Got some chickens laying around? Looking for a fun way to kill some time? Here's a weird and hilarious trick to "hypnotize" your chicken! If you got children, I am sure they will be amused!
Just follow these easy steps:
- Get a chicken
- Get a piece of chalk (optional)
- Hold its head down against the ground
- Draw a line against the floor with the chalk (or use your finger if the ground is soft enough)
- Boom! Your chicken will enter a "trance" state and stay still, looking at the line you drew for anywhere between 15 seconds to up to 3 hours, 47 minutes according to some sources.
- Clap your hands or give the chicken a gentle push to return it back to normal
- Repeat
- ?
- Profit!
Think I am messing with you? Here are some videos for the unbelievers:
It works on turkeys too!
Why does this happen?
Ethologists (those studying animal behaviour) refer to this state as 'tonic immobility', which is a natural state of paralysis which animals enter, often called animal hypnosis. Its function is not certain, a possible explanation is that the chicken is trying to play dead, with not much success since it's obvious that it breathes. Blinking its eyes doesn't help much either!
Is it harmful?
This trick doesn't seem to be harmful but I suggest you not to repeat it on the same chicken frequently, just to be on the safe side.
Other methods
In case you wonder, this is not the only way to induce a chicken into this state of semi-paralysis. Another popular method is to mimic the way it sleeps:
"One can also hypnotize a chicken by mimicking how it sleeps – with its head under its wing. In this method, hold the bird firmly, placing its head under its wing, then, gently rock the chicken back and forth and set it very carefully on the ground. It should stay in the same position for about 30 seconds." [1]
Here's a kid who's definitely become a pro on the subject:
Win Some Free SBD
I would really like to see you people actually doing the trick above so I will be handing out a few SBDs to all the people who submit an original video performing the trick on their chicken(s) within the next 7 days! I don't have a set up amount of money and there will be no winners, everyone will get a few for their participation. The main point of this giveaway is to have fun :) Don't forget to leave a comment with your video or post!
Feel free to upvote and resteem my post if you feel like it, but it is not a prerequisite!
Extra: How To Hypnotize A Shark
Chickens aren't the only animals exhibiting tonic immobility. For example, some sharks enter this state when turned upside down while others enter it when you place your hands lightly on the shark's snout like in the video below:
