urgent—baby chick question

[D1N0]

I have to with my rabbits

All the problems that randomly pop up

 

[Altairsky]

it’s impossible for any animal to die of loneliness.

I just don’t know if I believe that for poultry

You said no animal ever died of loneliness and I explained why you're super wrong. You were not referring specifically to poultry, and I was not referring specifically to poultry.

 

[WildNectarine]

You said no animal ever died of loneliness and I explained why you're super wrong. You were not referring specifically to poultry, and I was not referring specifically to poultry.

I feel like the evidence for those things is locking it in a cage with absolutely nothing to do but be lonely, animals can relieve stress in other ways, and it really only weakens the immune system, if you put it in a sterile environment it wouldn’t die then. All I was saying is that an animal can’t die just from being a bit lonely, it needs other factors, too.

 

[Appalachickens]

You said no animal ever died of loneliness and I explained why you're super wrong. You were not referring specifically to poultry, and I was not referring specifically to poultry.

A million years ago, when I was teaching intro psych, there was a case mentioned in the text book about an animal at a zoo (a llama, I think?) whose partner was shot and killed. The llama grieved itself to death very quickly. I'm not saying birds are the exactly the same, but you are absolutely right that animals can die of loneliness/grief/heartbreak.

I think it's important to remember that chickens are flock animals and they thrive with other chickens. It's how they evolved. They get comfort and safety from being with other chickens. I'd be reluctant to let any bird designed to be in a flock be alone for too long. Will it actually die? Likely not. Will its quality of life be poorer? Almost certainly.