How far can chickens fly?

[Perris]

A couple of days ago I saw one of my roos fly horizontally between the edge of the trampoline on the lawn and the top of the retaining wall of the terrace. Yesterday I saw one of the pullets fly the other way, from the wall to the trampoline. I was impressed by these flights so today I measured the heights and distance involved: trampoline rim is 90cm above ground, coping stone of wall 85cm above lawn, distance between them is somewhat more than 5 metres / 16 feet (that is, about 1 ft more than the length of our tape measure). I didn't catch either of them on film, sadly, but this is the scene, and helpfully another of the pullets wandered through to give a sense of scale.

I didn't realize they could fly so well. This is comparable with a pheasant - though they glide a long way; both chickens had to flap their wings all the way from start to finish here.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I have had a pullet fly from the ground over a 7+ foot fence. We ended up having to clip wings to keep them from getting out. This one pullet would fly over the fence and corner the neighbor's cat on the neighbor's carport and scare the poor thing to death.

 

[fluffycrow]

I've had chickens fly on trees, across the whole garden, I think you get the point. They can fly a lot more than people give them credit for, although I do select birds/breeds that are known for their flight skills