A few of the definitions of “roost” is when birds, particularly chickens in common usage, perch on a tree branch. I never even knew that they could fly at all.
Anyway, it lead me to the logical question: how high a branch can a chicken get to? How high can they fly?
Followup real question (which happens to fit the meter and rhyme scheme):
How low can an earthworm go?
(If anyone wants to add to these couplets in a similar vein, please do so.)
My chickens flew like the dickens.
Kinda high, but not up to the sky.
A yard (more like five) kept them alive.
(Nasty 'coon was no hen house boon.)
Clipped wings made them earthbound things.
Chickens that have been overfed for the market are usually too heavy to fly, and this even if their wings aren’t clipped. In their natural state, though, they are flying birds, even if not on a par with golden eagles and albatrosses. They fly well enough to reach the branches of a tree, often to escape predators, or, indeed, to roost.
Depends on the breed but we used to have chickens that could roost up to about 40 feet in the top of our cottenwood tree.