now wait,,,when i was a kid we had a rooster,,,,henny...lol
we would put him in the pool, he would swim to the other side,,,but he couldnt get out,,,he was way to heavy wet,,,,but he did swim...lol
The reason for this odd request is because this morning we saw our rooster not only swim, but he fought against a fastly moving current. Who knew he culd but he sure did. He somehow got caught up in the creek and the current was rough due to rain and melting snow. I just wanted to see who else out there thought chickens can swim!
When I was a little kid, we had an irrigation canal running thru our farm and one day my brother decided to put our bantie hens in it to see if they could swim
. I was 3 or 4 years-old then and he is 3 years older.
The hens were swept away in the current. We ran along the bank desperately trying to encourage them to "swim" out of the water. Just before the canal left our property, my brother was just able to get down to the level of the water and catch the 2nd hen
. The 1st hen continued on down the canal to whatever fate awaited her
.
If you look at my BYC page, you can see the hen that he saved after this ill-conceived idea to drop them in the canal. It was my bantie hen. She had a number of broods of chicks over the years - I never shared any with him . . .
From my experience, no they can't. I lost a girl last year because she somehow got into the kiddie pool and drowned. I've also had a youngster get in the horses water and that was not a happy ending either.