How Big Is The Giant Chicken, Exactly?

On Friday, March 17, a video of a very large chicken hit social media, and it didn't take long for the "terrifying" beast of a bird to ruffle quite a few feathers. Those who have not yet seen the video may be wondering just how big is the giant chicken, but words fall short of capturing the true stature of this might foul. The feathery monster, which has since been identified as a Brahma Chicken, towers above all others in its pen, commanding attention with each stomp of its enormous feathered foot. The chicken is truly impressive, and Twitter still can't quite accept that we mere humans share a planet with such a magnificent creature.

The video, first uploaded to a Facebook group devoted to the appreciation of "decorative poultries," shows the mighty chicken emerging head-first from its coop. What seems at first like a chicken of average size is revealed to be a gigantic feathery monstrosity, as it stretches its extensive wings like some prehistoric nightmare come to life. As the chicken approaches the camera, fluffing its impressive plumage and displaying its full size, a sinister version of Looney Tunes' Foghorn J. Leghorn comes to mind. Let's just say, you would not want to meet this chicken in alone in a dark alley (*shudder*).

On March 19, the video started making the rounds on Twitter and people could not believe their eyes. Behold, the mighty bird:

Over the weekend, many Twitter users declared the enormous chicken to be a fraud, unable to comprehend a domestic bird of such scale. Some even suggested that the oversized foul was in fact an adult human masquerading in a chicken suit, likening it to a boss that one might expect to fight in a Japanese video game.

It didn't take long for doubts to be squelched, once it was proffered that the famous chicken bore a clear resemblance to the once-popular Brahma Chicken. The Brahma Chicken, dubbed the “King of All Poultry” according to the Livestock Conservancy, can reach weights of up to 14 pounds for hens and over 18 pounds for roosters. For comparison, that's a rooster that falls somewhere between the weight of a bowling ball and a car tire — forget Sesame Street, this is one big bird.

Brahmas were wildly popular in the U.S. between 1850 until around 1930. The mighty fouls were prized for their prolific egg laying abilities, hardy stock capable of living in cold temperatures, and plentiful meat, which could feed a family for days. Why these large birds fell out of favor is unknown, but they certainly deserve a resurgence — if not in farms then on social media. So behold peoples of the Internet, a mammoth and perplexing poultry that may bring back that long forgotten sense of childhood wonder.