people with house chickens

[bugawk]

I have a little sick girl recovering from heat exhaustion (It may be 115 degrees today). I would love to have a house chicken--what does everybody do about the stinky poopies? What is the thoughts on chicken diapers?

 

[kukupecpec]

I have a little sick girl recovering from heat exhaustion (It may be 115 degrees today).  I would love to have a house chicken--what does everybody do about the stinky poopies?  What is the thoughts on chicken diapers?

Many of us are chicken diaper users and makers =D I think if you have a chicken that trusts you, diapers are a great ! But if your chicken is already afraid of humans, wrapping something around their body can be traumatic

 

[bugawk]

How do I make them? I want to! She is so calm and trusting.

 

[Reinsaway]

How do I make them?  I want to!  She is so calm and trusting.

I made a small tutorial while back of a design I made, the only diaper my girl tolerates

 

[bugawk]

Where do I find the tutorial--do I search BYC?

 

[Sylvester017]

I had a pair of serama when I first got chickens and my hen unexpectedly died! That's how I ended up with my first house fowl! I brought my little serama rooster in to be with us as his flock until I was able to get him a new lady friend. He was fantastic! But consequently I learned the importance of the"flock". It took him a while to really be ok without a chicken friend, and he was definitely happier when he got a new chicken friend!

You only had one hen for one roo? A single hen can get overly mated from a single roo. A 2nd hen added would be best but then I don't know how frisky your Serama male is and whether a 2nd hen added to his harem is advisable. A trio is a nice small flock number even if one were to suddenly die there would still be 2 birds left in the flock until arrangements can be made to re-add a 3rd again.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a little sick girl recovering from heat exhaustion (It may be 115 degrees today). I would love to have a house chicken--what does everybody do about the stinky poopies? What is the thoughts on chicken diapers?

I had a Silkie pullet in-house for quarantine before integrating her into the outside flock. For a week we were putting up with the poops on the kitchen tile floor but she got bored and started to wander around the house onto the area rugs. Got tired quickly of picking up and washing poops. Chickens poop a lot, often, and anywhere from watery to solid sometimes very smelly poops. So I decided like-it-or-not we were keeping diapers on her. I made my own to fit her body exactly. It was a struggle fighting her 5-toed feet to get her into her diapers and we couldn't use velcro straps because of her overly fluffy fur sticking to and getting pulled out by the velcro - we fastened with large baby diaper safety pins at the shoulder connection. She was resistant the first few times putting it on and took 2 of us to do it. Eventually she got used to the routine of putting on the diaper and just one person can do it now without much struggle. Remember that wearing diapers or saddles is not "natural" so expect a learning period for both you and your chicken. We always washed the vent feathers only on the Silkie and blow dried her every night to "air" out her tush overnight. Then put the diaper on again in the morning. After 3 months indoors we were more than ready to have her outdoors. It's ok occasionally to have a chicken indoors but they really like to be outside with another chicken dust-bathing, foraging, scratching for bugs and snoozing together - even if they aren't the best buddies they still do everything together.

 

[kukupecpec]

You only had one hen for one roo?  A single hen can get overly mated from a single roo.  A 2nd hen added would be best but then I don't know how frisky your Serama male is and whether a 2nd hen added to his harem is advisable.  A trio is a nice small flock number even if one were to suddenly die there would still be 2 birds left in the flock until arrangements can be made to re-add a 3rd again.

Seramas are generally very docile so over mating is not a concern. This was also a few years ago when I was first getting into serama, I was just sharing my house chicken story. It's very difficult to find hens for sale, NO ONE sells JUST a hen, most people require you to buy a rooster with your hen, I was actually very lucky to get the pair that I did. My serama rooster now has a plethora of ladies to choose from lol

Edited for spelling, gotta love swype!

 

[Reinsaway]

Where do I find the tutorial--do I search BYC?

Search for Rad's "Ft Knox" chicken diaper

 

[Sylvester017]

Seramas are generally very docile so over mating is not a concern. This was also a few years ago when I was first getting into serama, I was just sharing my house chicken story. It's very difficult to find hens for sale, NO ONE sells JUST a hen, most people require you to buy a rooster with your hen, I was actually very lucky to get the pair that I did. My serama rooster now has a plethora of ladies to choose from lol

Edited for spelling, gotta love swype!

That is good to know. GFF didn't care for bantams like Seramas and I always saw Seramas as being so delicate -- they are the smallest chicken breed? They are so cute but I don't know how much their behavior parallels LF. Our bantam Silkies and the roo while we had him was every bit as active as LF which is why we rehomed him. I hope you can find your hen - I know what it's like to search for a breeder that has the bird you want. I have to order my bird in the Fall in order to get a pullet by the following Spring!