Can A Chicken Swim

When people talk about animals that can swim, chickens never come up. This is mainly because Chickens are basic land animals and everyone knows this. Therefore, many people do not expect such domestic animals to have any swimming abilities. As they do not possess swimming qualities unlike other fowls such as Ducks, the question has always remained. Therefore, can a chicken swim?

Chickens can swim and float for a considerable number of minutes before they start to drown. This could occur due to their feathers that cannot repel water thereby soaking in water. They also have unwebbed feet which could have been useful for paddling. Naturally, chickens would rather not swim.

The question of whether chickens can swim has become an interesting topic because chickens are hardly seen around water. So, while some people seek answers to satisfy their curious minds, other people need the information for commercial purposes. Let’s read on to out more about the topic in the following paragraphs.

Can Chickens Swim in Water

Chickens are domestic and harmless animals that are domiciled on dry land. Normally, chickens are not the type of animals you can ever find frolicking about water. This has made the subject of chickens and swimming inconceivable for most people including poultry farmers.

The unpopularity of the fact that chickens can indeed swim has broadcasted the understanding that they really cannot swim. This has been held true by many people because chickens are hardly seen going around any pool of water.

However, while chickens are not naturally built for swimming, they are quite the paddlers. Although the paddles are not so powerful, chickens tend to wade at a slower pace forward. Nevertheless, when in a life-threatening situation, instincts will kick in and a chicken will rather swim to save itself.

Do Chickens Like Water

Water is a very important resource to every human, plant, and animal. Although chickens like to consume water, they do not do well on water, unlike ducks.

Naturally, chickens avoid any pool of water. They are usually seen hiding under shades when there is a heavy downpour of rain, and in light showers, they tend to shake off drops of water on their feathers. They intuitively avoid getting wet.

When exposed to too much water, a chicken can develop hypothermia – a significant drop in its body temperature. Chickens can also easily drown in water because they do not have the buoyancy to float too long on water.

This illustrates that even though it has been established that chickens can indeed swim, it doesn’t mean that they should. A flock of hens and their chicks shouldn’t be left unattended when around a pool of water.

Can Baby Chickens Swim

Considering that adult chickens can swim but are restricted by their inherent genetic compositions, baby chickens are not swimmers. Chicks are bad swimmers because their feathers are way lighter than that of an adult chicken. This causes them to drown faster once they get wet.

Moreover, chicks should not be left unattended around water that can potentially drown them. They lack any swimming skills and are likely to drown within seconds once they enter a pool of water. Swimming for baby chickens is an impossible activity.

Once you notice that any of your chicks and chickens are found soaking wet, they should be dried off immediately because leaving them wet can result in deadly health consequences for them.

Do Chickens Like To Play In Water

Even though chickens are animals that avoid any pool of water around their habitat because of their inability to easily navigate it, there are some exceptions to some chicken breeds. As there are different breeds of flocks, there are some breeds of chickens that are calmer around water.

Those set of breeds tends to enjoy the water and rarely panic while on water. While other sets of breed naturally panic and that causes them to drown faster coupled with their natural disadvantages inside water.

More often than not, a chicken found swimming is a very rare sight. An extreme circumstance of life and death can cause them to enter a pool of water. While chickens can swim, it doesn’t mean that they will do it well.

Conclusion

On a general note, many people believe that chickens cannot swim. But in reality, chickens can swim and float on water for a few minutes before they will start to drown. Nonetheless, baby chicks are terrible swimmers, they should not be left unsupervised around any pool of water because they can drown easily and faster.

While it is not first nature for chickens to swim, some breed of chicken is calm around water. They float and swim gracefully and can survive longer on water than other breeds. However, even though chickens can swim, they should be closely monitored because of the adverse effect on their health.