Chickens as house pets?

[GD91]

Aren't there certain breeds that are better for the home? Serama & dutch bantams & the like?

Maybe get her a pair of those...

 

[kendradillon]

Muffies diapers came in from Spots corner on fb! Amazing!

 

[kendradillon]

Spot's corner diapers r amazing I love how hardy they are! Water proof liners! Can't beat the price! Order yours for your full grown bird! They are made to fit so no growing birds can order

 

[jmfleish]

I know this is a very old thread but I just wanted to reply to it. For those of you who think that chickens are dusty, you've never lived with parrots! We have 12 medium sized parrots and our Seramas don't even come close to touching the dust and dander that our parrots produce! Not even close! We have four Cockatoos and three greys who are dust producing birds to begin with and will leave actual layers of dust on everything but even those birds who don't produce dust leave feathers and dander behind and our Seramas are not like that.

I will admit that the biggest problem with keeping our chickens inside is their poop. Unlike the parrots, chicken poop does stink and you do have to have some kind of plan for when you are not home. While you are home, you can try the diapers or litter train them. We have diapers on order that we're going to try. We started with one roo but lost him to lymphoma when he was about seven months old. He was amazing and followed us everywhere and even slept on a pillow covered with a towel next to us in bed nearly every night. He was the sweetest bird ever and we were crushed when he died. We ended up getting three Serama hens and just recently added two roos and another hen, all Seramas. They are all very similar to our first Serama. They like to hang out with us, they play and run around and are very active and none of them seem at all phased by the fact that they live indoors.

We have been keeping them in our basement with our parrots when we aren't home and they have full access to the entire room when we aren't home. When we are home, we let them upstairs with us. We are planning on trying to potty train but right now we are in the middle of moving. The house that we are moving to will need an addition built for all the birds to reside in and we have to figure out how we are going to house the chickens when we are not home until the addition is built which we are struggling with.

I do think that a parrot cage is probably not going to be ideal for a chicken although we have caught our hens in empty parrot cages when we've let our parrots out for play time...they do seem attracted to them. Just like chickens need more horizontal space than vertical space, so do parrots. The people who make parrot cages are dumb and do not realize this. Also, please realize that many parrots are also ground foragers and spend a lot of time on the floor. I've also found with our chickens that they are not exclusively ground dwellers. They spend a LOT of time trying to get off the floor and finding places that are high up, as high up as our six foot bookshelves and our tree stands that we have for our parrots. So, you might be able to do a lot with a parrot cage if you can put in lots of shelves for a chicken to sit on.

We've made it work and we absolutely love our chickens. We can't imagine life without them and never knew how wonderful they could be. Are they work? Absolutely. Is that work cut out for everyone? Not necessarily. Think about it a lot before you decide to do it but I can say that for the right person, the rewards are more than worth it!

 

[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.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I have Dominiques that I think would like to be house chickens. They will come in through the slider and ask for treats. They will watch television. They are not pleased when I try to herd them back outside.

One of them is a critic; after circling the family room a few times trying to get her to go back out to the backyard, it was pretty clear that she seemed to always wind up by the television - especially since I kept blocking her efforts to get up on the bookshelves.

So I turned off the television.

She pecked the now blank screen and went outside without any further effort on my part.

 

[subhanalah]

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.

that's a cultural definition though. Some cultures raise dogs and cats for meat. Just saying...just because we live where lots of people eat chicken, they can't be pets? Dogs and cats are definitely not defined as livestock where we live, but thats just because of where we live.
Chicjens are better pets than any parrot or cockatiel I've ever known.

 

[blucoondawg]

I am not saying a chicken cannot be a pet I am saying in our culture a chicken is by and large known as a livestock animal to the overwhelming majority of the worldwide population, the United States likely has more people keeping chickens as pets than anywhere in the world, however that doesn't mean chickens as a whole are not a livestock animal, you can keep a dairy cow or a goat for a pet too, but they are still livestock animals.

 

[DrJohnNash]

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.