extra-free-ranging-apartment chickens (as pets)
A little over a year ago, we enjoyed the site of several chickens having free range all over the neighborhood.
Our street is a mixed bag of apartments and older homes with property, so I had always assumed that they belonged to someone and they just let them roam where they please.
We developed a friendship with the chickens, gave them snacks, etc. and enjoyed it when they would actually come over to our apartment and knock on our door for a snack!
As we came to find out, these chickens actually belonged to nobody, and live in a field across the street.
Wild chickens roosted in a tree
We took an interest in their well-being and noticed when one of the regular hens that came over every morning didn't show up for over a week in early march. She finally came running over one afternoon in a frenzy, gobbled up all the food she could and went running off again. This got me curious, so I started to learn a little more about chickens and I surmised that she was brooding. Sure enough, a few weeks later, she came back over followed by eight little chicks which were no more than a day old.
Our 4 girls in there brooding box only a few days old
The closet coop.
They are just as trainable as a dog, especially when given treats
to enforce positive behaviiour
A closer look of the first level of the closet coop
One thing led to another and we wound up adopting / training 4 hens to roost and lay eggs on our patio. They have a coop in our outside storage closet, and roam freely around the neighborhood, along with 100+ wild chickens.
As long as they can hear my whistle, they come running from wherever they're at, and of course always come back to their coop in my utility closet before sundown. Two of them will fly up on my arm when I hold it out and point to it, and all of them will fly into your lap if you sit down.
A common site upon opening the front door.
Random chicken hangin' across the street.
Old dog house quickly converted into an egg laying box, sits
out in the front yard. Two of the hens I keep use this box.
The other two use this box, on my patio. -Yes they like the plas-
tic bag.
A little over a year ago, we enjoyed the site of several chickens having free range all over the neighborhood.
Our street is a mixed bag of apartments and older homes with property, so I had always assumed that they belonged to someone and they just let them roam where they please.
We developed a friendship with the chickens, gave them snacks, etc. and enjoyed it when they would actually come over to our apartment and knock on our door for a snack!
As we came to find out, these chickens actually belonged to nobody, and live in a field across the street.
Wild chickens roosted in a tree
We took an interest in their well-being and noticed when one of the regular hens that came over every morning didn't show up for over a week in early march. She finally came running over one afternoon in a frenzy, gobbled up all the food she could and went running off again. This got me curious, so I started to learn a little more about chickens and I surmised that she was brooding. Sure enough, a few weeks later, she came back over followed by eight little chicks which were no more than a day old.
Our 4 girls in there brooding box only a few days old
The closet coop.
They are just as trainable as a dog, especially when given treats
to enforce positive behaviiour
A closer look of the first level of the closet coop
One thing led to another and we wound up adopting / training 4 hens to roost and lay eggs on our patio. They have a coop in our outside storage closet, and roam freely around the neighborhood, along with 100+ wild chickens.
As long as they can hear my whistle, they come running from wherever they're at, and of course always come back to their coop in my utility closet before sundown. Two of them will fly up on my arm when I hold it out and point to it, and all of them will fly into your lap if you sit down.
A common site upon opening the front door.
Random chicken hangin' across the street.
Old dog house quickly converted into an egg laying box, sits
out in the front yard. Two of the hens I keep use this box.
The other two use this box, on my patio. -Yes they like the plas-
tic bag.