Need suggestions on indoor set up

[Marsha DeVaughn]

My special little girl, Peanut Butter, needs an upgraded indoor set up so I’m looking for suggestions.

PB is a “large fowl” Barnevelder who weighs in at a whopping 3 lbs. She’s an indoor/outdoor girl, but she doesn’t do well in extreme weather conditions. As it gets colder, she’ll need to spend more time inside.

For almost a year now, Peanut Butter has spent her nights in a small metal dog crate sitting up on an end table w/ puppy pads in my living room. Her days are mostly spent in the garden or helping me with lawn chores. When the weather is bad or her condition deteriorates, she spends more time indoors listening to the radio and watching the dogs

Presently Peanut Butter is doing very well. This means she’s eating regularly and relatively active- which is such a relief, but also means she’s pooping more. She has issues with her balance, so when she poos on the puppy pads, she sometimes falls in it. She can’t perch so sleeps on the bottom of the crate- along with the overnight poop. (She gets more baths than she would like).

PB is very accustomed to being indoors and even when feeling her best, she’s not a terribly active bird. I’d like to get her set up in something a little bigger than the dog crate, but she doesn’t require deluxe accommodations. She’ll still get outside as much as possible. If I give her too big of a space, she’d have to be moved to the guest room and isolated from the other pets & activity in the house.

I want to put her on a type of substrate that will help keep her out of her droppings (something it will fall into or dry it up).

I’m leaning toward a guinea pig cage with the plastic bottom and wire top, but am open to other ideas.

If you’ve ever kept a chicken indoors, can you please share how you set them up and what substrate worked best? Is there something better for an indoor bird than pine shavings or pellets? Thanks for your ideas!

And just to clarify- one of the reasons PB is indoors is because she hates chickens.

View attachment 3981480

And here’s my baby girl. She asked me to vote for whoever would ban chicken nuggets, lol.

I recently had to keep one inside about three months. I found on Marketplace a cage like you spoke of with plastic bottom and wire arched top that would open and lift up. It was great because it had clips that allowed it to be taken apart for cleaning and the plastic bottom was about 4-5 inches deep. When I needed to clean or add pine shavings i lifted up the top. My girl was good about keeping one end pretty clean where she slept! It’s on my porch for when I needed it because I’m not parting with it! It was great!!! You can get on Amazon! About 4 feet long, 2 feet deep and wide!

 

[paintedChix]

From TSC, we purchased a 4x4 dog crate - it came with a canvas cover. This was my main reason for the purchase knowing I was going to use it inside during the hurricane. The canvas "roof" prevents fly aways. It's really meant to be an outside temporary dog pen. It is sturdy, very heavy actually, is easy to set up and take down, one person can do it. It folds up accordian style so it doesn't require a lot of space when not used. You need at least a 4 ft by 5 ft space however, to accommodate opening the gate. We put a plastic shower liner on the floor, followed by cut up cardboard boxes, which of course are a little slippery, so we added pine shavings on top. To prevent the shavings from falling out of the rungs, bring the shower curtain liner up the sides. You can secure it with zippy ties, or just cut some extra cardboard to run along the outside, the size of your baseboards should do it. With a feeder, waterer, a bench for perching and a laundry basket turned on it's side, there was still ample room for 3 chickens to move about. They were not crammed at all. If I can locate a picture I'll post it here. This would work for your girl and give her much more room to move about. The cost of the crate (with cover included) was $160 I think after negotiating on the original price of $180. It was the last one they had and was set up outside in the elements, which is why I think I had the negotiating power on my side.

Pretty sure the one talked about is this one -

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...weu1JtW-ADwHHmRqetGlSDOqVhF2I_LBoCvjkQAvD_BwE

But could be a different one. W/ the "smallish" door, I'd set up her special perching area(s) at front or to side of gate where it can be easily reached.

 

[paintedChix]

These slings are neat. I wonder if they can work for birds that are mobile? I guess I could just try and see.

Maybe put 4 wheels under it like an "old timey" walker for kids (haven't seen any recently in baby sections).

Edit - if you did this & get the droppings opening to work, could make a pouch from puppy pads to catch droppings while "wheeling around".

https://images.app.goo.gl/zonrXRnL8U9L3th8A

https://images.app.goo.gl/jvwXkYKz2iTNAiDp6

https://images.app.goo.gl/6azWdNnzFHm5XYdP8

**********
When I had to bring some juvenile chickens in to living room during an ice storm, i used an extra large dog crate w/ the plastic, removable bin under it. We used ours for a 70# pittX. Also available @ TSC. Wrapped bottom of crate, part way up to retain the shavings... a bed sheet would work, too. I had pics, but not online where I can access & may have lost completely in computer crash/change over...

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Thanks for the all the ideas. I apologize for not responding, but I haven't been ready to think about this for a while.

Three days after making this post, and coincidentally while out shopping thrift stores for a crate/cage/contraption for my beautiful PB, we came home to find her body in the clutches of a skunk.

It was devestating. My little baby girl was fearless, and my suspicion is that the skunk entered my garden during the night to eat chicken feed and got "trapped" inside the garden. We put PB out in the garden during the day like always. I think the skunk was hiding behind the raised beds or in the overgrowth and came out after we left either to eat the food or try to escape, and probably Peanut Butter wasn't having any of that and attacked it. She never had any idea that she was the tiny and frail and uncordinated.

I have a permenant Peanut Butter-shaped hole in my heart.

 

[ChikaInu]

Thanks for the all the ideas. I apologize for not responding, but I haven't been ready to think about this for a while.

Three days after making this post, and coincidentally while out shopping thrift stores for a crate/cage/contraption for my beautiful PB, we came home to find her body in the clutches of a skunk.

It was devestating. My little baby girl was fearless, and my suspicion is that the skunk entered my garden during the night to eat chicken feed and got "trapped" inside the garden. We put PB out in the garden during the day like always. I think the skunk was hiding behind the raised beds or in the overgrowth and came out after we left either to eat the food or try to escape, and probably Peanut Butter wasn't having any of that and attacked it. She never had any idea that she was the tiny and frail and uncordinated.

I have a permenant Peanut Butter-shaped hole in my heart.

Oh no, I am so sorry for your loss! It is easy to tell by the way you are writing how much you cared for your special chicken.
You gave her the best life possible.

 

[Bawkbok]

Oh my I'm so sorry this happened to your baby (and you). It is so difficult losing a chicken for any reason. May your heart heal as you fondly remember the joy she brought to your life.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Thanks for the all the ideas. I apologize for not responding, but I haven't been ready to think about this for a while.

Three days after making this post, and coincidentally while out shopping thrift stores for a crate/cage/contraption for my beautiful PB, we came home to find her body in the clutches of a skunk.

It was devestating. My little baby girl was fearless, and my suspicion is that the skunk entered my garden during the night to eat chicken feed and got "trapped" inside the garden. We put PB out in the garden during the day like always. I think the skunk was hiding behind the raised beds or in the overgrowth and came out after we left either to eat the food or try to escape, and probably Peanut Butter wasn't having any of that and attacked it. She never had any idea that she was the tiny and frail and uncordinated.

I have a permenant Peanut Butter-shaped hole in my heart.

I'm so so sorry.

 

[MIchickenlady]

Thanks for the all the ideas. I apologize for not responding, but I haven't been ready to think about this for a while.

Three days after making this post, and coincidentally while out shopping thrift stores for a crate/cage/contraption for my beautiful PB, we came home to find her body in the clutches of a skunk.

It was devestating. My little baby girl was fearless, and my suspicion is that the skunk entered my garden during the night to eat chicken feed and got "trapped" inside the garden. We put PB out in the garden during the day like always. I think the skunk was hiding behind the raised beds or in the overgrowth and came out after we left either to eat the food or try to escape, and probably Peanut Butter wasn't having any of that and attacked it. She never had any idea that she was the tiny and frail and uncordinated.

I have a permenant Peanut Butter-shaped hole in my heart.