Do chicks/chickens have depth perception?

[bawkbawkbawk]

My 10-day-old chicks are in a cardboard brooder that sits on top of a counter. Since I have back problems, it helps to be able to clean the brooder and handle the chicks without bending.

The sides of the brooder are about 18"-20", I'd say, and my husband made a screen for the top the other day when they started getting very flappy and leaping around in there.

We've made cuts in the front of the box to create a pull-down "door" for accessibility. They've gotten so brave that I'm worried they might just leap over the edge sometime when the "door" is open. When I'm standing there they come right over to the edge to peck at my sleeve and climb up my arm - do they instinctively know not to launch themselves over the side?

Wish I could issue them little parachutes just in case...

 

[danielbrown]

If they can get out they will. The little guys are tougher than you think. I've had them "fall" 5' down out of the brooder on to the floor with a flump sound and get up like it was nothing. The little guy was perched in the doorway and another chick flew in to him and knocked him off.

I think they have depth perception, but they will jump out anyway.

 

[SimplyForties]

Very good question and I have to say I have no idea! I keep a screen over my brooder, which houses my 4 week old's (who are desperate to move outdoors fulltime!) and they are constantly flying into the screen and flapping around. It always surprises me that they try to fly through that screen! So ... I don't know what they perceive!

 

[EweSheep]

Someone would have to make a window on the floor to test them like they did on PBS for infants and their perception of depth means dangerous!

mine would just flap and sail over the brooder box without a problem. Maybe they figured out that they could fly and come to a safe landing.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

I've had them "fall" 5' down out of the brooder on to the floor with a flump sound and get up like it was nothing. The little guy was perched in the doorway and another chick flew in to him and knocked him off.

Wow! Guess I won't need to worry so much, then!

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
No. Chicks are dummies and will not know about the drop awaiting them. Assume nothing and protect them from themselves.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Awww, Davaroo, you're always the one to give us our reality chick check

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Thats me, pithy checker of chick reality.

 

[RL]

I have a Buff Brahma chick thats a little over 6weeks old now. It's name is Dufus. He - with my luck it's a roo - never could jump up to top of the brooder like the other chicks could. I alsway had an old towel on the floor for when I let them run around a bit out of the brooder.

Dufus would get to the end of the towel, lay down and just stare at what I could only guess he thought was a very long drop to the floor - you couldn't even push him off the towel even with the other chicks walking by his head. hes a bit bolder now, but still dumb as a rock and don't have the sense god gave a pump handle.