Im not completely new at raising chickens, I've raised a few clutches, but I just have to ask...there is nowhere else in my house to raise the chicks when they are babies (the basement constantly has car fumes in it, and the garage is where the cars stay. No other free room) so I build brooders and raise them in my room. Is this super unhealthy? I mean, when i can faintly smell the poopy I clean the pine shavings, so i dont breath in the smell for long, but Im just curious if this is hazardus to my health later in life or even now? I've done it for about a year now and feel no different. I used to have slight allergies to chicken feather dust but now the allergist says I am no longer allergic. Coincidence?
Sounds fine to me. I have our brooder (55 gallon aquarium with screen top) in our living room. I can hear them chirping when I'm in the bedroom as well. I think it's perfectly OK.
My mom keeps ranting about how I'll, "Die an early death , after suffering severe lung troubles and other respiratory illnesses." My mom's no doctor, but now she s got me worried. But i love having them in my room. I know that, after having one particularly loud mouth chick in here, i could sleep through anything! (even my alarm! oops ) And when their not shrieking, the gentle chiping sounds that they make lulls me to sleep and I wake up happy almost every morning whe i hear them and see one of them jump up to sit on the edge of the box and stare at me ! I love chickens!
We had 2 silkies as house chickens for a couple months. They slept in a plastic cat crate in our bedroom, but we put old towels down for them. It was very easy to clean and no mess or smell. We loved listening to them coo at each other.
I used to hatch and brood in my living room. I have an apartment for guests. Summer's here and we haven't had any guest so I have been using the apartment as a hatchery and brooder. If we have guests then everything will come back into the house.
No, you will not lung problems or die a horrible death. Nor will you walk around the house saying things like " Bok, bok, bok" or develop any other chicken like qualities. Do remember this: our forefathers had chickens LIVING in their homes and the only ones who died were the chickens!
Quote:LMAO!!! Well, you CAN get lung problems from keeping birds but I'm fairly sure you'd need to have many hundreds more than just a few in a little brooder... Your allergy thing is interesting though. Often if you are mildly allergic to something, you can switch off your allergic reaction by giving yourself constant exposure to that specific allergen. Like, I'm mildly allergic to most dogs, but I don't get any allergic reactions to my own dogs. But with cats I'm wildly allergic so a constant exposure wouldn't make me less allergic, it would just make me snuffly and miserable. Sounds like your exposure to the chicks is a good thing, not a bad one. But if you or your mum are really worried, ask your doctor for advice!
Really, the only problem would be if they were constantly creating massive quantities of dust in the air. If you keep their litter clean, and the room aired out so the dust cannot build up, there really shouldn't be a problem. In the old days, miners got black lung from the coal dust they inhaled everyday. A friend of my sisters is a horse trainer, and she has bean diagnosed with "grey" lung from the sand she inhales when training horses on a lunge line in the arena.
It really depends on overall cleanliness and personal susceptibility. Personally, I think that you should be fine as long as you keep the brooder clean, but there is some risk of developing several lung problems when exposed to bird droppings, particularly soil that has been exposed to bird droppings. That said, my husband and I are raising our first flock right now and we have the brooder in our bedroom. We had planned to keep them in the guest bedroom for the first two weeks and then move them into the enclosed garage. However, we've had guests during that time and needed the guest room for them. We didn't want to put them in the garage early on because we wanted to be able to monitor them and make sure temp/food/water and all of that was alright and be easily able to hear them if there was a problem. So we're on day 16 now and have more or less given up on the idea of moving them anywhere except to their coop and run in a few weeks. We used paper towels for the first week and have since been using pine shavings. We completely clean out the brooder every 3-4 days and have yet to notice any smell at all. They are a bit dusty, but we regularly clean that up as well, and so far it's all good. It's easy to get to and handle the chicks, the cats are more than familiar with them now too (and show no more than passing curiosity when the chicks are particularly wound up), and all's well so far.
I'd be more worried about the car smell from the basement causing health problems more then anything. Just saying
