can chickens live in your home premenantly

[Mtnboomer]

I think some of this thread is infected with corona paranoia. People with their pet chickens or backyard flocks are not substantial risks to cross-species disease transmission.

I've lived my entire life cuddling chickens, as did my entire family for generations. Not going to stop because someone thinks they're ready to 'burst' with diseases at any time. Some of my chickens have lived with the described disease pressure for 13+ years. Not exactly succumbing easily!

Also, where are indoor raised closed flocks getting mites and salmonella? That's an interesting idea.

If you're talking about the people who let chickens inside and outside... If a chicken has mites *you know* if you're handling them. Salmonella? Other chicken diseases that are usually symptomatic and result in death? I have considered that possibility, but then if they were infected, they probably wouldn't be happily romping in my house. Serious chicken illnesses usually result in death rather quickly.

Have you ever considered what your dog is carrying, for that matter? Or your own microbiomes? We can be paranoid, or we can trust our immune systems and live our lives. I, for one, am going to do the latter, combined with a little common sense.

If these were major problems, most of us would have some foul stories to tell about sickness and death in our families. And yet most of us don't.

I do. I'm a salmonella survivor. When i was young I was hospitalized for nearly a week with a fever exceeding 106. Sll i can really remember waa the abdomen pain. I liken it to the image of razor blades grinding against each other in your belly.

My mother told me i was on deaths doorstep. My great grandmother nearly got into a fist fight with doctors because they were letting it "run its course" and she was the one who got them to give me medicine and ice baths, essentially saving my life.

If you want to wrap a chicken in a diaper and let it walk around your house, that's your business. Snuggle and cuddle until your heart's content. But don't ignore the risk, especially if you have small children who like to put things in their mouth.

The current atmosphere with the virus is concerning and reactions are a little exaggerated. But its an effort to prevent something from entering your home and body that can make you sick. Choosing to keep a chicken as a pet indoors, is choosing to invite something into your home that can make you sick.

Again, your house, your choice, your business.

 

[nchls school]

I have a house chicken-serama. A little rooster who helps care for all the new chicks that I bring indoors for the first week. He is very tame. The care for a small house chicken is not any more than other cage birds; o less and no more mess than having a parrot or cockatiel.

 

[8CityChicks]

i was thinking of getting one chicken and i wanted to know if i could keep it as a house pet. also what would be the sssential things i would need ?

I would never do it - salmonella and other bacteria are not for people. My 9 birds get close enough by letting themselves out of a large run area and coming onto the porch to lay in pet carriers we have for cats. Sort of like delivering the eggs to us I suppose. They know our voices, the sounds of our vehicles and are always under us if we're outside, so no lack of closeness or contact. 3 of the 9 wait for me to place them on the roost each day and one literally runs to me to be first. I spend at least 2 hours each day with them - outside - & take them off the roost (since I have to lock the house each night) and put them on at the end of the day. They & I enjoy the contact & its a good way to check crops & other things each day. So, with all of that , no need for house visits, since we don't allow pets inside anyway.

 

[NorasArk]

I know of a woman that had a bunch of birds (8) in cages, a whole room of them, which she let out to fly around for a couple hours while she cleaned their cages and set them up for the night. Then she’d call them by name, each to its cage, close it up. Then she’d sweep and mop the floor. It was a two hour thing each evening. Each morning she’d cut fresh veggies and fruits and delivered them with the necessary seeds and grains to each bird cage. She spent time chatting and playing with each one! I can’t remember for sure, but I think there were vitamins & minerals added to their water. So yes, I think it can probably be done if you are determined & devoted with enough space.

 

[2 many chickens]

I would never do it. I don't want chicken dander flying all through my house. I also don't want to change an animals diaper like it's a 4month old infant. Chickens are meant to live outside with their own kind, not in your lap while you knit with their fat stinky loaded chicken diaper on. They are not toy poodles. This is just my opinion, to each their own.

 

[nchls school]

I have a house chicken-serama. A little rooster who helps care for all the new chicks that I bring indoors for the first week. He is very tame. The care for a small house chicken is not any more than other cage birds; o less and no more mess than having a parrot or cockatiel.

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Like any pet, there is work involved; cleaning, feeding, watering, and handling. I can tell you that a dog/cat is far more work and a whole lot smellier/messy. It is a choice and having a bird (any bird) as a household pet is not for everyone, but the same can be said for any kind of animal.

 

[rehdancer]

I kept my chicks in the basement (in a giant plastic dog kennel, both halves on the floor and covered in chicken wire). Had the heat lamp, etc. until DH finished the coop and it got warmer. I'm still coping with the dust/dander almost a year later. It gets into places you didn't know you had, is hard on the lungs because it also includes ammonia from the poop (at the very least). And the more they eat the more they poop, sometimes at the same time. I bet my chickens are smarter than I give them credit for, but anything that will poop in its own food - well, there's a line there somewhere !!! Just my opinion. Also agree with other posters re: chicken habits, dirt baths, scratching, need for flock, etc.

 

[Shahnaz13]

Like any pet, there is work involved; cleaning, feeding, watering, and handling. I can tell you that a dog/cat is far more work and a whole lot smellier/messy. It is a choice and having a bird (any bird) as a household pet is not for everyone, but the same can be said for any kind of animal.

He is gorgeous

 

[aart]

got a drop of the fluid right in the middle of my back. Huge painful boils about four days later.

Curious @Al Gerhart .....was there a break in your skin back there?
What was the organism(I assume you swabbed, cultured and ID'd it)?

 

[dirkandlorie]

Has anyone considered the fact that chickens can have mites and bring them into your house? They can also carry disease like salmonella?

Chickens get mites from being outside, inside chickens can have baths. And oh boy, do they love blow drying!