An Illinois woman says lightning caused major damage around her chicken coop in a frightening incident that left her chickens surprisingly unharmed. The woman, who said she was already having a terrible month, initially believed the lightning had struck the coop before later learning from firefighters that it had actually hit a nearby electric fence.
The story was shared by TikTok user Jewel, who goes by the username jeweldmw. Her video received several million views, with viewers reacting to the unusual damage and the fact that the chickens survived. The incident also sparked a mix of concern, disbelief and jokes in the comments.
The video shows the chicken coop badly damaged, with pieces of wood scattered across the ground. Despite the destruction, the woman said her chickens survived and were okay. She also said they did not appear to be deaf after the incident.
After speaking with firefighters, Jewel said she learned that the lightning had not actually struck the chicken coop itself. Instead, she said it struck a nearby electric fence that had been properly installed. She said this was the first time she had experienced a problem with the fence.
She added that the electric fence may have helped explain why the chickens survived because the electrical equipment took much of the damage. She said the cable was so badly burned that it even caused the ground around the buried section to explode.
It was the first time anything like this had happened in her area. Neither Jewel nor her neighbors had previously felt the need to install a lightning rod.
Illinois Woman’s Chicken Ordeal Gets Attention
The comments ranged from concern for the chickens to jokes about what they might have become after surviving the incident. One viewer wrote, “Your chickens better have superpowers.” Other commenters wondered how the chickens survived and whether they could still hear after the lightning-related damage.
Some viewers also shared their own concerns about keeping chickens during storms. One commenter said they had grounded their own coop after something similar happened to a neighbor’s flock. Another said the video made them nervous because they also had chickens and lived somewhere with frequent lightning.
Not everyone found the jokes funny, with some viewers saying they were uncomfortable seeing people laugh about someone’s animals being involved in such a frightening incident. The creator later clarified that she initially thought the coop itself had been struck because she was distraught, but firefighters told her the lightning had hit the electric fence instead.
For this group of Illinois chickens, surviving the chaos may have been the strangest part of the whole story. Somehow, they made it through a scene that left their coop in pieces.
