http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=34513&in_page_id=2
Oh yeah? :dubious:
Could this be local Chinese officials trying to cover up a new bird flu outbreak?
The article does say the chickens trampled each other to death. I don’t know, how stupid are these birds? Would they panic and flee, trampling anything in their way like that? 
I know, it sounds odd. :dubious:
paranoia hat on It sounds a lot like what a lower-level bureaucrat might put into a report to keep from being lined up against a wall and shot by a higher level bureaucrat. It sounds stupid because its supposed to sound stupid (and make the higher level bureaucrat feel/seem smarter/superior). The actual cause of death could be anything from toxic chemical exposure, a deadly cloud of pollution, a re-emergance of bird flu, or the side effect of classified research that must not be named. Reporting any of those things publicly would put The State in an unfavorable light, and put the future of a low-level bureaucrat at risk. paranoia hat off
(Note: I’d have added corruption, but I’ve yet to see how corruption kills chickens. Indeed the proximity of so many chicken farms in Maryland / outside of DC, would seem to be proof that corruption has absolutely no effect on chickens.)
I don’t think it sounds that odd, I just don’t know how plausible it is, not knowing what chickens who are paniced are like is all…
I’ve been in a chicken pen with 50 or so birds at a time, and they will all try to run away as fast as they can. At a full run they flap, jump about and end up piling on each other a couple deep in a flock that small. I can credit a larger flock in a panic killing hundreds. It would be nice to know haw many hens were in the flock.