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I live in an apartment several floors up, and I have a balcony with vertical railings that are large enough for a rabbit to pass through.
How well do rabbits deal with heights like this? Do I need to add chicken wire and/or board of a part of my balcony to prevent the rabbit from falling down? And if so, what's a good way to do it (and how high should this be? 50cm? 200cm? A meter?)
A picture of said balcony:
Rabbits do climb (Google Rabbits Climbing) and jump to high places. Ours have a 5 foot tall condo in the living room, which they would make their way top of we had a very difficult time arranging things so they could not get there.
Rabbits will jump from heights that can injury them. Rabbits can and do injure themselves from falls & jumping down from as little as four feet. At the same time unless they are motivated to leave they will stay in 2 (.6m) foot pen. When we are outside (supervised) we use a 2 foot (.6m) pen to define the boundary for the same rabbits that go to the top of 5 foot (1.5m) condo. Johns idea of floor to ceiling coverage is very good, though I would use plastic lattice as it holds up better and is more attractive (and more expensive).
If the balcony has a roof and you are ALWAYS going to be on the balcony with the bunny any kind of coverage that is to small for them to fit through and is 2 foot high would be the minimum required.
We foster rabbits for short periods of time (a couple weeks to a couple of months) that are proven climbers and jumpers of 4 foot enclosures. We find that a 3 foot (.9m) high wall that they can not see through, or over, keeps them in; they tend not to climb or jump over things if they can't see what is on the other side.
So if your rabbit is going to occasionally be on a covered balcony, and you will be away for SHORT periods of time, a 3 foot no see through enclosure would be the minimum required.
If the rabbit is going to be on the balcony for more then a few minutes without supervision, complete bunny proof coverage from floor with a ceiling is required.
Rabbits are probably going to exercise some native caution around that balcony, but accidents can, and do, happen.
So, some things worth considering...
Rabbits can jump, sometimes as high as a meter. So, any fencing should consider that as a minimum height.
Not all predators of rabbits are on the ground. If you're going to let yours on the balcony, consider the possibility of predatory bird species. My Father had a cat that had a narrow escape from a hawk, in the core of Toronto, and the cat forever after avoided the balcony as result. So, fencing that accounts for that is also probably wise, in some capacity or another.
I think, given the above, you're looking at a possible floor to ceiling unless your rabbit is only on the balcony when you're present. Chicken wire is sufficient, but you might also be able to get away with anchored sheer curtains if you don't want (or aren't allowed) to use what is, to be honest, a fairly ugly looking solution in the chicken wire.
