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[guitarxe]

I want to train up some dwarves in crossbow, and I've read that they gain experience per shot, so they just have to keep shooting to train up. Unfortunately I can't get them to reliable shoot at the archery range all the time (they prefer to stand around practicing Yoga instead).
Someone suggested in another thread to have them train on live goblins that were captured in cages, but what about other animals, like chickens? I want to avoid using cage traps in this fort, and I have lots of chickens I can breed. How quickly would a chicken die from one wooden bolt? If it's like 1 or 2 bolts, since I can get so many chickens fairly quickly, would that offset the fact that they die so rapidly?
And will I be able to butcher the dead chickens afterwards for meat and some bones?

[GreatWyrmGold]

If you have caught wild chickens, sure. Otherwise, you'll need to find something at least as hostile as a wild animal.
If the dead thing is not a member of your civ (dwarf or domestic animal), it'll be butcherable (unless it's too small, like a cavy or rabbit or something). If it's sentient, it won't be butchered.

[MonkeyHead]

Undead are great for target practice, as are creatures made of metals. In an evil biome, the undead will keep getting up, which is a bonus as far as training goes.

[guitarxe]

Oh, so I can't order my military to kill my chickens? That's a shame...

[Finn]

Oh, so I can't order my military to kill my chickens? That's a shame...

You could if they were undead chickens.   

[caddybear]

I didn't know there were wild chickens in DF. No, seriously.

[ResMar]

Undead make good training dummies, I plan to adopt them to that purpose soon.

[guitarxe]

Can they be caught in cages?

[Nightscar982]

Oh hell yes, I caught an undead necromancer in one once, too bad I quit soon after before I really could make training dummies.

[Sus]

I didn't know there were wild chickens in DF. No, seriously.

I've actually seen some wild ducks, but never chickens.

[Osmosis Jones]

Do animals driven berserk by overcrowding become viable targets?

[Tirion]

Do animals driven berserk by overcrowding become viable targets?

They can't be driven berserk, just fighting. And nope.

[Garath]

are your archers also assigned a barracks? don't

btw, if you could have targeted one of your tame animals, that would actually have triggered a loyalty cascade, I think. In adventure mode it makes a whole civ hate you if you kill one chicken