Curious About Chickens In The House

[Animalian]

Do you let the chicken(s) have a run of the house? They stand in the doorway and run in for a snack but they know they have to get out immediately after they grab it! Sick/really injured bird go in a cat carrier in the bathroom. I've had one in there for three days now.

How do you deal with the poop? Do you really use diapers? Are they easy/hard to deal with? How often do you change them? Easy to change if the bird is tame, just like putting on a chicken saddle basically. Most people line them with pads or panty liners and just pull those out and replace them as needed.

Does the chicken(s) get along with other animals in the house, or are they the only animal? My Golden retriever gets along with them, even lets them share his bones. My cockatiel screams at them, I think he thinks that if they get to be out of the cage, he should be too!

Does your indoor chicken(s) have a small coop or cage to go to to sleep at night, or do you just have something for them to roost on? a lot of people will have the bird/s in a coop most of the day (while they work) and just bring them in in the diaper for a few hours in the evening, then back into the coop to sleep.

If they have diapers, how do they lay eggs? Most hens lay in the morning so it won't matter if they only come in in the afternoon/evening, constantly wearing a diaper would be unhealthy (and stinky). You would learn you hens 'cycle' better if she was indoors all the time. I know my RIR lays almost first thing in the morning and the PR at about 11am. The Fav I don't let lay anymore.

I believe that if they are fit to do so they should live outside, I do cuddle and pet my chickens but they are happier outside, more stimulation, bugs to chase, grass to eat, sunbaking, dustbathing. If one of mine did get a bad injury or impairment I would probably keep them in a small coop and either bring them inside or closely supervise them for their out of coop time. But I keep chickens as pets, the eggs are just a bonus. I will keep them all until they are old and decrepid!

 

[fireguy56]

Wow, In my opinion this question is incredible. Besides keeping a sick chicken in a cage in the laundry room(tile floor, exhaust fan, etc) I would not even give the slightest thought of allowing my "beloved" chickens in my house where my family lives and my grand-kids play on the floor. To me it would be totally unacceptable. By nature chickens are scavengers and dirty creatures. The thought of chicken poop everywhere in my home makes me sick. I'm sure that I will get " banged pretty hard " for my opinion, but it is what it is. Chickens belong in their enviroment, not in mine. Just my opinion. and yes, I love my chickens and spend alot of time with them. I also spent alot of money and effort providing them with the best shelter and necessities I could. All said and done, they are still chickens and their place is in the coop. Again, just my opinion.
Erik

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

No chickens, but a Pekin duck who has his own diaper and the youngest Sebastopol goose also has a diaper. They wear them 2-4 hours at a time while in visiting. They wonder around, talk, sleep and watch our dogs and cats. Everyone gets along well inside, the cats seem more annoyed than anything lol.

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

No chickens in the house (per my DH's rule!) unless I sneak one in for my boys to hold while watching tv to help them stay gentle & my boys get a kick out of it... But I have seen quite a few posts about people having their's inside & using a chicken diaper. I have honestly thought about it for my lonely blue silkie that keeps getting picked on instead of keeping her & our Japanese bantam cross seperated. She is SO sweet & comes running to me everytime I go out into their run... Good luck!

 

[flspnr]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts! For those of you who would in no way shape or form keep a chicken inside, that's okay!

I would have never thought of it until I got my 3rd chicken, and she had to be kept inside for a couple of weeks to quarantine her (we didn't have anywhere outside, but she did get time to roam outside while the others were in the coop. I think I am going to get a diaper for her, so she can come in and visit, and to keep around in case one needs to have recovery time inside. If I do get indoor chickens, it'll be when I have a house, and they'll have their own room (sunroom) and a doggy door to the outside.

Eta: Oh, my first two were inside because we had to hide them until we moved, but they were too young at the time anyways, and kept in the coop except for outside time. I don't really count that because if they were in the house, they were in the coop.

 

[sabias5]

I decided to have two little ones, a Silkie and a Brahma in the house. I've had them inside for 2 weeks now and I really wouldn't recommend it. It is possible but it's not best for either you, your house or your birds

I tried diapers on them but even with well fitted diapers (I made absolutely sure their tail and wings and legs were free) they fell over and refused to get up. They were so scared and confused that I had to take them off. I know that people say that they will get used to them but it just looked to cruel when my girls were too afraid to even stand up

Without diapers you either have to restrict the chooks to one uncarpeted room or be prepared to clean poo up every 2 minutes, they poo ALOT and it smells REALLY BAD. I let mine wander round the living room because the room we have for them is small and it feels way to cruel to confine them (The room takes about 3 days to get so disgustingly dirty and smelly it makes me dry retch, even with only 2 chickens). I have to watch them closely and scoop up any poo they do. I take them outside every day so they can have a dust bath and some sunshine and they love it. They really really love it. I feel so bad for bringing them back inside the house when I go in (Usually they only get 1/2 an hour to an hour outside with me a day) I can't leave them outside all the time though because my bigger girls (4 ISA browns and a SilkieXAncona) will attack them and they have nowhere to hide.

So now I'm saving up for a big coop that i can leave the little girls in all the time, something with an undercover bit and a big run so they can play outside and get plenty of sun but be safe from the big girls.

So to sum up. It is possible to keep chickens inside but I would definitely not recommend it. They don't like it, your house will smell, even if you clean up after them all the time and you'll feel bad once you see how cooped up they look indoors.

I can't wait to have a huge pen for my girls to roam around in safely outside

 

[WilsonAcres]

I have a house hen

she's a silky/barred rock cross and has no idea she's a chicken! we've had her since she was a day old. She does wear diapers {she has purple ,camo gold, and red lol} she also has her own small coop in our bedroom and when she's tired she promptly takes herself to bed. She also goes outside but seems to hate it then again she's spoiled to ac and in northwest Florida it gets HOT! she'll come squawk at the back door when shes ready to come in. She gets along with everyone as we have house cats..she actually chases them sometimes. she doesn't wear the diapers all the time I do let her run around naked when she wakes up and before bedtime but she's very easy to clean up after. I don't use wood shavings I use a hyper allergenic nesting material in her coop the wood shavings were too messy and stink where this material doesn't and its completely biodegradable. Now as much as I love her and can't stand the thought of putting her outside now {we have predator issues right now with my ducks

} I'd probably NEVER do this again as it has been a learning experience with her lol she's like having a toddler running around constantly and she is so curious about EVERYTHING and if we shoo her away from something she seems very offended and squawks and proceeds to storm to her "room" like a teenager and pouts LOL if were not home she goes in her coop. House ducks are pretty popular too. This is the website where we got her diapers from i didn't like the actual chicken diapers they were messy and almost cheesy where these are much nicer and easier to handle.

http://www.thegoosesmother.com/

 

[flspnr]

Thanks again everyone!

While I was posting last night, DH snuck up behind me to read what I was writing, oops!

He said, "You're not bringing a chicken in the house Leela (my cat) will eat it!"

My Leela? Ha! LOL, I know my Leela. I wouldn't bring my chicken in right now, with Leela in the house, unless I had the chicken on my lap, in which case Leela would probably try to kick the chicken out, but that's it. If that's his only arguement, he's fallen quite short. I don't think I want one living in the house, but a visit now and then would be fun! I do think I could have them live in the house if necessary for a little bit, but it would be hard with the other animals we have. (Princess, my dog, is *very* interested in watching them in their coop - but that's as close as she gets!)

I'm checking out the many diaper sites now, and trying to see if I can find a way to make one in case.

Oh! Funny story from last night.

Coworker: So, how's the chickens?
Me: I love them! Did you know there's such a thing as chicken diapers??
CW: Um...yeah, right
Me: **pulls up pictures** see?
CW: Holy cow, that is awesome! *laughs*

My coworkers know me very well. They've given me a kitten out of the dumpster (only 2 weeks old, had a very bad infection in eyes, didn't make it

), had me help chase a duck, asked me what to do about the snake in the cart coral, etc. LOL. So, this didn't suprise her that I would find something like this, just that it was actually real.

 

[Meara]

I've had to keep one or more of my chickens in the house from time to time. I had a rooster that lived inside for several months (long story). It's really not any different than keeping a parrot. He had an area on top of a table with a view out the window and he roosted on top of the adjoining book shelf. I had newspaper laid down to catch droppings. He chose not to wander around the house. He generally stuck to "his area". My cats and dog were fine with him, no problems at all. Chickens are NOT dirty animals. They aren't any dirtier than any other pet. The main problem was keeping him entertained. He was lonely for other chickens and would get bored. And he quickly learned that he could get attention by crowing repeatedly! LOL Chickens are happiest when they are with their flock doing "chicken things". They are very social animals.

This is a picture of the rooster hanging out on top of a tall cabinet in the kitchen. He really liked this spot because he could watch all the goings on in the house.

 

[auto5man]

We have had chickens inside under two different circumstances. The first was as two week old chicks I bought on whim with zero advance preparations, lol. I bought a rubbermaid container (on the coffee table) and kept them in their for several weeks until they grew out enough for the outside digs I built.

The second circumstance is a long story but one of our hens, a buff orp named Goldie....well, I call her our nighttime house chicken

. During the day my flock of 6 free-range, At roost time the other hens all go in their coop to be shut in, but Goldie comes to our glass back porch door and pecks on the glass. We open the door and she walks in! After a bit of petting, we put her on her roost (the rubbermaid with a board across the top) and she stays their all night. She is only in the house to roost and mess is a simple matter of putting newspaper under her 'spot'. We let her outside early in the morning when the other birds are let out of there coop