[Deecart (OP)]

All is in the title: Could a chicken fly?

Could it be possible to select generations of chicken for their abilities to fly and finaly produce a "functionning" flying chicken ?

[Bored chemist]

So, we can add chickens to the list of things you don't know much about.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/can-chickens-fly.html#:~:text=They%20use%20their%20wings%20to,happily%20in%20a%20tree%20nearby.

[Deecart (OP)]

So, we can add chickens to the list of things you don't know much about.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/can-chickens-fly.html#:~:text=They%20use%20their%20wings%20to,happily%20in%20a%20tree%20nearby.

And we can add this one to the long list of things you dont even understand before arguing fo nothing...

Sure, everyone know that chicken can "fly a little".
So it should be obvious for everyone who not think i am stupid, that it is not the question i asked.
At least because i am some biologist as you already know...

No, i mean fly for real, like any other flying bird.
The dukes, the craw, the parrot, the pigeon, the etc etc etc.
The majority of birds fly freely, capable of flying many kilometers.

But chikens, part of the galliforms do not really fly.

Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors that include strutting, fluffing of tail or head feathers, and vocal sounds. They are mainly nonmigratory. Several species have been domesticated during their long and extensive relationships with humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galliformes

You understand what flying mean or not ?

[Colin2B]

You understand what flying mean or not ?

This thread has the hallmarks of descending into another slanging match and is therefore locked.

By the way:
1 : to move in or pass through the air with wings. 2 : to move through the air or before the wind eg Paper was flying in all directions. 3 : to float or cause to float, wave, or soar in the wind eg fly a kite, fly a flag.

[Kryptid]

The topic was locked, but I just wanted to try to answer the question.

No, i mean fly for real, like any other flying bird.
The dukes, the craw, the parrot, the pigeon, the etc etc etc.
The majority of birds fly freely, capable of flying many kilometers.

Yes, it could be done. Let's not forget that evolution eventually transformed prokaryotic life into us, so evolution by artificial selection of chickens could definitely give you fully-flying chickens if you did it for long enough.

[alancalverd]

Mine did. What's wrong with yours?

Flight endurance is extremely variable: design or evolution meets specific demands. Thus interceptors like the Me163 could only sustain powered flight for 7.5 minutes whilst solar-powered airplanes have stayed airborne for weeks. Likewise birds vary from pheasants and domestic chickens (30 seconds average) to albatross (2 years).

Pedantically, if you bred an edible bird that could fly for a couple of hours it would be a duck, not a chicken. That is called "evolution of species".

[Colin2B]

The topic was locked, but I just wanted to try to answer the question.

I’m going to unlock it as I’ve restricted the op in other ways.

[evan_au]

Males of most species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors that include ... vocal sounds.

The traditional view of a male "rooster" is waking up the neighbourhood before dawn by loudly proclaiming his masculinity from the highest point in the area (eg the roof of the henhouse).
- Natural selection will promote the cock with the best flying skills...

[Bored chemist]

When I was a kid my brother and I occasionally had to "repatriate" the chickens from the field next door  which had flown into our garden. I assure you that the damned things can fly.

So it should be obvious for everyone who not think i am stupid

They call that "leading with your chin".
I believe it's an analogy with boxing terminology.

Sure, everyone know that chicken can "fly a little".

And they call that logical fallacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Pedantically, if you bred an edible bird that could fly for a couple of hours it would be a duck, not a chicken.

Only if it quacked like a duck.
:-)

[Deecart (OP)]

1 : to move in or pass through the air with wings. 2 : to move through the air or before the wind eg Paper was flying in all directions. 3 : to float or cause to float, wave, or soar in the wind eg fly a kite, fly a flag.

Thats why I specified a "functionning" flying chicken.

Yes, it could be done. Let's not forget that evolution eventually transformed prokaryotic life into us, so evolution by artificial selection of chickens could definitely give you fully-flying chickens if you did it for long enough.

I have no time for that (starting from some unicellular to some flying chicken).
I mean in some mans life, perhaps in 30 years so around.

The traditional view of a male "rooster" is waking up the neighbourhood before dawn by loudly proclaiming has masculinity from the highest point in the area (eg the roof of the henhouse).
- Natural selection will promote the cock with the best flying skills...

Is there really natural selection at work in the farm or around the men waiting to eat them ?

But we can eventualy observe the Feral chicken, domesticated chicken who has returned to the wild.
Or observe the ancestor of the domecticated chicken, the Red Junglefowl,

Flight in these birds is almost purely confined to reaching their roosting areas at sunset in trees or any other high and relatively safe places free from ground predators, and for escape from immediate danger through the day.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl

They dont fly freely.
Natural selection dont give them further abilities to fly.

Thats why i was wondering if there could be some evolutionary barrier, too high, so the natural chicken could not go over the barrier in the natural environment, simply because of the limitation of the environment strain.
But perhaps if we could select them ourselve we could help them to produce functionnal wings (and other things that permlit such heavy birds to really fly, perhaps he would be less heavy etc.)

The evolutionary advantage would perhaps be enormous and we would  then have some flying chickens around the world like we have the pigeons.

[alancalverd]

They dont fly freely.

Mine did, just not very far.

The natural "ur-chicken" is a social, forest-dwelling bird. Living in a flock, and being well insulated, it has no need to fly very far: they don't migrate,  mammalian predators can't fly at all, large avian raptors avoid dense forests, and small raptors (even dogs!) avoid fighting with cockerels. But it does need to sleep off the ground and to take off quickly if attacked by a mammal. So it has evolved to fill an ecological niche.

The domestic chicken is an odd creature in many ways. Most birds lay eggs once or twice a year in a distinct nest and sit on them until they hatch but the free-range  farmyard chook lays an egg every day, not always in the same place, and  only gets truly "broody" and sits on her eggs  once or twice in a lifetime. That said, the bird has been bred to have very large flight muscles (the white bit) and carries very little dead weight (leg bone), so is still capable of rapid takeoff in any direction, even by running downwind (unlike soaring birds).

Horses for courses.   

[Bored chemist]

natural chicken could not go over the barrier in the natural environment,

They really do get over barriers- because they fly.
This will remain true, regardless of your protestations.

[Deecart (OP)]

They really do get over barriers- because they fly.

You mean chicken do migratory every year ?
Never heard about that.
But if you think so, why not.

[Petrochemicals]

They can gain height by moving their wings from a stationary start, unless they have been eating too much. An ostrich however cannot do this.

[Bored chemist]

You mean chicken do migratory every year ?

You really are not good at understanding what things mean, are you?
I didn't say anything like that, yet you think it's what I meant.

Anyway, I know that chickens can, in fact, fly over a barrier such as a 6 foot fence.
When you can get over a barrier 4 times your height by flapping your arms, you will be in a position to say chickens can't really fly

Until then, you just sound daft.

[Kryptid]

I mean in some mans life, perhaps in 30 years so around.

Chickens mature from 16 to 24 weeks (0.31 to 0.46 years), so that constitutes anywhere from 65 to 97 generations in 30 years. I'm reminded of the Russian silver fox domestication experiment: https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-018-0090-x This link reports that significant tameness was achieved in a mere 6 generations of selective breeding, and stress hormones were halved compared to wild foxes after 15 generations. It's not flying, of course, but it does at least demonstrate that notably significant changes can happen in a short time span.

If you started with a large population of chickens and selected solely on the basis of flight distance, I think you'd actually have a pretty good chance of achieving a "fully-flying" chicken in a human lifespan (if by "fully-flying" you mean a chicken that can fly at least a few kilometers).

[SeanB]

Well, peafowl can also fly, albeit not well, but they definitely do so, and there are only a few truly flightless birds, mostly the larger ones that are in general pretty well able to defend themselves, by either running really fast, or having a lethal kick. Chickens are well able to fly, but not far, just like most birds, having a certain range of flight ability.

[Bored chemist]

Stole from the web...
An industrious turkey farmer was always experimenting with breeding to perfect a better turkey.

His family was fond of the leg portion for dinner and there were never enough legs for everyone. After many frustrating attempts, the farmer was relating the results of his efforts to his friends at the general store get together. "Well I finally did it! I bred a turkey that has 6 legs!"

They all asked the farmer how it tasted.

"I Don't know" said the farmer. "I never could catch the darn thing!"

[paul cotter]

I have seen dead chickens fly at several hundred kilometres/hour. Bird strike tests on turbofan engines. This proves "chickens can fly"!

[SeanB]

Just remember to defrost them first........