Indoor/House Chickens

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

We were at a mans house who keeps his in his finished basement. He used plastic piping to make his pens with a netting between the top and bottom pipes to keep them in. He had 2 adult pens and two baby pens. He has a room just for the chickens (silkies). It was the neatest set up. There was absolutely no smell from them. Made me want to turn my basement into a chicken house. Maybe one day.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

Quote:
They are dog training crates. I buy them wholesale from a friend who is a dog groomer. Here are links to the brands I have...

http://www.newworldpet.com/

http://www.petmate.com/Products/Pet-Home-Training-Wire__21035.aspx

The blue panels are to keep the shavings in the cage and are made from 4'x8' corrugated cardboard sheets that you often see used for lawn signs. You can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes.

As for the question about leashes. Feather tether makes them for parrots. I have 1 used for taking Lacy for walks & another that Miss Ohio my silkie uses to fly her kite...

 

[sillygirl722]

OMG!! She really flies a kite?? LOL!! That is sooooooooooo cute!!! When my daughter sees your pics, you know where I will be headed this morning!

 

[purr]

ok now I need to go buy a kite and talk one of my chickens into that. That has to be the cutest thing I've seen all year.

 

[flakey chick]

Quote:
If you plan on keeping 2 roos together in a cage, they must BOTH be virgins and should be kept away from the girls or trouble will start. They might be a little depressed missing their flock mates at first, but they will get over it.

 

[sillygirl722]

oh good, yeah they are still virgins I am assuming, They are all 12-13 weeks old.

Thanks!

I will give it a try and see. I am hopeful this can work out. The two roos get along now. They dont like the RIR roo, he is much younger than they are but of course larger, he has a new home lined up on a farm, I made myself not get attached to him, but my silkie and Blue D'Uccle? I just can't part with!

 

[yellowflower]

Sillygirl722, how do you make those?

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Quote:
If you don't mind my adding my two cents, if you are referring to the cage that she has in her post, it's very easy. You just buy the wire storage cubes ( I think they come in packs of 16 panels) that kids usually use at college or in rooms for extra storage and you can get them a Target, Walmart or similar stores. Anyway you assemble the panels in any configuration you want and attach them with cable ties. You can use whatever flooring you want basically. We have used plywood, plywood covered with a piece of vinyl flooring, newspaper etc. You can also google storage cube cages and there are so many possibilities. We have made a few cages for our rabbits, chinchilla and most recently I just put some in a large circle to have a 'play yard' for our rabbits and chickens.
Have fun creating!

 

[sillygirl722]

Yep! That is exactly right! you can google under Nic cube cages or rabbit condos,ect. and you can find lots of ideas. Yeah, I have one for my rabbit, so i figure why not the roosters?
If you search for it under youtube there are a few people who show you exactly how to make them.
I found that Target was cheaper than walmart, and Kmart has huge square holes that the critters could crawl right out of. At target they come in colors of Black, white, blue, or red.

They are very easy to make.
The possibilities are endless, infact I am going to have a mini coop in it so they can go "indoors" at night with a roost.

I will post the pic of mine as soon as it is up,so you all can see.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
I keep chickens in the house regularly. All my little chicks spend the first couple weeks in here with us but also older birds that are special for some reason or need extra care or protection. Usually what I do is use my utility room. It has a lino floor and I throw down shavings on that. I wouldn't reccomend it for a permenant thing though cause it is a pain in the fanny when I do laundry. I have to walk over shavings, they get tracked everywhere. By the way those waterers with the clear blue water holder like in an office, turned upside down....they work great for chickens as long as they don't kick shavings into them.

I use a med/large dog crate for my chicks in the house and an x large crate in the garage for isolating birds for breeding or sickness or whatever. These are the wire crates and not the solid ones (though solids can be used. Another idea is a rabbit or guinea pig cage.

Those wire crates for dogs works really well...put a stick or board near the back about halfway up and they have a roost. The problem with this is it doesn't allow for excersize so the bird would need to be allowed around the house. They do make chicken diapers that can be used in the house.

I had a mini rooster that lived in the house a long time (until something happened and he suddenly died). His poops were no worse then a medium parrots really but some of them were a little messy and I used my green machine to clean them up. I think for one bird or two I'd set a crate up in my utility room and then let them roam some of every day either confined in there (where I can mop) or even some time in the house in general.

I avoid having roosters in the house only because I like my sleep LOL. The one mini rooster was an exception because he had a mini voice as well.

I hope some of these ideas help. No, I'm not going to take a pic of my utility room right now...it needs cleaning LOL.