heated in some form. Generally, only my small ball pythons were frozen fed, though. My Burmese, carpets, and greens were all live fed.
Edit: first sentence referring to python eating patterns, to clarify.
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#33By far the best part of the article: > The United States military when trying to avoid divulging information gives reporters briefings with 25 minutes of intentionally dull PowerPoint presentations and 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone who is still awake. The presentations are called hypnotizing chickens.
Thank you very much for pointing this out. Also very interesting the article about the first person to write about it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#34By far the best part of the article: > The United States military when trying to avoid divulging information gives reporters briefings with 25 minutes of intentionally dull PowerPoint presentations and 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone who is still awake. The presentations are called hypnotizing chickens.
also this:
> Notable people who have discussed chicken hypnotism:
> - Werner Herzog. "known to hypnotize chickens; he also hypnotized the cast of his 1976 film Heart of Glass"
I wanna watch this movie now.
From the movies own wikipedia article:
> During shooting, almost all of the actors performed while under hypnosis. [...] The hypnotized actors give very strange performances, which Herzog intended to suggest the trance-like state of the townspeople in the story. Herzog provided the actors with most of their dialogue, memorised during hypnosis. However, many of the hypnotised actors' gestures and movements occurred spontaneously during filming.
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#35Is this really a hypnosis or just some primal defense system that kicks in, like "snake ahead, freeze". I had a pet python and I know for a fact that snakes will only eat moving food, if you just leave a dead mouse snake will not touch it (same as frogs and many other lizards and amphibians). Pray needs to move to attract the interest. So if you don't want to get eaten by a snake the perfect defense is exactly this,…
This isn’t entirely true. Pythons will happily eat a dead mouse. In fact, it’s even common to buy and store frozen mice and rats for small pythons. In my personal experience: 1) snakes that were fed frozen mice from a young age handle it better and 2) the mice needed to be microwaved or heated in some form. Generally, only my small ball pythons were frozen fed, though. My Burmese, carpets, and greens were all live fe…
I fed them frozen baby mouses, too, but I had to hold it and move it around until the snake grabs it. If I just drop it in, snake was completely indifferent about the food. Could be that you need to heat it, I never tried that.
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Deer in headlights is probably a much simpler explanation - their eyes+pupils are adapted to the dim light, and sudden application of headlights is blinding. If you were suddenly blinded, you probably wouldn't respond by running either.
It's more complex than that. If I shine a light at you in the dark it will hurt. You will close your eyes, look away or shield your face. The deer don't even blink, the most primitive response to bright light. They are transfixed like the chicken.
I think when climbing up a tree you're often exposed to sudden sun in the face. Deer don't climb trees.
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#37I have a small flock and can confirm a similar "hypnotic" behavior. Sometimes when my rooster is being a punk I'll pick him up while I feed the rest. If he keeps trying to attack me I hold him on his back and he almost instantly falls "asleep".
Curiously enough, one of my hens managed to do this to herself on accident. She flew up on a fence and somehow got her spur caught in it (yes, some hens have spurs too). That resulted in her falling and basically hanging upside down by her foot. But instead of struggling she just went limp. I ran over to get her down and after being upright she slowly came back to (she was fine).
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#38Sideshow (actual) geeks used this trick to keep chickens from wriggling when they bit their heads off. Heard so from my dad. Not sure where he heard it. Avid reader, but he was a journalist in the 1970s and early 1980s. He might have heard it from someone he interviewed. Maybe Red Skelton, as he would have been alive in an era that allowed it, and would have needed work in either a sideshow or circus.
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#39Are there neurological explanations about why this happens? Does this also happen to other animals?
I believe there is a thing where sharks get turned over and stop moving.
Indeed. Here's a video of this being done:
Re: Chicken Hypnotism
#40I love chickens. Lots of fond memories chasing after hens in my grandpa's backyard as a kid. We would put a basket over them, and ten minutes later, a fresh egg would appear. And then ten minutes later I would be eating scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Their sounds and movements are just really funny to me. They can also have interesting personalities. On occasion, one or two will be fairly smart in a tactical way, too. (Goats are similar.) Our family had them at different times.
One thing I saw in action was the Pecking Order. The alphas were jerks to the younger and smaller ones. They'd even eat when they probably weren't hungry. Starving them. So, I enjoyed chasing them away or holding them while the others got to eat first. I'm sure their massive egos suffered a great deal watching that display. Haha.