How do you house a house chicken !?

[amaugans]

i have a 13wk old EE that only has one leg. (We are in the process of getting her fitted with prosthesis, picture was just after surgery a month or so ago.) but until then, and possibly forever, she will be a house chicken! But I need help on how people house their chickens inside. I have her in a ~4x2 cage, solid bottom, with wood shavings as bedding/ substrate. This is so messy though- a quick flap of her wings and it's everywhere... any suggestions for indoor chicken coop/house/enclosure?? Thanks!!

 

[pennyJo1960]

for one this will be very hard on her to be the only chicken

 

[SavageChicken]

Poor thing! I am curious how she lost her leg??? I am sorry that I am not familiar with housing chickens indoors, but I've raised smaller birds and quail indoors in the past, and what we used at that time was an indoor glassed aviary. They are expensive to purchase, but you may want to consider building one yourself. We made ours using an old large china cabinet that we purchased at Goodwill. We just removed the glass panels on the sides and added mesh to allow for air to circulate better. It was very similar to the one pictured here...
http://www.finchaviary.com/Graphics/Background/AviaryFront.jpg
Indoor aviaries keep the dust and smell down, and your birds will have freedom to run around without soiling your carpet and furniture. I would agree with Penny regarding keeping one alone -- you may want to consider getting a docile chicken friend for your injured EE to socialize with.

 

[amaugans]

Thanks for the suggestions. She spends every evening outside with my other chickens, atleast 3-4 hours and that's only because she is still young, and disabled- I want to keep a close eye on her. My goal is for her to be outside all day. She is also friends with my dogs. So when she is indoors she lays with them and follows them around.

She had a slipped tendon and by the time I got her there was nothing we could do for the leg. I waited until she was a little older to put her under anesthesia for the amputation. By that time, the leg was turning color, cold, and she couldn't feel anything in her toes. I was surprised that she was able to get around 10x better without the leg- right after surgery! We just take it day by day and are monitoring her quality of life. But she seems to be a very happy chicken. I just need to figure out the best way to house her indoors- for both of us!- Until I am comfortable having her outdoors for longer periods.

 

[Then I Will]

Hi, very interesting thread here!
I am curious, are all your birds free ranging? Because, with a prosthetic, she may do well in the run with the others if they don't bully her badly.
I'm also very curious what a chicken prosthetic leg would look like! So keep us updated
She's very beautiful. I like the green legs on these EEs.

As far as indoor advice, I've only kept them temporarily in chicken hospital, usually under my art desk or in the laundry room. But they wouldn't move around much. Perhaps you could use a dog crate or a large cat carrier- or one of those cat litter boxes with tops. They should all have a small lip around the door, hopefully not too high for her to have trouble crossing, but high enough to keep bedding inside.
Another option would be sand bedding... probably not the best choice for comfort, bacteria, or temperature, but it wouldn't fly everywhere, and it would be easy to scoop clean.

I've never dealt with chicken diapers, but i'm sure you're also looking into that.
Best of luck with your beautiful girl! If the dogs are protective of her, I'm sure she will be fine. She will need a big brother or two to watch over her through life.

 

[amaugans]

She wears diapers when running around the house. Works well but not something I would keep on a chicken all day. My other chickens are free range during daylight hours and have really done well with this little one- which I was not expecting!!

My friend is designing a leg for her and using a 3D printer. It will be trial and error to figure out what- If anything will work. I contacted a professional animal/pet leg prosthetic company and they were very short with me, telling me they didn't have the time to work on a chicken prosthetic and that it would be really expensive. I was a little offended so I'm not even trying to deal with them. Her first leg will hopefully be printed this week. Will post pics if we get anything that works! Fingers crossed.

 

[SavageChicken]

Amaugans, I just ran across this video on another thread. If you haven't already seen it, I thought you might find it interesting, and maybe get some ideas. This couple uses a chicken diaper, but it appears they are also having some success with potty training as well. Heartbreaking story, but since it involves a house-chicken, it reminded me of this thread so thought I would copy the link and post it here as well...

 

[Then I Will]

An eagle was given a prosthetic beak using a 3D printer I believe. It's fascinating technology. I'm thinking a simple peg would allow her to turn and move about freely without snagging like a "running blade" type might.

I'm sorry about the snobbery you had to endure. It's likely because you told them the creature in question was a chicken. Chicken is that thing most people order at a restaurant because they don't like much else on the menu.

She has a handsome guard dog by the way.

 

[Justone]

Thanks for the suggestions. She spends every evening outside with my other chickens, atleast 3-4 hours and that's only because she is still young, and disabled- I want to keep a close eye on her. My goal is for her to be outside all day. She is also friends with my dogs. So when she is indoors she lays with them and follows them around.

She had a slipped tendon and by the time I got her there was nothing we could do for the leg. I waited until she was a little older to put her under anesthesia for the amputation. By that time, the leg was turning color, cold, and she couldn't feel anything in her toes. I was surprised that she was able to get around 10x better without the leg- right after surgery! We just take it day by day and are monitoring her quality of life. But she seems to be a very happy chicken. I just need to figure out the best way to house her indoors- for both of us!- Until I am comfortable having her outdoors for longer periods.

My chicken spends a lot of time indoors simply because it's her choice. Diapers are helpful and pee pee pads. She is allowed to walk around pretty much anywhere she wants. I do spend time cleaning up after her, but it's worth it to me. She likes to spend the night roosting on top of a cat carrier on the dining room table. I put a blanket on it for her and she seems really happy. It's great you are taking such great care of your chicken. I'm sure she loves you for it.

 

[Impatient]

I used a medium sized dog kennel with cardboard woven through the bars to contain the chicken mess and a dowel across for roosting. It help a little, but chickens are messy lol.