- Sep 13, 2017
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I've been wanting to share this story for a while now, and decided what the heck - I'll post it here!
I've had two house chickens. One was an injured bird, who we couldn't part with after nursing 'her' back to health - until we found out she was a he!
At this point, I had fallen in love with the house pet chicken. I am a college student, living in a smallish house with 4 other people - a rooster just wasn't feasible for me to keep. Thankfully my boyfriend lives on a ranch, and we were able to move the rooster outside, where he now happily looks after almost 20 hens.
But I wanted another one. So we sought out a bantam breeder, and ended up with a silkie/Cochin mix. For a month or so she lived with me, and was the sweetest little darling. I built a small coop out of an old wardrobe (there's a thread of it floating around here, if you're curious). My roommates loved her. She wore diapers fashioned out of socks, so there was almost no mess aside from a few accidents.
I even brought her back and forth between my boyfriends house - by bus no less! I was very concerned, of course, that this would stress her, but she was so calm. I had her in a soft sided pet carrier with a handwarmer in case of cold (she was still young), and I would slip my hand inside to pet her. She would stretch her neck out on my arm and promptly fall asleep making soft little trills.
Let me tell you, if you want a conversation starter, bring a chicken on a bus every Friday. The regular driver even shared some raspberries with her!
All was perfect. I had the best pet. Chickens are like extra friendly cats - they can entertain themselves pretty easily, but they like cuddles and are happy with the simplest affection.
Until the day 'she' started humping my boyfriends dog. At first I just stared at her. I didn't want to believe it - maybe this was a symptom of her being the sole - and thus dominant - chicken? She looked me right in the eye and let out the strangest sounding crow I'd ever heard, and that confirmed it. I had myself another rooster.
Whoops.
We re-christened him "Captain Blaskovich", but we couldn't move him outside. Our previous roo was a full grown standard EE and would beat him to a pulp!
So he stayed at my boyfriends house, in his bedroom no less, greeting us with triumphant morning crows that have finally started to sound less like a cat being strangled. He's fallen in love with my boyfriends dog, who is a large pit bull/husky mix. He'll strut over, dance for her a bit, then - embarrassingly - find a paw to awkwardly hump. She stares at him in confusion until he's done, then gives him a few big licks right over his face and wattles. Her tongues about twice the size of his head, so it's a rather messy process. He'll stand perfectly still while she does this, then go over and snuggle against her side until a human is available for cuddles.
He even gets baths - with the feathered feet it's a necessity. He tolerates the warm water but loves the blow dry. He'll lay on his back in our hand and hold his feet out for me so I don't miss any spots.
He still spends plenty of time outside, flirting with the flock through the fence of their run. He still has no idea how terrible his crow sounds in comparison with the standard roo, and he'll engage in crow battles anyways. He does normal chicken things, hunting down eathworms and eating a large amount of dirt in the process.
We're not sure what we'll do with him when we move away from the ranch, but for now we can't part from him. He's on my lap at this very moment.
So if you're wondering if you should bring that favorite chicken inside as a pet - the answer is yes.
I've had two house chickens. One was an injured bird, who we couldn't part with after nursing 'her' back to health - until we found out she was a he!
At this point, I had fallen in love with the house pet chicken. I am a college student, living in a smallish house with 4 other people - a rooster just wasn't feasible for me to keep. Thankfully my boyfriend lives on a ranch, and we were able to move the rooster outside, where he now happily looks after almost 20 hens.
But I wanted another one. So we sought out a bantam breeder, and ended up with a silkie/Cochin mix. For a month or so she lived with me, and was the sweetest little darling. I built a small coop out of an old wardrobe (there's a thread of it floating around here, if you're curious). My roommates loved her. She wore diapers fashioned out of socks, so there was almost no mess aside from a few accidents.
I even brought her back and forth between my boyfriends house - by bus no less! I was very concerned, of course, that this would stress her, but she was so calm. I had her in a soft sided pet carrier with a handwarmer in case of cold (she was still young), and I would slip my hand inside to pet her. She would stretch her neck out on my arm and promptly fall asleep making soft little trills.
Let me tell you, if you want a conversation starter, bring a chicken on a bus every Friday. The regular driver even shared some raspberries with her!
All was perfect. I had the best pet. Chickens are like extra friendly cats - they can entertain themselves pretty easily, but they like cuddles and are happy with the simplest affection.
Until the day 'she' started humping my boyfriends dog. At first I just stared at her. I didn't want to believe it - maybe this was a symptom of her being the sole - and thus dominant - chicken? She looked me right in the eye and let out the strangest sounding crow I'd ever heard, and that confirmed it. I had myself another rooster.
Whoops.
We re-christened him "Captain Blaskovich", but we couldn't move him outside. Our previous roo was a full grown standard EE and would beat him to a pulp!
So he stayed at my boyfriends house, in his bedroom no less, greeting us with triumphant morning crows that have finally started to sound less like a cat being strangled. He's fallen in love with my boyfriends dog, who is a large pit bull/husky mix. He'll strut over, dance for her a bit, then - embarrassingly - find a paw to awkwardly hump. She stares at him in confusion until he's done, then gives him a few big licks right over his face and wattles. Her tongues about twice the size of his head, so it's a rather messy process. He'll stand perfectly still while she does this, then go over and snuggle against her side until a human is available for cuddles.
He even gets baths - with the feathered feet it's a necessity. He tolerates the warm water but loves the blow dry. He'll lay on his back in our hand and hold his feet out for me so I don't miss any spots.
He still spends plenty of time outside, flirting with the flock through the fence of their run. He still has no idea how terrible his crow sounds in comparison with the standard roo, and he'll engage in crow battles anyways. He does normal chicken things, hunting down eathworms and eating a large amount of dirt in the process.
We're not sure what we'll do with him when we move away from the ranch, but for now we can't part from him. He's on my lap at this very moment.
So if you're wondering if you should bring that favorite chicken inside as a pet - the answer is yes.
