The bird with the longest tail feathers on Earth is the long-tailed chicken. Long-tailed chickens bred through artificial hybridization in Japan have astonishingly long tail feathers, typically reaching 6-7 meters in length. The longest recorded tail feather was 12.5 meters, bred in 1974. If a chicken were to stand on the balcony of a four-story building, its tail feathers would reach all the way to the ground floor, making it the bird with the longest feathers on Earth.
The Long-tailed Chicken is an ornamental breed of domestic chicken, descended from the wild junglefowl, along with the widely raised egg-laying and broiler chickens of today. However, the Long-tailed Chicken is purely an ornamental breed, with extremely low egg and meat production. Legend has it that the Long-tailed Chicken breed was developed in Japan two to three hundred years ago. Through years of artificial breeding, male Long-tailed Chickens, possessing exceptionally long tail feathers, can be displayed on specially designed elevated platforms or stands, their tail feathers drooping to the ground, thus possessing extremely high ornamental value and commanding a very high price, making them among the most prized ornamental poultry internationally.
Male long-tailed chickens raised for ornamental purposes need to be individually confined in specially designed cages after they turn 2-3 years old to restrict their activity and reduce wear and tear on their tail feathers from free movement. They are fed highly palatable and nutritious feed, and allowed to roam freely for 30-60 minutes each morning and afternoon. This process produces male long-tailed chickens with full plumage and exceptionally long tail feathers. Under good conditions, long-tailed chickens can generally live for more than 10 years.
