Why don't chickens fly when they are birds?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

If you ask someone why chickens don't fly, you will probably hear a lot of different assumptions. The most common is due to excess weight. Chickens love to eat, because it’s not so easy for them to lift their magnificent forms into the air. Another popular opinion is that they lost their ability as unnecessary. Where and why to fly, if the food is good at home, it is warm and cozy in the chicken coop in winter, so why strain again? So who is right, and why don't chickens fly? Let's find the answer together.

Chicken Rush

Let's go on a short excursion to the nearest picturesque village and ask the same question to a local resident, he certainly knows what and how much. But here we are in for a real surprise! After all, domestic chickens, it turns out, fly. and how! Not far, really, but still. And the dapper handsome cockerels even more so strive to sneak into the neighboring yard in order to get hold of delicious, and even hit on other people's chickens. For which they are often beaten by neighboring roosters. The villagers are well aware thatadult birds need to trim the feathers on their wings so that they do not fly away, because it can be quite difficult to find a chicken that goes AWOL. That's it! Therefore, to the question of why chickens do not fly, the answer will be somewhat peculiar.

Domestic birds

In fact, all domestic birds fly, but not over long distances. Therefore, questions like “why can’t chickens fly?” are not quite correct. They know how to fly, how they do it is another matter. Egg-laying hens, for example, have a smaller body weight, so they can easily fly several meters and even take off on tree branches. Cockerels for such “walks” have a great predisposition, although they are large, they are leaner, they have large and strong wings. These easily lift them into the air, but a cockerel can fly no more than 5-10 meters. This is quite enough to jump over the fence or sit on the roof in the morning, announcing the onset of a new day with his famous “Ku-ka-re-ku!”.

Representatives of meat breeds are heavier, sometimes their appearance alone is enough to understand why chickens do not fly. The main emphasis is on crossing breeds with a large body weight, such grow quickly, feed them, as they say, for slaughter. Such birds rarely use their wings, and even they are simply unable to lift an abnormally large weight into the air. This can also explain why the chicken does not fly, but it has wings.

Not a migratory bird

Birds that fly to warmer climes for the winter have a streamlined body and wide, strong wings with specific plumage. These allow you to soar high into the sky and maneuver on air currents, overcoming great distances. The pectoral muscles are well developed and trained in birds, and the wingspan far exceeds the size of the bird itself. Compare the wingspan of a chicken and a goose, the difference is obvious. Therefore, the chicken, if desired, can rise into the air, but she cannot fly far.

Chicken Kind

Why don't chickens fly like migratory birds? With this, everything is simple, by no means laziness and not even the hand of a person is guilty of this. Chickens belong to the order of chicken-like, it has a huge number of species, this also includes partridges, pheasants and many others. Among them there are well-flying birds, and those who prefer walking. Such birds have a sharp and strong beak that can pick up even the smallest seeds and bugs, as well as powerful strong paws that can find food even under a layer of snow. Chickens are absolutely omnivorous, they peck grains, and collect berries, bugs, and even small living creatures do not disdain. Therefore, it is easy for such a bird to find food, it simply does not need to go on a long journey. Chickens use their wings for short flights in search of food or to escape predators. By the way, chickens are excellent sprinters thanks to the same strong paws. Have you ever tried to catch a laying hen?

So we answered the question of why chickens do not fly. It turns out that these domestic birds are quite capable of overcoming short distances, but they really cannot stand on the wing. Chickens are not the only birds on Earth that have abandoned flying and preferred an “earthly” existence. Everyone adapts to the conditions of their habitat, for example, penguins, for example, use their wings as fins, and ostriches, although birds, cannot fly.