I Live on the 11th floor, do chickens have suicidal tendencies?

[centrarchid]

What breed of chicken is being considered?

 

[aart]

Finding this hard to take seriously.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Finding this hard to take seriously.

I know Aart, but remember there are people on here that allow chickens to roam their house. Not all of them wear diapers. (The chickens that is)

Chickens are birds. Birds fly. A jump off the balcony is not automatic suicide because of the height. If they land in traffic that is another situation.

Will a chicken jump off that balcony to fly down? I don't know but I'd consider it quite possible. If they do jump I'd expect them to be fine when they land if it's a safe place.

 

[aart]

Will a chicken jump off that balcony to fly down? I don't know but I'd consider it quite possible. If they do jump I'd expect them to be fine when they land if it's a safe place.

Who knows where they'd end up!!

 

[Lisa-Lu]

What kind of life would it be for the chickens to be enclosed in a balcony all their life, without any ground or grass to ever forage in? Will they have cover? I can see other birds swooping by for free breakfast, and then you have a mess on your hands. They will still need a coop to roost and lay in, and hardwire cloth barrier on all sides. Will your neighbors like poop falling onto their balconies and feathers?

 

[K0k0shka]

The question still remains would a chicken jump off the rail?!

Chickens might be a bit on the unintelligent side in some regards but they still understand life and death....right?!?

Cats fall off of tall balconies and die all the time, yet that doesn't mean they're stupid or suicidal. 11-floor buildings aren't something that an animal can understand. It's not something they'd find in nature. So they have no defenses against its dangers. Before a chicken jumps up on the rail, it's not gonna know that it's 11 floors up, or what that means. It just sees a perch and goes for it. And once there, it doesn't have to jump intentionally to find itself falling down. It can easily just lose its balance, or slip, and fall. It may be able to glide and land safely, or it may not. Are you willing to risk it?

Height aside, you will need a large amount of bedding if you want to approximate a run floor so your chickens "won't know they're 11 floors up". That bedding will get dirty and smell. Do you have the capacity to cart large quantities of smelly litter down 11 floors, stinking up the elevator and spilling wood chips and poop through the building? Where are you going to dump it after that? Does your city take away livestock waste along with the human trash? Or do you have a pick up truck to load it onto and drive it somewhere else to dispose of? Where would that be - does anybody in your area take chicken waste?

So many questions and complications. It's not just about the railing.

 

[ColoradoPip]

What kind of life would it be for the chickens to be enclosed in a balcony all their life, without any ground or grass to ever forage in?

Millions of chickens live in a similar way, never seeing grass, and are quite happy. I don't know how many members BYC has in total but a percentage raise them in enclosed runs, which could be, if the sizes are appropriate, equivalent to an enclosed balcony. Those runs don't have fresh grass, some are sand. It's not bad just because it's different

So many questions and complications. It's not just about the railing.

I 100% agree, lots of questions and not many answers! What I'm saying is...it's possible and shouldn't really even be questionable assuming the original poster understands basic chicken keeping. I suspect the original poster will quickly learn it is not legal to keep poultry in their condo or apartment and this will all be moot.

I also suppose the question of, will a chicken jump a rail, is Yes.

 

[centrarchid]

About 120 feet starting point for adult American Dominiques can mean landing a little hard at most a 120 radius from directly below starting point. My American Games can convert the same starting point into a glide of a hundred yards or so with ease. Most likely the chicken will fly / flutter from balcony to balcony. My games I think might even start working on going up floors.

Silkies are likely to make harder landing directly below starting point. Meat birds are going to get damaged. Cornish X likely be dead.

 

[SueT]

My games I think might even start working on going up floors.

Ha, I can just imagine it now! The whole building would become a chicken tree!

 

[casportpony]

Yeah! Go for it! But no roosters, and clip their wings so they can’t fly.

if they did decide to jump with clipped wings they would not be able to glide down and would instead spiral to their death.

Do not clip wings!