I can understand why the chickens on Caplor Farm in the UK are getting sick and dying. The free range chooks are terrified of hot air balloons that hiss and hover over their heads, sometimes as low as 60 feet. When they run away in a panic, they bang into each other and crush their un-hatched eggs inside them which causes a fatal infection.
Farmer Miss Vincent-Lloyd 32, has lost 30 of her 300 chickens at her farm in the Wyre Valley, Herefordshire.
Miss Vincent-Lloyd said: 'When the chickens see the balloon they go crazy, they think it's a giant monster coming to eat them.
'We have some very rare breeds on the farm and we are proud that the hens have a free run, so this has been devastating.
'The flights began in the summer and we started finding dead hens in the weeks afterwards.”
A vet found they died from peritonitis, an inflammation of the membrane which covers organs in the abdomen.
A vet found they died from peritonitis, an inflammation of the membrane which covers organs in the abdomen.
But the story ends happily, the balloon company has instructed their pilots to steer clear of the birds’ field in future.
Not surprised the chickens panic, with hot air balloons that low. I bet other animals are frightened too.
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