Yes, animals can have narcolepsy, meaning, they suddenly fall asleep anytime, anywhere. From what I’ve found it seems to be genetic. Dogs can have it, horses can have it and while I haven’t been able to find research on narcolepsy in chickens I had a perfectly healthy hen with it.
Please note, there are lots of ailments chickens can suffer from that can cause similar symptoms so if you suspect you have a chick or chicken with narcolepsy please make sure you eliminate all other health issues first.
I didn’t have Serafina as a chick. She was a young adult when I got her. She was a great hen, great layer and was perfectly healthy. She also had narcolepsy.
I didn’t know anything about chickens when I first got them so I wasn’t aware Serafina’s behavior wasn’t normal. It took a lot of observation before I noticed she was different. In the photo above I watched while she drank water with the other girls then slowly sank down to sleep. She was always napping momentarily then got up like nothing happened and actively scratched around.
Serafina was healthy. Her weight, feces, eggs, everything was normal. Since then I’ve seen a lot of disease and poultry issues and to this day she was the only hen I’ve had like her.
One day I was adding compost to the pile and the chickens got busy picking through the buffet. Serafina was right with them, scratching and enjoying every second when suddenly..
I watched Serafina display this behavior daily. She would be actively hunting around the property then suddenly a sleepy look would come over her face and she’d pass out for a short time before resuming her activities as if nothing had happened.
While I’m not a vet or chicken geneticist, I do believe this is rare and most of the time people look for narcolepsy their chickens are ill or have a vitamin deficiency or even stress – such as in shipped chicks. It’s possible she didn’t have the condition but until I find something else that causes a perfectly healthy hen to fall asleep like this I’m sticking to my story.
For Serafina this didn’t end well. Unfortunately this condition made her susceptible to predators and I had her before I had a guard dog so she didn’t have much of a chance while free ranging. She was my very first “favorite hen” and gave me my very first egg so she’ll always be in my heart. xo