Chicken bomb

last updated 8 January 2015

London

British scientists in the 1950s suggested packing nuclear land mines with live chickens, according to a document the National Archives released last week. The scientists were designing a 7-ton plutonium bomb that would be set off remotely to protect British troops if they had to retreat from the Soviet army. They needed a way to keep the detonator from freezing if a battle occurred in northern Europe, and somebody came up with the idea of including chickens, whose body temperature is 107 degrees, in the bomb casing. Avian heat would make the bomb last up to eight days, until the birds died of starvation. None of the bombs were ever actually built.