Chickens as house pets?

[Mudsow]

My poor indoor chickens... had to spend the blustery fall day sitting by the widow being toasty warm eating grapes and turkey

 

[GD91]

I have kept chickens indoors....

Mainly cockerels. They walk about acting like they own your home while pooping all over the floor. The poop then sits there just waiting for you to march through & stick your foot on it while the cockerels eye gleams.

They poop all in their cage & despite daily cleans or even twice daily the smell of the ammonia is still present. The worse is the Cecal poop (look it up) which is like diarrhea & smells really, really bad.

They flap onto your sofa & settle down crooning... ahhh, sweet!

Then the bloody thing starts preening! Feathers & white dust everywhere within a 2 ft radius! And of course then when the blessed bird has finished it stands & flaps its wings. There goes the lot all over your room.

You call your lovely house pet into the kitchen. "Come here Tweety" You say & He bobbles through talking to himself. You put a dish of food down.... There it goes, flying across your kitchen as he excitedly scratches & flicks the lot out of the dish & then proceeds to eat it off the floor. Does he eat all of it? Of course not.

So now there is bird food mixed with the bird poop everywhere as it WILL tread through your home.

I would not have survived except my flat is all hardfloors.


But you are not about to give up. You fit him with a diaper for the poop. He then looks shocked & walks around the house backwards for 24 hours, crashing into things, breaking them & wedging himself into tiny spaces that a mouse would struggle to reach.

"Poor boy" you think "He'll get used to it. And believe me he does! I would never have believed the amount of poop that one chicken can produce if I hadn't seen (and smelt) it all with my own eyes & nose. He will fill that diaper with a sloppy, rank mess that you then have to empty often. Also you have to clean the diaper or replace the liner.

Nothing stops him flicking food across the floor either.

Wait until your sister gets her new birds & follows her new birds around with bleach & a cloth (or keeps the mop on standby) or just lets them drag a rank smelling bag of gloop around with them, & then show her this post.

She may hit you around the head

And to the person who keeps what.... FIVE CHICKENS INDOORS?!! Seriously PM me, photo's the works, start your own thread & tell us all HOW you do it. I have tried many things & nothing works. We aren't even houseproud, we have 2 dogs & a cat that moult & drool all over the furniture...... but the chickens just never seem to work indoors.
They just stink!

Soon our standard rooster will have to come in when he starts crowing, so I need to know the best way or at least a good way.

Also parrot cage, as others have stated is a no, no. Buy it a large dog crate. Tame chickens think they are dogs anyway. The bigger, the better. Give plenty of toys like preeners toys, mirrors, rattly balls etc.

 

[Cluckysnap123]

that cage is way too small even for a parrot! Chickens aren't livestock, they are as much of a pet as a dog is!

 

[blucoondawg]

that cage is way too small even for a parrot! Chickens aren't livestock, they are as much of a pet as a dog is!

It is widely accepted that chickens are raised for people to eat the meat and eggs that they produce, that makes them livestock. Some people will keep them as pets but that doesn't mean they aren't still a livestock animal being kept as a pet.

 

[Peachesbabychick]

I think that would be kind of cruel. Chickens are outside animals and need fresh air and space. Having them "cooped" up like that is very unhealthy for them. They require taking dustbaths, scratching and running around, flying space, etc. Another thing is that, if they have nothing better to do, they pick on eachother.

I'm sorry for your sisters sake!

 

[hmmcc123]

I don't know about silkies in the house but she should look into Serama chickens. They are very small, beautiful chickens that make great pets! If you do a search here on BYC for the "American Serama" thread there are plenty of photos and information. Also, one of my favorite Serama sites is a fellow BYCer "Castle Delight Seramas". She has a wonderful website and great photos.

Good luck!

 

[P-Funk]

Wow. Interesting. I feel bad when the girls are confined to their stall and run when guests come over. The cage is for the parrot.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Quote:
x2
I so want a Serama, but after having a chicken in the house during recuperation, I realize it's not fair to the chicken. IMHO.

 

[UrbanFarmerGreg]

Ok so no one seemed to mention the law so everyone (so far) must think its within the law... but I was unsure as well and thought outside would be better, If she were to keep them outside would she be able to get around the law or not? If the law does not clearly state chicken then does she have a case?

 

[kari_dawn]

...ultimately it is your decission. I personally do not like keeping chickens indoors for all of the above mentioned reasons. But one more thing I would like you to consider is the fact that you plan on keeping them in a parrot cage. Parrot cages tend to b taller than they are wide (I will not get in to how I feel about average housing and diet that most people provide to their parrots, just let me say it is akin to keeping a small child in a closet...short of providing an aviary, I will not keep a parrot) to accomodate the length of a parrot's tail, and it's upright body structure. Basically, a parrot cage is a very poor attempt at mimicing living for an avian (flighted) creature, not a ground dwelling one.

If you (or rather, your sister) choose to go the indoor chicken route after doing your research, please reconsider keeping them in a parrot cage. As ground dwellers (and in my opinion flighted birds), they should be kept in an inclsure that is longer than it is tall to give them maximum floor space, which is where they will be spending a lot of time. Also to consider, is your sister willing to put them in chicken diapers and let them walk around the house? If they are going to be staying in an enclosure with a floor space of 40x40 at all times, I would reconsider keeping them indoors.