Any breed of chicken that fly?

[abraga]

Apparently mine can only run. No flying. Just running. The neighbors dogs chase, we run. Then soon after, we die. Are all chickens this dumb, or is it just mine? It's not like they would have to ride a thermal up to the roof of the shed, it's 9' to the peak. Good grief! Thanks,
Steve[/QUOTE i have malaysian seramas..pretty small..they fly short distances really well.my RIRs..not so good..mayb a few feet. YEARS ago..i had bantams cochins that free ranged. They slept in the trees at night. They could get upwards of 30 ft up tge trees off the ground to roost..however...if a dog chased them..theyd panic and run..forgetting they could easily fly up 30 ft or fly over a 5 ft. Fence!

 

[centrarchid]

Disable your sound, then fast forward to about 2 minutes.

 

[Abriana]

My Dutch Bantam flies really, really far. Her wings are about as large as a regular hen's wings, but her body is teeny and very light. She is like a bird sometimes!

 

[Flufferes]

Chickens have been bred to have rounded wings, which makes flying harder. It doesn't mean the chicken is stupid, it's just not bred for flight.

 

[theoldchick]

Ha! The average American Game chicken will take flight when motivated and sometimes when not motivated. Maybe you will be better off with that type of bird. Many of today's breed of chicken is bred to be food, make food, or for ornamental purposes and have all kinds of strange mannerisms to match their appearance. Through all this selective breeding the ordinary backyard chicken simply cannot escape a dog who is in predator mode.

 

[centrarchid]

Apparently mine can only run. No flying. Just running. The neighbors dogs chase, we run. Then soon after, we die. Are all chickens this dumb, or is it just mine? It's not like they would have to ride a thermal up to the roof of the shed, it's 9' to the peak. Good grief! Thanks,
Steve

My answer is that the capacity for flight varies greatly between breeds. Age, stage in molt cycle, sex and general health of bird can also be important. My birds have a very strong capacity for flight. The videos I linked above demonstrate only low motivation flights that I could actually film. The same birds can fly about 3x that far simply because they do not like walking through high weeds. The roosters power up vertically 20 feet to land on a power line when in good condition. The flight examples above are relaxed and barely trimmed out. Average speed was estimated to be at best 25 mph. Such flights do not leave the birds exhausted.

When motivated by a threat from a predator, especially a predator that is own the ground, their capacity is much greater. When frightened, flight profiles can vary a great deal. Flights are faster allowing extensive glides once trimmed out. I suspect these birds go about 35 mph when afterburners are on. Such flights leave the birds exhausted requiring the birds a good 15 minutes before they can repeat at a similar level of performance. Such scared birds I have had get more than 80 feet up in a tree after flying several hundred feet horizontally.

There is a conditioning aspect as well. The birds need to be willing to fly when threatened. If the run on ground for too long, then they will not have the energy needed to launch. They also need to have idea about where to land. Simply landing a couple hundred yards out in the middle of a field in plain sight of predator is not good enough. High trees or on building is the way to go.

There is a cultural aspect to this. This birds learn from observation and experience when to use their capacity for flight. Most do not live that long.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Ha! The average American Game chicken will take flight when motivated and sometimes when not motivated. Maybe you will be better off with that type of bird. Many of today's breed of chicken is bred to be food, make food, or for ornamental purposes and have all kinds of strange mannerisms to match their appearance. Through all this selective breeding the ordinary backyard chicken simply cannot escape a dog who is in predator mode.

My Madigan Clarets have been known to fly 40 feet straight up into a sycamore tree to escape predators.

 

[2vtx]

My apologies I should have noted sarcasm and rant. I guess it's just makes me mad to see a little mutt killing my chickens when all they had to do is find something 2' off the ground. The chickens are almost as big as the dog.
I'm also fully aware of chickens ability to fly. Instead they choose to run and end up getting eaten by the dog.
It appears the cheapest and easiest solution will be "00" buckshot.

Steve

 

[centrarchid]

My apologies I should have noted sarcasm and rant. I guess it's just makes me mad to see a little mutt killing my chickens when all they had to do is find something 2' off the ground. The chickens are almost as big as the dog.
I'm also fully aware of chickens ability to fly. Instead they choose to run and end up getting eaten by the dog.
It appears the cheapest and easiest solution will be "00" buckshot.

Steve

Fencing cheaper yet when considering you will have to treat foxes and coyotes in a similar manner own your own time. No sarcasm intended as have explored that option.

 

[Folly's place]

My Belgian d'Uccles can really fly well too!
There's the ability to fly, and then what the individual chicken does in a given situation. One of my dogs was a chicken killer if he escaped from his yard, and unfortunately I got to observe differences. He was chasing, and some birds flew up and away, but two hens crouched and froze in place, and they were killed. All were equally scared, but the 'freeze in place' individuals were easy pickings. Not a good story, but it is a factor too. Mary