Chickens as house pets?

[MaddiesMum]

I just ordered a chicken diaper (from Louise's Country Closet) and planning on getting one adult Buff Orpington.

1) Can a chicken wear this diaper for extended lengths of time (6-8 hours without changing the liner insert)?

2) Can they sleep during the night while wearing this diaper?

3) Will the diaper contain the poop smell by any chance?

4) Is there any chance of the poop leaking out from the diaper?

I plan on keeping the chicken as a house pet. Professional and detailed information is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

1) Definitely not! Diapers need to be cleaned out/changed multiple times a day.
2) Technically yes, but I personally think it's better to let some air to the area overnight.
3) It will only contain a smell if it's not changed/cleaned often.
4) Yes, there's a chance. If the diaper is not fitting correctly or if they are having abnormal droppings (ie diarrhea) there is a chance that something could slip out. Best way to prevent is to make sure the diaper is a good fit and changed often!

If the bird is already an adult there is a chance it may not warm up to the situation as well as a younger bird, it can be quite stressful for them as I'm sure you can imagine if they are used to being outside for the majority of their lives. Every bird and every situation is different though.

 

[jazzybio13]

Did you ever end up getting them? Just curious.

We are working on our cages for our Coturnix quail that will be housed indoors and was curious if there was a super small chicken that could also be done this way as well. Serama/bantams are the best picks out of the chickens....

for now, I'll stick with the quail! But I wouldn't mind looking into a bit larger of an egg layer if it could work out!

 

[LittleChicks4Me]

I am with you Mudsow, I am looking into getting two hens as house pets, I agree.. It is completely doable. When the chicks are raised inside and have a nice size floor cage with space.
Then allowed to interact with you inside and outside (in secret of course). There are chicken toys now as well to keep them happy.. Beside all the goodies and sand box fun..

No different than having any other type of house pet.. Just takes extra work to keep them clean and happy, but I am will to do it. I love chickens. Backyard coop not allowed.

So housing a chicken or 2 inside, would be no different that having any other type of pet bird inside..

That is my thought's on it...

 

[tocsny]

Greetings :

I have two hens, 8 months of age,[ I got them both @ 2 weeks of age ] and I keep them in an extra large dog crate in the house during the day. When I get home, and on weekends, they chill outside and ' do their thing '. I got my dog 9 months ago and the hens 8 months ago and they play together all the time. The hens will actually cuddle with the dog on the futon, in the living room, very often. I don't have carpet at all in the house, so if they ' poop', I can quickly clean and sanitize the area.

My town, in August, passed an ordinance of ' no chickens' - have no idea why. Ina nearby town, you haven have cattle, horses, goats, etc, etc, but no chickens. I have no idea the rationale. As I said, I let mine out during the day - if someone has no life and decides to complain about my two hens on an acre of land, so be it.

I appreciate your reading my post.

 

[LittleChicks4Me]

I beg to differ, I have indoor chickens. Yes, they do produce dust, and lots of it. And yes, I do have an air cleaner in the room the chickens are in, however, they are in a 2'x8' handmade cage. They are two bantam chickens, although I did have one lf chicken previously. They have plenty of room to run around, they have a small sandbox for dustbaths, sand isn't quite so dusty, but still lets them have fun. They also love to come out when I'm home and run around and play. They get crickets and mealworms, greens and varied diets.

Even when I take my chickens outside in the summer to wander in my yard with me and help me garden... they stick fairly close, or are following the dogs around. They seem perfectly happy as housepets. They thrive on seeing you when you come home, they are very interactive, MUCH more than a few parakeets imho.

Plus we get little edible eggs.

Again, they are much more work if kept indoors, but some of us don't mind, and neither do the chickens.

I don't think I'd take a full grown free range chicken and then lock them indoors, they would more than likely freak out, but raising them indoors, they get used to their surroundings. Again, pick breeds that do well in confinement and are docile, which I think Silkies would qualify, and enjoy having chickens.

No worries about predators, cold, heat, getting called in by neighbors. They make wonderful housepets.

I so agree.. When raised from chicks they get use to the home life.. They are well worth the extra care in order to have one on one interactions with my pet chicken.. Right now, I have a little white silkie I just adopted, named her Lily. Sadly she was raised without other chicken's in a cattle trough, no stimulations, in a pet hoarder's warehouse full of parrots and other avian birds. She has no clue she is a chicken. The women I adopted her from tried to introduce her to her backyard flock. With poor results, she was beat up and stayed out in the weather to avoid the coop hens. She only knows indoor life. So now she is happy and will live her life in peace.. This spring getting a handful of bantam chicks, hopeful she will learn from them as they also become house chickens.. Still with visits to the yard for fun.. House chickens are very doable and make wonderful house pets.

 

[TerryTT]

I have house chickens, they are bantam and only a few months old. During the spring/summer/fall they go out for several hours of outside fun time so they can do their chicken thing and at nights/during the winter they have their own room in the house. It costs me a couple hundred a month for litter so I can keep the bedding fresh and its so much work, the dust seems to carry all through the house, but it's no worse then dealing with cat and dog hair, cat litter boxes, cats scratching and destroying furniture etc. That being said they are insanely friendly. My rooster is also sweet, he waits to crow until he's heard me wake up.

I think it just depends on the person and the amount of space they have available in the house and how much they love cleaning.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

There is a fundamental difference between chickens and parrots/cockatiels/parakeets. One is a ground dweller which derives it's greatest pleasure on the ground scratching, pecking, and playing in the dirt. The others are tree dwellers who can found hopping from branch to branch, flitting around treetops, and who can be amused by intricate bird jungle gyms. Chickens are not meant to be indoors. They wreak havoc with the air quality no matter how clean you keep them- constantly scratching stuff into the air, dander and feathers everywhere, ammonia fumes constantly being generated. The work involved in keeping a chicken indoors is phenomenal. I know. I have had reasons to have chickens inside on occasion, and each time I swear it will be the last. I now flatly refuse to keep them in the house. Period. The mess they generate is too great, and it is not a healthy situation for anyone involved.

Although I know there are people who keep house chickens I would strongly urge you not to do it. It is not in the best interests of the bird being kept in such an unnatural environment.

Good luck.

Seramas were specifically bred to be pets, and are one of the most desired apartment pets in their homeland. The traditional Serama show is called a "kitchen table show" as the tiny birds are placed on a table by their owners to be compared and judged. The prizes can run in the thousands of dollars.

In their homeland there is no effort to have them breed true as to color, which drives the APA folks here crazy. Part of their inherent charm to the locals is apparently the idea that you get a colorful surprise when the chicks feather out.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I have a friend who has a cockerel who goes out during the day and lives inside at night.

Each evening she opens the side door to the garage, and he rushes in; when it is time for bedtime,
he really wants in the house, and will come up to the sliding backdoor and make sure people know
that he wants to go to bed.

When she opens the side door, he runs inside and then into the large dog crate where he spends
the night. He has food and water in cage cups in there; it is lined with newspaper.

In the morning he has taken to not crowing before about 8AM, a little earlier than his breakfast. He
gets a snack, and then she opens the door, and he sprints out into the yard while she lets the hens
out of the hen house.

He is such a beautiful bird; he's an Easter Egger with a beard, and a chesty stance that puts me in mind of a Modern
Game, but not as extreme.

When he was younger, his dog crate was kept in the living room - but when he first began to crow he did so
very, very early in the morning, so out to the garage he went.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
I'd note that you might consider getting two chickens. Bantams fit inside houses better, and you can build them a nice, long, low hutch so that they don't have to wear the diaper all of the time. It isn't good for them to do so.

If you get them young enough, you can train them to ride around on your wrist, respond to their names, etc.

 

[UkBIRDS]

I have a Serama, in the house im in the uk an its cold lol so hes in for winter hes clean gose out on grass he dont leave my side comes a work with me