chickens fly

Why don’t chickens fly? These are the reasons why this happens.

Hen trying to fly

Although we do not always see it, they can do it, but the chickens do not fly for long distances or for a long time, so they are only able to fly to cross fences or perch on low branches of trees and even reach not very high roofs.

Why do n’t chickens fly?

The simplest answer to why hens do not fly is that it is due to their weight since domestic hens being in captivity are generally raised for the production of eggs and chicken meat.

These birds from their birth subject them to special breeding and growth that forces them to increase their weight, and this is another problem that avoids raising their flight since they belong to farms, they lay eggs at least once a day and are forced to be prostrated for a long time.

Because they are farm animals, it is very common to see the owners cut their wings to prevent them from jumping fences or so that they do not run faster and thus tame them more easily. In more normal cases, hens can make short flights which allows them to explore their surroundings, but generally, hens do not fly except when they feel threatened or to escape from predators.

What is the greatest distance a chicken can travel?

The hens can fly, but they cannot travel much distance as previously said, their bodies are very heavy and their wings are small, so a normal hen flight is only about 30 meters or so. But the record for the biggest flight a chicken has had is 70 meters away, and it is much more than other birds like Ostriches, Penguins or Kiwis could get.

Similarities with wild chickens.

Wild chickens, unlike domestic chickens, have a much lower weight and only lay eggs twice a year, but despite the fact that they are wild animals, they also cannot execute large flight movements. Another explanation that could be a little more logical is that the chickens do not fly since in their period of evolution, it was domesticated and lost the need to fly to escape from predators that see them as prey.

Wild chickens

The hens do not have what is known as pneumatic bones, or muscles in the chest area which would develop their wings and thus be able to undertake a normal flight, and it really is why very little are seen flying hen, since they only live to be domesticated and fat to be consumed by men.

Related Curiosities

  • Just as chickens don’t fly, there are other birds that can’t do it either, as is the case of ostriches that don’t fly but having such strong legs, they allow it to move at high speed.
  • Another example is the penguins, which, unable to fly, their wings evolved to be used as fins and thus swim underwater at high speed.
  • The truth hidden behind the movie Chicken Run or in Spanish known as Chicks in flight, indicated that chickens and chickens could not fly and that’s why they only ran, but we already know that it is a myth and that it is only a film.
  • The wild ancestor of the hens, the rooster bankiva, has the facility to rise in flight from the ground to the trees in order to escape from the predators that exist in their habitat, in the Asian jungles.

It is logical to think that in the evolutionary process of birds, other species found themselves in very favorable environmental conditions by having facilities to obtain food and few enemies to escape from, and that is why their wings lost that function.

Jasmin Sultana

The author has many years of experience in the writing and editing industry. She likes mostly in areas related to Style and design, eternity diamond rings, and other similar topics. She shares his Ideas on his blog Thestyletribune.com.

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