Can I drop a bird-man to its death?

Question

My embark has a number of peregrine falcon men (and women) wandering about, which has resulted in them being captured by my foodfriend gathering cages. They have been hauled off to a stockpile near a pit, into which the militia can be dispatched.

I'm concerned that bird-men may retain the ability to fly, in which case the pit will be unable to injure them, and my militia will be fighting an uninjured and angry bird-man.

Will pitting the bird-man work, or is there another way to whittle it down before sending the militia in for practice?

Answer 1

Fliers will not plummet to their doom if a floor is removed from under them while they are conscious. Stunning them with a small cave-in will wipe the smiles off their aerodynamic faces.

In fact, a cave-in can also be the trigger for a drop trap as well as a means to stun fliers - build a platform suspended by a single support from below (make sure the support is immediately below the floor tile), then drop a tile of floor on top of the support. The structure will collapse. Of course, if you're using cave-ins, you can just as well kill them all with it, and not faff about with drops.

PROTIP: cave-ins will continue through until encountering a natural stone block. Make sure not to accidentally smash through your grand stairwell or something.