Do you REALLY let them in your home??

[Dar]

my chickens come in my house quite often (well when my moms dog is not here)
and this is what happens

 

[7&8]

Bantam Leghorn #8 came in for a few days last winter. She had an abscess on her face & having her in just made it easier on both of us I think. She stayed in a medium sized dog carrier with grass hay bedding. One banty in the house doesn't cause too much of a ruckus. She hopped off the counter one day and made a beeline for the wood stove where she spent a good ten minutes lolling under & around it. It was putting out some heat. Eventually, when she was panting, she jumped up & raced over to the water for a good drink. Overheated! Had me laughing... The abscess healed very nicely. Fox got the poor rascal last week, though.

 

[gryeyes]

Occasionally, a chicken will take advantage of an open screen door and wander into the kitchen, and from there, into the rest of the house when I'm busy elsewhere. (The dogs open the screen door but don't close it behind them. There IS a dog door, but it is at the front of the house in the sliding glass door off the guest room, not the back side where most of the chickens hang out. So far, none of the chickens have figured out the dog door....) The few that do this regularly stop to check out the dog food dish for some kibble, or maybe drink from the dog waterer just because it's there. After that, only the most intrepid hen - or duck! - wanders into the rest of the house. My kitchen, dining and living rooms are a "Great Room" configuration without dividing walls.

And I do brood chicks in the bathroom and do NOT cover the brooders. When the chicks get old enough to fly out of the bins, I cheer 'em on. The bathroom is very easy to clean so it's no big deal. I think it's cute to open the bathroom door and find a chick in the middle of the bath mat, giving me a look of "Whut?! I'm just checking things out!" Or, I'll come into the bathroom, all the chicks are in their brooders, but there's evidence of chick exploration on the toilet seat, or the edge of the sink, or in the shower stall. Once I surprised a chick inspecting its reflection in the chrome sink faucet.

But I don't have a House Chicken. I think the dogs would be miffed at having their domain invaded if I let a chicken watch TV with us.

 

[crj]

Ok, I will confess. I have a chicken living in my kitchen since August. I had surgery and when I came home I found "Nellie" near deaths door so we brought her in the house. My husband made up a "special" shake for her and I fed her. I thought she would die that night. She was my favorite. Needless to say the bird won't die. She had been sick a couple more times and always pulls through. She can no longer see. I believe she had an extremely high fever which fried a few brain cells. Yes, at times she can make a mess but she pretty much stays on the 2" high perch I made her.All this on top of disposable mattress pad which are near adult diapers. She knows where her food is and stays in that area. During the day she gets to go outside in the veggie garden. I don't have to worry about her eating the plants..... LOL. I can't put her with the other chickens because they try to kill her. Sooo, I will have to figure out where to house her during the summer so she can reaclimate to the weather. One major problem I have run into is that she needs people contact. I'm thinking of putting baby chicks with her. We will see how that works.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Free-ranging house chickens!

 

[PepsNick]

Well, I used to take an occasional chicken in the house for fun, but nope, not anymore... Just seems kinda nasty, when they live outside. We always have the back door open and the chooks do wander in. Just yesterday, someone at my house was in the kitchen and called my name. I had a Delaware under the counter. What the heck?

Cyn... When are ya going to post those pics of miss Shadow on Tom's lap last winter?

 

[sydney13]

My chickens have a unhealthy absestion with coming into the house. During the winter when I when I would let them free range, instead of sitting under cover on warm bedding they choose to sit all day on a sheet of ice looking in the back door. They would literally sit there all day and not move away from the door even on warm days. The strange thing is, the only time they were in the house was when they were living in their brooder, I don't know why they are so foccussed on getting in our house. They are starting to get better and now while half are looking through the backdoor, the other half of the flock tends to be off free ranging.
If the door is left open for 1 second unattended there will be a flock of chickens running around in the kitchen. One of them is praticulary foccussed on gettig into the house. She once flew up onto a branch and then through an open window in orde to get in. It took twenty minutes to get her out of the house because she was smart enough to run under the sofa

 

[Malbri]

Our original 4 chickens would always roost at the top of the stairs, and I got out of the shower once and went in my room and saw clementine walking around my room. Mom had let her in and she decided to go all the way through the house to my room.
I have also had a chicken sleep in my bed with me after giving "her" a bath and "she" was still too wet to go back outside. I found out she was a he when I woke up to crowing in my ear at 3 am. He behaved well though, I had set him on a towel at the foot of a bed before I fell asleep and he never moved the whole night.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

For all the naysayers...

Not that I feel like I need to defend myself or anything, but, my indoor brooder, and the two cages that I have serama chickens in (indoors) are cleaned daily, if not 2x per day. Clean chickens smell good!! Poo does not. Same as a cat and catbox.

I'm sure many of you have been inside houses that have cats, where their boxes are kept clean, and then you have been in houses where cat boxes were not kept clean. BIG difference. Cat poo smells worse than chicken poo if you ask me.... but that's not the topic, I digress...

I keep my indoor chickens very clean, they are not like my outdoor chickens. They are more like parakeets with privileges!

 

[K9ThorsMom]

Thanks everyone...you make me feel somewhat "normal" for keeping my girls inside right now (the oldest is around 9 weeks old)...haven't secured a coop outside for them yet...everyone around me thinks I'm nuts, but I'm not putting them out until I know they will be safe and secure!