All indoor chickens!

[theoldchick]

Chicken poop, chicken poop
It's okay to be around
so long as it don't get in your soup

 

[Ptera]

Indoor chickens are definitely feasible, but it takes a LOT of extra work and preparation. From my experience: Bantams work better than full size chickens. Get them as chicks and raise them strictly indoors their entire lives so there is no chance of them having parasites, bacteria, etc. on them and they will be tame & bonded to you. Handle them daily. Bathe them often (I use baby shampoo. Must blow dry them immediately if it's cold weather). They will develop a funky smell if you don't clean the cage & them often, but the cage's smell will only be detectable when you're inside the cage. It won't emanate to the room if you do it right. That occasional "tan brown paste poo" really stinks, but the majority of their droppings don't. A vanilla "tree" air freshener inside helps, too. Have as large a cage as possible. (I use a two-level wood rabbit hutch which looks like a piece of furniture, which I modified by tacking a chicken wire bottom above the floor so their feet don't touch the droppings & stay clean. I fill the trays with Sweet PDZ horse barn freshener. It's like "kitty litter" for chickens & horses. It keeps the droppings dry. I scoop or vacuum the droppings frequently. There is a small room in it where I put a roosting bar. I installed a fluorescent "plant grow light" so they'll get some ultraviolet rays to keep them healthy (since there isn't much direct sunlight on them). Mine can't tolerate diapers, but I have a lot of old towels & sheets that I use as a drop cloth when they're out of the cage, but they don't poo when they're sitting down. I have one that loves to sit on my lap for hours. Also a large cardboard box filled with pine shavings and a roosting bar across it they can sit on in the living room. I made them a plastic box of sand but they won't dust bathe in it, but water baths do the same job. They enjoy "mock dust bathing" on a towel. If they've never been outdoors they don't miss it and will be happy indoors. And, they can fly very well, so you have to "baby proof" things. If you have roosters be prepared for them crowing at 3 AM & 4 AM & 5 AM, but roosters make cuddly pets if you start them young. One or two is more manageable.

 

[Ptera]

Hello....Not to upset you at all, Chickens are discusting in the house...Stink And create more Dust than you could imagine..

I have indoor chickens & I've never noticed any dust at all, but I bathe them every couple months or so. I've owned cockatiels & African Grey parrots and pigeons. Those are definitely dust birds! Compared to them, chickens have nothing. And clean chickens don't stink!

 

[Star and eclipsa]

When my pullet and cockerel have babies (i'm hoping that my pullet will go broody eventually) I'm gonna raise them inside and keep them inside most of the time, with the exception of the times i'll take them on walks.

 

[Q-tip the indoor chicken]

I have 2 house chickens (hence my username) who live in a little pen on top of my dog cage

 

[Star and eclipsa]

 

[Star and eclipsa]

 

[Star and eclipsa]

I change their cage setup every time I clean it.

 

[Star and eclipsa]