Chickens Cant Swim but ...

C

cherrycoop

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I have the pleasure of having 4 RIRs - they are about 16 weeks old now and a total delight - I purchased and incubated 24 'bantam' eggs and ended with 4 RIR LF only. Anyway, they and I live on an island in the Indian Ocean. The animal feed factory shut 4 months ago so my chickens have been brought up on cooked rice, greens (spinach type) and kitchen scraps. They now free range and have an incredible amount of bugs to eat and not very interested in their rice much. Today I was in the garden filling the wild bird feeders with crushed rice and the chickens came rushing over - except one failed to navigate around the swimming pool and landed in it! I was prepared to jump in fully clothed and rescue said chicken but it was not necessary as it just floated and I was able to scoop it out. I have been wondering what would happen if one should fall in as they sometimes come and investigate when I am in the pool so now I know but what I don't know though is how long would they float for - does anyone know this?
 
Don't know about chickens, mine have never tried, but we often get woodpigeons taking a swim in our pond. They seem to like going nearly under, then struggle out dripping wet, leaving great oily marks behind on the water surface. They're only a bit smnaller than chickens, about bantam size I suppose, but they've got a lot of air beneath their feathers, as have chickens, and don't seem to have any trouble getting out - though of course our pond has shallow sloping sides, your swimming pool may be more difficult for chickens to manage.
 
not sure on the swimming chickens but i would like to live where you do :lol:
 
I echo Karminski. As Marigold says there will be trapped air under the feathers. But because they have far less oil in them than ducks they will quickly become waterlogged and sink. You can see from leaving them in the rain which has no effect at all on a duck.
 
:lol: at you chris , i have heard of chickens drowning though so i would just be very carefull and keep an eye on them .
 
As Chris says, they have little oil in their feathers and don't bathe like most other birds do. In a pool the feathers will get waterlogged quite quickly and they will sink. Even if they manage to stay afloat for a time, they would not be able get out of the pool and would surely drown.
Also envious of your location !
 
Guess I will have to set up a chicken lifeguard roster - seems I might not be short of volunteers ;-))
 
It is all dipence where you live.I have seen some great movies on Youtube chicken swimming in the pool even small chicks.There is one lady called(texan girl or simular)which lives in Texas where temperatures soaring really high- is a very good way to cool down.There is also few very stupid videos where forcing chickens to stay in the pool and I do not speak of them.
Love you location by the way,you can put my name on chickens guard list.Please :-)10 :lol: :-)08 :-)17 :-)99
 
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