A farmer was stunned to discover his missing chicken had miraculously survived being buried for three days under thick snow.

The farmer, surnamed Wu, had assumed one of his hens was a goner after it disappeared in a sudden blizzard in Xiaogan, in central China’s Hubei Province.

But while poking around the piled-on snow on 22nd February, he was shocked to find it alive and well.

He told local media of his astonishment, saying: “I couldn’t believe it at the time.

“The heavy snowfall from two or three days ago, and the chicken was still alive.

“It might have been laying eggs when the snow started falling, and since it fell early, it covered the chicken.

“Truly, life is so resilient.'”

A video shared by Wu on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, shows the hen emerging with its head as he broke apart the frozen snow with a wooden stick.

Aside from a few ice-covered feathers, it seemed to be fine.

Many netizens admired the chicken‘s tenacity and apparent will to live.

One user titled ‘Yebo Yebo, Bok Yizhen’ commented: “It’s incredible it didn’t freeze to death.”

User ‘stubborn girl’ wrote: “See, chicken feathers can provide a lot of warmth, not to mention goose and duck feathers.”

And ‘An Zhi Ruoxi’ said: “Mine was not so lucky. It froze to death while laying eggs.”