How Fast Does a Chicken Run?

The term "chicken" is the general label for all male, female and young domestic fowl that would normally be categorized as roosters, hens and chicks. Chickens are the most prevalent of all bird species, with 30 billion animals in the world at any given time. While chickens are kept mostly as a food product for humans, a small portion of them are kept as pets, and some are used in the illegal bloodsport of cockfighting. Chickens are no cheetahs, but they are relatively quick for an animal with legs and feet in negative proportion to their bodies. An average chicken, in good health, running at maximum speed, can travel 9 miles per hour.

Time Frame

Speed is measured by distance covered divided by the time it took to cover said distance. When measuring an animal's speed, however, the math gets tricky, because its average speed and maximum speed differ according to the activity it is involved in and the threat of danger upon it. The maximum speed of an animal like the chicken, might be considered the speed at which it is traveling when under attack, or the speed at which it is traveling when it is the one attacking. Because chickens tend to move quickly in short spurts, and due to their ability to take flight when under attack, their speed is difficult to clock. Therefore, a chicken's maximum speed is measured in a controlled test in which the chicken is clocked on a 1/4-mile straightaway.

History

Chickens were first domesticated in Thailand about 10,000 years ago, from wild fowl called red junglefowl--an animal that still runs wild in most parts of Asia. Archaeologists discovered evidence of the animal in excavation sites in China between 5400 and 2000 BC. Domesticated chickens then spread to Europe and Africa, showing up in the Americas around 1350 AD. While a morally questionable practice to some, the sport of cockfighting had an extraordinary influence on the breeding, domestication and distribution of chickens. It may also be credited with the consistency of a chicken's speed over the centuries. Cockfighting played an important role in the way chickens were bred--so much so that the domestic chickens we know today are almost identical to their wild counterparts. Without the sport of cockfighting, chickens may have taken on many variations in both type and speed over the last few centuries.

Function

A chicken's speed is in direct correlation to its legs and body stance. A chicken's hind limbs are controlled by 14 hip and knee muscles; because of the elaborate system of medial rotators and hip flexor joints, a chicken's legs can move quickly under extreme weight and pressure. The hind-limb motor patterns of a chicken allow it to rotate its knee to 65 degrees and its hips to 25 degrees. It is these elements that allow the chicken, under unusual circumstances, to not only be able to carry and balance its weight, but move relatively fast when threatened.

Considerations

If you consider the speed of other animals, you may better understand the speed of a chicken. Chickens at their maximum speed can travel 9 miles per hour, which is comparable to a mouse, pig or spider. Humans can travel at an average speed of 28 miles per hour, while a cat, bear and deer travel at speeds of 30 miles per hour. Cheetahs and antelopes are among the fastest mammals, traveling about 65 miles per hour. One of the fastest animals in the world is the peregrine falcon, which travels at speeds of 200 miles per hour. While a chicken seems quite slow in comparison to some of the animals listed above, one might consider the animal's speed compared to the size of its legs. The legs of a chicken are virtually 1/20 the size of their body, which makes their speed quite extraordinary.

Warning

A chicken's speed is important because of the numerous predators that prey on the animal. Since a large majority of chickens are raised on farms, they are susceptible to a number of harmful animals, both domestic and wild. Dogs and small children are blamed for a majority of the chicken fatalities in the world, while coyotes and raccoons are also major predators to the domestic fowl. While chickens are considerably fast on their feet, they cannot fly long distances. Most fowl are capable of short flights to get into trees and to flee from danger, but in general cannot stay in the air for longer than what might be considered an extended jump.

Resources

• All About Chickens
• Animal Land Speeds
• More Information on Domestic Fowl