Experts say massive chicken from viral video is real

March 20 (UPI) -- A viral video of a European man's massive chicken sparked debate about whether the dog-sized bird was a fake, but experts said the giant bird is very real.

Fitim Sejfijaj posted a video of the big bird to the Kosovo-based "Decorative Poultry" group on Facebook, and it went viral after being posted to Reddit.

Redditors and Twitter users questioned whether the giant chicken, apparently named Merakli, was a different animal dressed up to look like a big chicken, or whether camera trickery was used to make it appear larger, but poultry enthusiasts explained the bird is a Brahma chicken.

Brahma chickens, dubbed the "King of all poultry" by the Livestock Conservancy, were bred in the United States from massive chickens imported from China. Female Brahma chickens can grow up to 13-14 pounds, while the males can reach 17-18.25 pounds.