can chickens swim

Well this is going on my second year and as I said my son asked the question. they just have never got up on the ledge so I never thought of the problem before. I have clipped their wings because they started going over my fence, I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed
 
They can swim and stay afloat for a short while. Unfortunately, I believe they also tend to panic if they suddenly find themselves in deep water, and even if your pool has a ramp or steps just under the water, they won't necessarily find it in time to save themselves. When I kept geese and ducks, I built a small low deck and put a big wading pool on it for them, maybe twelve feet across and eighteen inches deep...not ideal, but appreciated by the waterfowl nonetheless. The chickens and guinea fowl also had access to the pool and would sometimes go up on the deck to poke around or even stand on the edge of the pool (which was broad, maybe eight inches), but that was about it...and if anyone ever fell in, they got out on their own and dried themselves off before I ever knew anything about it. Never saw any broody hens with their chicks up on the pool deck, though...I think they instinctively knew better.

The only chicken I know for sure that fell in and almost drowned was a chicklet that was part of a hen-raised clutch of ten or twelve which had recently been dumped by their mom and which were now on their own. These chicklets had gotten too big to use the creep feeder I use for little chicks that are out and about, but I still wanted them to have a little extra protein via some mashed hard-boiled egg so would call them in and temporarily pen them while they gobbled up their special meal. One afternoon I called them in--they were maybe 10 weeks old by this point--and one chicklet was missing. I got a bad feeling and checked the pool and sure enough, found the chicklet in the water, still feebly swimming, its head the only thing still above water. It was in deep water and pushing up against one specific spot of the edge, over and over, completely oblivious to the fact that the ramp into the pool onto a shallow area I'd made by submerging cinder blocks was ONLY FOUR FEET AWAY to its left! So that's why I think they panic. It couldn't have swum around much otherwise it would have stumbled onto the shallow part, not did it recognize the ramp as a means of exit. How long was it actually in the water? I don't know, but it was completely exhausted and chilled when I lifted it out and couldn't stand.

Happily, that chicklet recovered just fine once I'd brought it into the house, patted it as dry as I could with paper towels, and then gave it a stint lying on a proper bath towel in the bottom of a bucket with a nice warm light on it while it finished drying. It was back out in the yard, running around with its buddies within two hours. Bet it was more careful around the pool after that!
 

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