Building an Indoor yard for our chicken.Advice?

[Iloveourbabychick]

Our big roo Happy is 5 months old.We are gonna make him a lil yard in our house.We live in NC.Is it ok to put clay in there with him and what about hay?I dont want him to eat the hay and get it stuck in his throat.Hes still on chick starter..Does he need grit or is the clay enough?Thanks.Please be kind

 

[Wynette]

He's old enough to be moved to an adult feed. Is he the only chicken you have?

I would NOT use hay. It can cause impaction in the crop. Can you give a bit more detail? What are you after with the enclosure? Are you are actually putting it INSIDE your house?

 

[Iloveourbabychick]

We are gonna put a tarp over the rug.We are going to have fencing around it.We are going to have a container of clay in there for him to take a bath in and dig in and his toys...He grew up an only chick.We hatched him from an incubator.People on this board said he would die being an only chicken.We loved him and gave him a stuffed chicken and a mirror and now hes an 8 pound huge rooster.Hes thinks hes a person not a chicken.He has to have his cartoons on every day.We are looking for what would be good to have in his fence.I mean we can get him some worms...does he need grit?

 

[Joy1]

Yes he needs grit also .

 

[waynesgarden]

I had some chicks in the basement one exceptionally cold spring back in the Adirondacks and the dust was horrendous, and that was without the added problem that I would have created by giving them the means to take dust baths.

Granted you have only one chicken, but you will need to address the dust problem. It's easier to do it now, before dust gets into every nook and cranny and covers every square inch of your house. A tarp over the rug isn't going to offer much protection for everything else.

How high is the fence you're putting up? My chickens scoff at fences.

Let us know how it works out. My lungs hurt just thinking about it.

BTW, grit is necessary for digestion. I don't know that clay is coarse enough to do the job. Some feed contains grit. And being an "only chicken" isn't the death sentence that you said some here have claimed. That's why it's important to get a number of opinions, even on these boards.

Wayne

 

[Akane]

I'm using pvc pipe for the frame of my pen in the basement and then covering it with chicken wire or hardware cloth. Whatever ends up being easiest and cheapest. With pvc you just have to buy the pipe and connections, the hardware store will often cut it for you, and then snap it together and tie or staple the mesh on. Some build large brooders in their house a similar way but with a wood frame. If you don't want to run the pen to the ceiling you can throw some bird or garden netting over it so he can't fly out. My basement just barely clears my head at 5'3 so I'm just using 5' high pvc for the sides.

For dust baths handy sand works well and somewhat doubles as grit. You can find it at a hardware store next to the blasting sands. I use it for my button quail and I used it for gerbils and hamsters to dust bathe in. It's a fine soft sand and only a few $ for a 50lb bag. It would probably be best to still offer some crushed granite for grit though. It's not that expensive at the feed store. I just can't find anything small enough and still cost effect for my buttons so the handy sand works fine.

 

[Iloveourbabychick]

what does the dust come from?

 

[redhen]

Quote:
the coating on the feathers...i think...

 

[Iloveourbabychick]

Quote:
Ok listen up wayne.I dunno what dust your talking about or what dust makes your lungs hurt but the only dust we see here is from the food.If the dust gets in any cranny and nook in our house then so be it.We do have a vaccum and a tarp to put over the rug. I know grit is necessary for the digestion. In nature they would be digging in clay.So your chickens scoff at fences?Our chicken in in the bedroom..Understand???If he gets out he is not going far.Maybe you ought to invest in one of those Michael Jackson masks.

 

[millebantam]