When I came home from the feed store with my new ducklings I had a bit of a surprise waiting in my bedroom. I'm raising my 5-6 week old chicks(9 of them) in my bedroom because it is the only room in the house that is secure from the cats and dogs at all times, and I've had the top of their brooder covered fairly decently because they can really fly well now. Apparrently, one of the chicks(probably my big roo Buttercup) figured out how to body-slam the least secure lid section off the top at some point when I was gone. When I came upstairs with duck box in hand, I opened my bedroom door.......and I saw 5 of my chickies running around on my carpet! And, Buttercup had jumped up onto my bed! :| All of my chickies came running over to me, completely happy with themselves except for my tiny Leghorn, Vera. She took one look at me and ran for the brooder like she knew she was in trouble. I was so surprised I couldn't be mad at them..and even better yet, there were only a couple poops on my floor. Could've been much worse. lol So after I put them back away(they came back out to run later, so they did get their exercise) cleaned the carpet, and changed my bedsheets, I made a really nice, really STRONG wire mesh lid for their brooder. It was really amusing, but I don't necessarily want to encourage that happening again! I was just wondering, for those of you who raise chicks in your house...have you ever experienced a Chicken Rampage??
Well, I currently have only one house chick/en. How we discovered that she learned to fly- had her blocked off in my daughters closet- the door closed off with a baby gate. My two daughters have bunk beds- the one with the top bunk is the one who owns the chicken. My oldest daughter came home,(bottom bunk), and I think this is what I heard in hysterics, "MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! KAYLAS CHICKEN POOPED ALL OVER MY BED MAKE HER CLEAN IT UP!!!!!!!"
Several times! My SLW flew out of the brooder and came through the house until she found me in the bathroom...she then yelled at me like it was my fault she had to come find me. We refer to the rampage as "Chicken Corral" .... daughter and I corral them up and put them back. So far we have only had a couple of carpet accidents...that is the funny part..they actually sit on the side of the brooder, go potty in the brooder and then jump down. hahahahaha
Hilarious! I too have an extra bedroom that has doubled as a brooder and in between place for my 3 batches of chicks...It seems like they learn to fly in the space of a day and then..... ESCAPE! I always leave the room door closed so that my curious kitties and dog will not stress them out.... The brooder room is also the computer room...so I can type, read, chat, listen, and hold chickens all at the same time! LOL
Ok GOOD so it's not just me that has seen this event! It sounds totally hysterical when your chickens do it, too. It's kind of amazing how these little birds can create chaos so quickly. My parrots have a knack for it, too. I guess it's just one of the things you learn to love about birds!