You can actually keep a single chicken in your house, as a pet, but be prepared. We became owners of a Buff Orpington, quite by accident, as a baby. Our daughter brought her home when we were out of town. If we hadn't kept her, she would have been killed. She's now 9 months old and thriving. She has lived in our home her entire life. She will never be able to join another flock. She is ours, for life. We now have a system, but it took us months to figure it out. I hope we can save you lots of money and time! I spent a fortune on diapers getting to this point.
She has a cage, an old dog kennel, with a plastic tarp beneath it, wood shavings, grit, food and water. She sleeps in it, otherwise she is a member of the family and walks around all day.
She wears a diaper, with a plastic liner. I had MANY failures before finding Crazy K Farms. Until very recently, we had to use an additional string to keep the diaper in place, it tended to drop down and be ineffective - but now she's FINALLY big enough that they stay in place, by criss-crossing the straps. Be prepared for the mess of changing diapers, my least favorite part of having a pet chicken. It's gross - plain and simple. I change her diaper 3-4 times a day. Dump the poop in the toilet, rinse the liner, soak in bleach water, rinse, dry and it's ready to go. I find keeping four diapers and liners ready to go the easiest way to keep ahead of her.
We throw out most of her eggs because they're usually mixed with poop. If we get to them fast enough, and there isn't any poop in the diaper, we wash and keep them.
We have two dogs and a cat. They all get along just fine. Our chicken begs for food, comes running when her name is called and likes to snuggle. She is not lonely being an 'only chicken'.
Would I have undertaken this if my daughter didn't bring her home, unannounced? NEVER But, she did, and we did, and it can absolutely work.
I wish you the best of luck!
