We have a house chicken: Charlie. I got her at the NorthEast Poultry Congress in January. She was a day-old crippled Black Copper Maran chick that was scheduled to be destroyed due to her deformity.
“Let me at least try to keep her alive,” I pleaded with the breeder. She relented and I took the impossibly tiny chick home. After a few days of the baby getting used to our house, my son and I performed the delicate surgery needed to release her webbed toes allowing her feet to spread out with the hope that they would ultimately hold up her body weight.
Defying all odds, the little chick, named Charlie, (of the infamous Chocolate Factory because her breed lays chocolate colored eggs) not only survived but thrived. Within a week, she was walking about, roosting, and even scratching for her food. All skills that a healthy chicken needs.
The only problem was that January is the wrong time of year to get a chick. Because baby birds can not regulate their body temperature until they become fully feathered at around 6 weeks old, it meant that we had a chicken living in our house all winter. Charlie soon realized that the members of her flock were of a different variety but accepted us nonetheless. She roosted on our shoulders as we watched TV, took naps with our maltese dog, and generally acted like a puppy as she followed us from room to room demanding her treat when we'd give one to the dog.
It is now spring. Technically, there is no reason for us to keep Charlie in our house, except that at this point a chicken in the house has become a pet in the house. Sure, there is a little maintenance as she occasionally drops feathers, poops when she wants to, and scratches in the food dish spreading feed across the floor, but we just pick up the feathers, clean her poop (we even have chicken diapers that we use for that particular problem) and we sweep up her food.
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Anyone else have experiences with a house chicken? Honestly, if it weren't for the never ending poop (and I mean never ending) she would be absolutely welcome as a pet in our house for the rest of her days.
Wendy
“Let me at least try to keep her alive,” I pleaded with the breeder. She relented and I took the impossibly tiny chick home. After a few days of the baby getting used to our house, my son and I performed the delicate surgery needed to release her webbed toes allowing her feet to spread out with the hope that they would ultimately hold up her body weight.
Defying all odds, the little chick, named Charlie, (of the infamous Chocolate Factory because her breed lays chocolate colored eggs) not only survived but thrived. Within a week, she was walking about, roosting, and even scratching for her food. All skills that a healthy chicken needs.
The only problem was that January is the wrong time of year to get a chick. Because baby birds can not regulate their body temperature until they become fully feathered at around 6 weeks old, it meant that we had a chicken living in our house all winter. Charlie soon realized that the members of her flock were of a different variety but accepted us nonetheless. She roosted on our shoulders as we watched TV, took naps with our maltese dog, and generally acted like a puppy as she followed us from room to room demanding her treat when we'd give one to the dog.
It is now spring. Technically, there is no reason for us to keep Charlie in our house, except that at this point a chicken in the house has become a pet in the house. Sure, there is a little maintenance as she occasionally drops feathers, poops when she wants to, and scratches in the food dish spreading feed across the floor, but we just pick up the feathers, clean her poop (we even have chicken diapers that we use for that particular problem) and we sweep up her food.
***
Anyone else have experiences with a house chicken? Honestly, if it weren't for the never ending poop (and I mean never ending) she would be absolutely welcome as a pet in our house for the rest of her days.
Wendy
