Do you have (occasionally) chickens or other poultry in your house?

[BDutch]

Most BYC members keep chickens or other poultry in an outside coop + run. But some like their company inside the house too or have occasionally a reason to have them inside. Please make a choice and share how you manage this.

 

[BDutch]

Especially during summer I have trespassing chickens. They come inside the house when the back door or terrace door is open. I ‘kick’ them out immediately, because I don't want their poop inside the house.

Sometimes my chickens, when they start to become broody, seek a spot inside the house to make a nest/lay an egg.

When I had chicken, I took them/a few inside to get accustomed to me without the broody getting angry at me. But it seems that this doesn't work. The chicks only get frightened. I suppose its better to sit outside with them and not try to pick them up but to tempt them with goodie’s like dried mealworms.

And a few times when I had a sick chickens I took her inside to get better, and also to minimise the risk of spreading a disease.

 

[Perris]

Here the chickens free range dawn till dusk, and they are provided with breakfast and dinner outside just after dawn and a little before dusk. But they each learn sooner or later that if they come to the back door, when I notice them I will offer them extra food, either outside there, or in the utility room, if they accept the invitation to come in for it or they barge in more or less demanding it. None of them make a habit of it, so when they come, I know they need it. Thus Maria was in this morning for mealworms; she is an old hen, in moult, so she really needs the extra protein.

I also bring in any bird so sick they cannot feed themselves, to spend a day or more in the peace and warmth of the utility room, with ad lib access to a variety of foods and fresh water. Normally this lasts a day or three before the bird recovers enough to rejoin the flock, or passes, but it did go on for over a month in one case.

 

[AntiqueB]

Raising chicks in the living room can cause them to just wander in at times.

They also knocked on the back door, looking for treats.

Coming in was tolerated for a few minutes; knocking got them treats.