people with house chickens

[Calichicken2015]

How did you have her set up in your home. We have a chicken coop then plastic on the
Floor to protect the carpet. We put bedding over that. We have a little fence around the area so she can get out of the roost. Take her dust bath .. She has diapers when she wants to get out of her area (aka our dinner room)I think she's happy but I know she would love to go out side.

We converted a big dog kennel into a house for her set up in our livingroom. Just simple pine shavings on the floor, as well as a fluffy box that she would lay here eggs in. She was a bantam cochin so she was little...3 pounds. We are fortunate that we have wood floors so it was easy clean up if she pooped on the floor. Diapers are good if you have carpet and you want them to be able to roam around

But you do have to make sure that you help keep their fluffy butt clean with diapers. I would try to do that with just warm water if possible since soap or shampoo can be harsh. Our girl was very happy as a house hen. She struggled as a chick after she hatched, so she was inside so we could care for her. She became healthy, but had gotten used to the indoor life! She would not have known how to live any other way..LOL! We took her outside everyday and she did love her outside time..and then would walk right up to the door to go inside when she was all done. So I would give yours outside time daily if you can

 

[drumstick diva]

My friend has had an assortment of chickens as house pets for the past 25-30 years or so. Mainly silkies. Now she has 3 mature hens, 2 serama and 1 silkie. They spend most of their time indoors. She does not diaper them - it would just be a constant on/off deal. Instead she is always armed with cleaning apparatus and as soon as she sees them mess, she swoops down and cleans it up. Her house does NOT smell.

In decent weather the trio go outside with her dog (elderly peke-a-poo) who has had chickens around him all his life. If anything frightens them they run and hide behind the dog.

She lives in a residential area with many cats & hawks as her biggest worry.

 

[napoliana]

Awe.. that's so sweet. Napoliana is a bantam also. She was a lone survivor of a "chicken duck massacre".. she saw all her friends slaughtered by an owl or fox. At around 4 every day she would fly into the plate glass window or front door trying to get inside. She's always had the option of going out side weather permitting but we had to move to a townhouse with no yard. it's winter here 4feet of snow 20 below zero. .North Dakota Super attached to her so trying to make it happy for her and tolerable for my husband.. I don't like putting the diapers on her. I know she really doesn't like it. I think I'll try bathing her. Thank you for your advice. Peeps was a beautiful hen. She was lucky to have been loved so much.

 

[Sylvester017]

So sorry about Peeps! We lost 2 fowl last summer and try to remember the good times w/ them.

I don't have house chickens on a regular basis. I don't raise chicks so haven't experienced a brooder situation but we have kept our quarantined newest chickens in-house until it was safe to introduce them to the outdoor chickens. We are zoned for only 5 hens/no roos so I can't get hatchery chicks since the minimum orders are huge and I don't hatch eggs because what do I do with the cockerels?

So, we resort to ordering one pullet at a time from private breeders anywhere from 2 to 4 months old. We keep the juvenile in-house for quarantine 4 to 6 weeks which gives us time to bond w/ the newest chick. Our very first in-house juvenile was a Silkie and we had her in-house for 3 months because she was too small to introduce outdoors so we had to use diapers on her. We had to change her diaper at least once a day and baby shampoo'd and blow-dried her tush before putting on a new diaper. But after 3 months her vent feathers got pretty sparse from wearing diapers. At night we didn't keep diapers on her since she slept in her 4x4 dog kennel in the den. A heavy thick plastic runner is under the kennel and we use newspapers to cover the kennel floor. We changed the newspaper according to how soiled it became - from 2 to 3 days to sometimes a week before it needed changing. For invalid chickens we keep a Homz Storage Tote as a nestbox in the kennel. I like these because the nesting material and eggs don't roll out of the tote.

We once raised a single baby chick indoors but babies are too needy and cry all the time if they aren't following you around the house all day long. Two chicks would be better in a brooder but we can't use extra chicks so we only get older juveniles now. We use a door mirror to keep a single chicken occupied w/ her own reflection to talk to herself and sleep next to her reflection.

 

[Sylvester017]

My 'puter went wonky. So here I continue.

For in-house juveniles we use cardboard boxes broken down to make "walls" that keep the chicken from wandering into a room or over an area rug we don't want her pooping on. We have tile floors so pick up poop's as soon as a chicken drops one. The nasty cecal poops are smelly so we use Perfect Glass or Febreze to spray on it and wipe it up immediately. Everyone has to choose what works for them. We decided to redo our house w/ no wall-to-wall carpeting and only use area rugs now. Bath towels over area rugs works well. We pick up the poops off the towels and launder the towels once every 2 or 3 days. As someone stated before, chicken poops (except the cecals) are not smelly as cat or dog poop and especially if you are diligent to pick them up. Be aware chickens poop about every 15-20 minutes.

 

[Calichicken2015]

Awe.. that's so sweet. Napoliana is a bantam also. She was a lone survivor of a "chicken duck massacre".. she saw all her friends slaughtered by an owl or fox. At around 4 every day she would fly into the plate glass window or front door trying to get inside. She's always had the option of going out side weather permitting but we had to move to a townhouse with no yard. it's winter here 4feet of snow 20 below zero. .North Dakota Super attached to her so trying to make it happy for her and tolerable for my husband.. I don't like putting the diapers on her. I know she really doesn't like it. I think I'll try bathing her. Thank you for your advice. Peeps was a beautiful hen. She was lucky to have been loved so much.

Oh Poor Napoliana! So hard to lose all of your flock mates

And so sorry for your loss

But as a house chicken...people are her flockmates now and I am sure you give her comfort and love

Thank you for your kind words

She truly stole our hearts and we loved her dearly

She brought so many laughs, love and happiness into our lives

 

[Calichicken2015]

So sorry about Peeps! We lost 2 fowl last summer and try to remember the good times w/ them.

I don't have house chickens on a regular basis. I don't raise chicks so haven't experienced a brooder situation but we have kept our quarantined newest chickens in-house until it was safe to introduce them to the outdoor chickens. We are zoned for only 5 hens/no roos so I can't get hatchery chicks since the minimum orders are huge and I don't hatch eggs because what do I do with the cockerels?

So, we resort to ordering one pullet at a time from private breeders anywhere from 2 to 4 months old. We keep the juvenile in-house for quarantine 4 to 6 weeks which gives us time to bond w/ the newest chick. Our very first in-house juvenile was a Silkie and we had her in-house for 3 months because she was too small to introduce outdoors so we had to use diapers on her. We had to change her diaper at least once a day and baby shampoo'd and blow-dried her tush before putting on a new diaper. But after 3 months her vent feathers got pretty sparse from wearing diapers. At night we didn't keep diapers on her since she slept in her 4x4 dog kennel in the den. A heavy thick plastic runner is under the kennel and we use newspapers to cover the kennel floor. We changed the newspaper according to how soiled it became - from 2 to 3 days to sometimes a week before it needed changing. For invalid chickens we keep a Homz Storage Tote as a nestbox in the kennel. I like these because the nesting material and eggs don't roll out of the tote.

We once raised a single baby chick indoors but babies are too needy and cry all the time if they aren't following you around the house all day long. Two chicks would be better in a brooder but we can't use extra chicks so we only get older juveniles now. We use a door mirror to keep a single chicken occupied w/ her own reflection to talk to herself and sleep next to her reflection.

Thank you for the kind words

I am finding more each day that the happy memories are coming more than the sadness...but we are still missing her so much

Chicks are definitely needy, but I do love hatching them out and raising them

Great ideas for keeping house chickens! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[napoliana]

Napoliana preens my hair (grabs it pulls it.)... it kinda hurts sometimes. She gets so mad if I don't sit and let her do it. Did Peep enjoy pulling hair? is it preening or is it some other chicken thing? She seems so happy while she patiently sits on the back of the couch waiting for her next victim... I mean client..

lol

 

[napoliana]

 

[Sylvester017]

Napoliana preens my hair (grabs it pulls it.)... it kinda hurts sometimes. She gets so mad if I don't sit and let her do it. Did Peep enjoy pulling hair? is it preening or is it some other chicken thing? She seems so happy while she patiently sits on the back of the couch waiting for her next victim... I mean client..

lol

Hair, like feathers, is protein which is why a chicken will peck, pull, and eat them. For myself I wouldn't want to encourage the picking and would increase protein in the diet like Turkey grow or Game bird feed added to regular feed. But everyone does what works for them and if you find it cute who am I to say otherwise. We all love our birds so much.