Chickens as Nuclear Heaters? Inside Britain’s Bizarre Blue Peacock Landmine Project

It sounds like a dark comedy, but in the 1950s, British military planners were dead serious about a plan involving nuclear bombs and livestock. According to Boing Boing, this project was designed to create a radioactive barrier against a potential Soviet invasion of West Germany.

The British Blue Peacock Nuclear Landmine: A Cold War Relic

Known as Project Blue Peacock, the mission was to bury ten 10-kiloton nuclear landmines across the North German Plain. For context, these mines were roughly two-thirds as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. They were equipped with eight-day timers and sophisticated anti-tamper mechanisms that would trigger the blast if the device was moved or depressurized.

Why Planners Wanted to Heat Atomic Mines with Chickens

The project's Achilles' heel was the winter weather. Planners feared that the extreme cold of the German soil would cause the sensitive electronics to fail. Their solution? Live chickens. The idea was to seal chickens inside the mine casing with enough food and water for a week. The birds' body heat would theoretically keep the internal components warm enough to remain operational until they were needed.