WWTBAM Bored

Today I learned a new, astonishing thing. Chickens can fly! I had no idea. I mean, I know chickens are birds, and most birds can fly, but not all of them can. Based on physics, which I took in homeschool, I figured that chickens were too round to be aerodynamic, with wings that were of an insufficient size to provide enough lift for flight. Here's how I found out the truth:

Three of them -- Mabel, Cora, and one of the Frieda twins -- came over the fence and into my yard to visit me! They stayed for hours. Sadly, my mom wouldn't let me be a good hostess. She wouldn't let me outside while the feathery girls were here. Mom said she knew I would take good care of them, but she was afraid that if my sister also got out, BeBe might chase them too much. I understand what she meant. BeBe is nice most of the time, but she doesn't have a control knob to turn down the energy if she gets worked up. I just watched the hens through the back window in case they needed a body guard from bad guys or critters that might spot them in a new place without a chicken coop where they could hide.

After a while, my mom went outside to try to grab them and put them back over the fence. That was pretty funny to watch. Let's just say that my mom will never be called "the chicken whisperer." By the time the guy who feeds the chickens came home from work, Mabel and Cora had flown back over the fence on their own, and only the Frieda was still in my yard. The guy took about three steps, snatched her up, and took her home. Maybe she didn't want to leave me. I do not know.

Me and BeBe were allowed to go outside then, so we talked to the girls for a little bit through the fence until my mom gave us a free ride in her car as a reward for being good dogs. I hope to go out early tomorrow, before BeBe is following me around yet, in case the chickens want to come back for another visit. They are lovely girls.

Lizbit wrote:I figured that chickens were too round to be aerodynamic, with wings that were of an insufficient size to provide enough lift for flight.

I am right there with you. They look like little plump plants who should just stay on the ground. Of course I am still suspicious that those double-decker planes can fly, too, and will never fly on one. Float, yeah. Fly, no way.

I can read about the Bernoulli principle over and over but it is still all dark magic that some things, including chickens, can fly.

Did you see them fly, Lizbit?

Maybe they just learned to climb the fence.

Miss Lizbit, I have a thing for chickens, and would love to meet your new friends! Could you bring them by Colonel Sanders' place..... oh, say an hour or so before lunchtime today? I've got eleven gifts to give each one of them...

The Chicken Whisperer ... made my day

MarleysGh0st wrote:Did you see them fly, Lizbit?

Maybe they just learned to climb the fence.

Mr. Marley, I don't think they could climb the fence. Their big chests would push them away from the links, and they don't have any fingers on their wings to hang on with. They are not graceful flyers like crows and cardinals and robins. Those birds fly like this: Hop, flap, wheeeeeeeee! The hens are more like this: Jump, flap, omigod, flapflapflapflapflapflapflap.

The chickens do land pretty well. They seem to have a greater understanding of gravity.