Are chickens afraid of heights?

[Ernie]

I'm putting the finishing touches on my coop and the door from the elevated house to the attached run is about 4' off the ground. I'll be building a ramp for them, but I'm hoping it's not too high for my silkies. Should I do one straight run, or have a landing to make a switchback? Will I need to install an elevator?

 

[Daisygirl]

With what my girls do, I think that chickens are NOT afraid of heights

However, from what I hear, silkies can be a titch unpredictable

so mabe better to be safe than sorry. Or you could just try them out by putting a perch in your brooder at 4'' high - - I'm assuming they're chicks at the moment?

 

[Suechick]

Oh, go for the elevator!

And please post pictures.
Sorry, I have nothing useful to add, I'm new to chickens too. Mine are just 2 1/2 weeks old.
I have a 1 x 2 in the brooder that they can hop up on. So far only the larger ones do. I have a silkie but it hasn't tried the roost yet as far as I've seen.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Umm... I don't think so, my EE hens enjoy flying up and roosting on top of their chicken house... its probably about 15ft tall.

 

[Daisygirl]

Quote:
It's getting down that may be in question - - do they nosedive like my girls?
Sorry 'bout this being off topic

 

[elmo]

Silkies can't fly, can they? I thought they lacked barbs/barbules on their feathers.

4 feet would not be anything for a flighted bird; not sure about one that can't fly, though.

 

[Ernie]

Thanks everybody, I guess I'm just worried about the silkies tumbling down the ramp from that height. I think I'm going to make it extra wide and not very steep to make sure they can make it up AND down without any problems. I'm thinking of putting up a guard rail to help them out as well

I'm sure our EE won't have any problems with it regardless.