Chickens hate hot air balloons

If you're planning a hot air balloon ride over the English countryside this weekend...for god sakes please don't.

Abbi Vincent-Lloyd, a chicken farmer in Herefordshire claims that hot air balloons and airplanes flying over her farm are causing her chickens to go crazy and die.

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.

Miss Vincent-Lloyd, 32, said post mortems of the animals revealed they had died from peritonitis, developed from the egg being released inside them.

She said: "I had lost about 15 birds when I decided to have the vet do a post mortem on two of them.

"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.

That's my kind of medical professional. You tell him what you think is wrong and he agrees. A diagnosis like that really slams the door on any lingering doubt.

Most hot air balloons seem pretty harmless, but I could see how this one might upset a few chickens. It's sad to see such a majestic creature that could have lived a long and fulfilling life die at least two weeks before their time.