Hi All,
I can definitely chime in here as I have a House Pheasant. She is in the house 24/7 and never goes outside due to the severity of her handicap. I keep her in the kitchen (yes, I know), but it is the one room with tile and is a centralized room that gets alot of traffic so she can socialize with us and her other pet friends. She prefers not to be near a window unless she is out of her cage. She is kept in a fabricated cage out of the CUBE SQUARES (wonderful items, and I ordered off Bed Bath and Beyond and put together with zip ties) and then is set on top of a card table. I put a table cloth on the card table and she is on bath towels during her time in the cage because she needs traction. I change her towel out twice a day and do alot of laundry. I have had chicks in the house until old enough to go out to the coop and did shavings at one time. The dust was unimaginable and I prefer puppy pads or towels now. A little expensive but if you have dust allergies it helps and the smell is down, too, because I clean so much.
She does have diapers. I ordered a pair from a site (you can PM me for which one) and took apart the diapers to make a pattern, then sewed to fit her. Brown Egg, Blue Egg has a different style than the one I use, but it was effective on an injured chicken I had to bring in temporarily.
I buy women's or girl swimsuits at
Walmart and cut them up, use underwear elastic for the straps because it is softer and has alot of give, and then use pantyliners cut in half for the diaper inside the suit. To "dress" her, I flip her on her back in my lap and bring her legs through the diaper, flip her over and adjust the straps, then off she goes on the carpet or wherever. Once you get the sizing right, they don't slip out. I don't have her wear diapers on the linoleum, just clean up with Clorox Anywhere.
As I was sitting in my recliner last nite with Peepers on my chest resting, I thought what a Blessing she was to me and hope she lives a long life. She seems very happy, but then she knows nothing different. I wouldn't keep a chicken without a handicap indoors 100% of the time, they just enjoy the outdoors doing chicken stuff too much. With that being said, I don't know your circumstances and applaud you for bringing them in if you feel necessary and at nite for safety. If bringing them in for company, to each his own! They are wonderful company. Make sure they are parasite free though, because you will hate yourself if they bring in mites or lice! Oh, and I also have an air purifier for her area which helps.
I do have a one-legged chicken that I thought might have to come inside, but she enjoys being with her friends too much and is thus far doing fairly well in her protected coop/run.
