Here’s The Story Behind The Huge Chicken That Went Viral

Now this is a big bird.

Have you seen that viral video of a gigantic chicken with strangely feathered feet? The one people thought may actually be a person in a chicken costume? OK, good. Were you somewhat terrified of said gigantic chicken? Would you like to know exactly why that chicken was so big? Then read on.

If you haven’t seen the video in question, here it is:

Am I the only person wondering why this chicken is so damn big 🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/ZIWmEL2h2w

— LifesBook_Ceo (@LifesBook_Ceo) March 19, 2017

First things first: that is actually a chicken, it’s just that it’s a Brahma chicken. The second-largest type of chicken, according to Poultry Keeper, the Brahma breed was developed in the 1800s in the United States from imported Chinese chickens. Male Brahma chickens can weigh as much as 18.25 pounds, but this particular specimen could be even larger.

Brahma chickens are known for their plumed feet and black and white feathers. They also lay appropriately large eggs—about the size of a fist.

People on Twitter, however, were understandably terrified by this massive chicken. Some questioned hormone usage in poultry, others rightly said this is a child-sized chicken and ought to have the freedoms afforded to a human.

I'm sorry but anything that big that walks on two legs better have a social security number. https://t.co/0sEaijsB7r

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) March 19, 2017

Other people simply said it wasn’t a chicken at all, but someone wearing a feathered costume.

https://twitter.com/__Roshanda/status/843376133563273216

According to 16-year-old Brahma breeder Katrina Wright in Aurora, Colorado, this was truly an impressive specimen. According to Wright, Brahmas are commonly used for meat and eggs, so chances are you may have eaten one of these gigantic chickens yourself.

Wright says she hasn’t yet raised a chicken this large (one was seven pounds, the other was closer to 10 pounds, which is still a heck of a lot of chicken), and was truly impressed by the size of the chicken in the video.

“Every time I watch it, I still don’t believe that it’s that size,” Wright told NBC 9 News in an interview. “It’s insane. That is definitely not normal. They say that the chicken is the closest living relatively to a dinosaur, and that is a dinosaur right there.”