Housey Hens?

[redrocketrooster]

I took my two pullets in today and my head ran around to the hows and whats of house chooks! Humor for a little and fill out my sexy survey?

Are your house chickens lonely? -insert zoloff commercial-
Does it mess up the pecking order to have them visit the outside run with the rest of the chickens frequently?
What if you had several day old chicks and kept one primacy inside while the rest were outside?
For those who use diapers...How many do you have and how often do you change them?
Do you have any other supplies in the house such as cages? Perches?

So random, I know haha. XD;;

 

[CMV]

If you decide to separate your flock into inside and outside chickens they will need to be kept separate. The flocks will have their own dynamic and if you try to occasionally insert a random chicken into an established flock you will have nothing but problems. Birds will not tolerate what they view as an interloper and your inside chickens will get the stuffing beaten out of them. Chickens are also flock animals and one chick kept inside by itself will be very lonely and unhappy. Human company is of little value to an animal that needs members of its own species to be happy.
That being said- I firmly discourage you from keeping chickens inside your house. They are livestock and as such are not meant to be kept inside. A chicken's greatest pleasure is to be with its own kind, scratching and pecking and rolling in the dirt. I realize people keep parrots inside, but parrots are treetop dwellers and can be amused with climbing toys and elaborate jungle gyms, but chickens are ground birds and need to be close to the earth to fully enjoy their existence. I have needed to occasionally keep chickens in the house and it is not a good situation for anyone involved. Chickens are messy, messy, messy. Their constant scratching creates airborne debris throughout your entire house, and that's not healthy for you and your family- to say nothing of your birds who need even more fresh air than mammals with their physiology. I believe you should reconsider your intended course of action.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[redrocketrooster]

Quote:
I wasn't very clear, I have no intention of keeping them in the house haha. These random questions floated out of my skull and I had to ask them. Sort of like, what are the parts of a bike? Doesn't mean I want to build one haha. Thank you for the reply, I do appreciate it! Reading some of the threads on BYC about introducing new chickens to the flock I have to wonder how house chickens handle in a flock? Do birds really need more air than mammals? Fresh air is good for all living things, that at least I know. In some stores birds are caged in acrylic tanks with large drilled holes. Though I can't quite say that is right but does the oxygen content need to be higher for a bird?

 

[CMV]

Open air housing for poultry is a long established practice that is coming back into vogue. Birds are particularly vulnerable to respiratory issues because of the way their bodies work. I could go into a long discussion on the anatomy and physiology of poultry, but I don't have time. The cages you see that are plexi-glass with holes drilled in them are usually reserved for tree-dwelling birds. Tree-dwellers are fliers and climbers, and do not tear up the ground in search of food. Tearing up the ground is what throws debris into the air generating lots of dust and ruining the air-quality.