Ms. Lloyd and a survivor chicken

Abbi Vincent-Lloyd said she lost 30 hens on days when balloons were flying low over her Herefordshire farm. She claimed the stress of seeing the enormous balloons overhead caused them to run for cover.

It is as they desperately try to find shelter that they bump into each other or their surroundings, exploding the eggs inside them, she said.

This in turn causes an infection, which is thought to have led to scores of them dying…

“I told the vet about the hot-air balloons and jets flying low over the farm and straight away he said that was the cause…

“It is absolute chaos, when they go into anything and that causes the egg to explode inside them. “The fragments of the egg and its contents then infect them and then they die from it – it’s a horrible way to go.”

I spent an enjoyable portion of my youth on a poultry farm. I know that turkeys, for example, are stupid enough to stare at the sky when it starts to rain – and drown.

Thanks, Justin [I think]