Hot Balls of Flesh

I got to spend a little quality time with my baby meat chicks yesterday.  Not that they have been neglected, as I do visit them at least twice a day to give them food and fresh water.  And I open or close the greenhouse walls and make sure they are warm and cozy in their brooder.  But, yesterday, I really paid attention to their behavior and tried to figure out why they seem so different from the other chicks I've raised.  

I like to place pieces of plexi-glass on the top of the brooder in the evening, to make sure they stay warm through the night.  Their bodies are big, and their feathers are sparse, so they look as though they could get a chill.  I know it's important that they have lots of fresh air too, so I leave some gaps around the edges of the plexi.  

When I look through the top of the brooder, they are almost always lying down.  Some of them are resting near the food, lackadaisically munching chick crumbles.  I'm pretty sure all my other chicks stood up while eating and spent much more time scratching and tussling with each other.  

These babies lounge around stretching their wings and legs, but don't get up to move until there's a disturbance.  I'm usually a disturbance, and MJ, the little bonus heritage breed chick, causes a disturbance when he rockets around the brooder like a tiny bowling ball amidst a bunch of giant white pins.  

I've read other peoples descriptions of these birds and some folks think they are creepy, or unnatural.  I remember from my ornithology class that there are two types of baby birds.  There are the type that get up and walk around right away, like quail, turkey, and chickens, and then there are the other type, that stay in the nest and let their parents bring them food until they are ready to fly.  These giant babies seem like they are somewhere in between.  They aren't as mobile as the hardy heritage birds, but they can move around enough to help themselves to some conveniently placed food.  

They are easier to take care of with my set up, because they don't try to fly out of the brooder every time I open the lid.  They don't seem particularly cuddly though.  When I pick one up for a cuddle, it's surprising how much of their skin is bare.  Usually chicken cuddles are like hugging a feather pillow.  But these are different.  They feel hot!  A chickens body temperature is naturally higher than ours, so holding one of these fat bald babies is like holding a squishy, slightly prickly, hot ball of flesh.  That moves.  It's kind of... disturbing.