I 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 keep

I 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).