Monocular sleep in male domestic chicks

Behavioural sleep during the first 2 weeks after hatching was studied in male chicks reared with an imprinting object (I-chicks) and in social isolation (NI-chicks). Time spent in sleeping with both eyes closed (binocular sleep) decreased gradually with age in both I-chicks and in NI-chicks whilst the number of episodes of binocular sleep decreased with age in NI-chicks but not in I-chicks. The pattern of monocular sleep (only one eye closed) of both I-chicks and NI-chicks showed no significant bias towards predominant left- or right-eye closure during the first week. During the second week, I-chicks showed a tendency towards more pronounced left-eye closure with a peak on day 10, whilst NI-chicks showed a tendency for more pronounced right-eye closure with peaks on days 9 and 11. In a different group of chicks, changing the colour of the imprinting object on day 8 produced a shift towards right-eye closure. In contrast, the removal of the imprinting object on day 8 did not cause any change in the pattern of monocular sleep. Differences with respect to sleeping patterns previously observed in females chicks are discussed. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.