people with house chickens

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Does anybody with tile floors have problems with chickens eating the grout? My chicks peck at the grout until it crumbles and then eat it, even though I give them grit. Is there anything in the grout that can hurt them?
I'm glad I found this thread!

Hi birdbrain: Welcome to BYC!

I have tile floors! Sorry! Can't help you with the grout problem! Maybe put some rugs over the areas they are scratching and pecking at? It could be they are looking for a spot to dust in too! Or use one of those heavy duty painters drop sheets to cover the area? We use one on the chicken bedroom carpeted floor. Works great!

Also! As a good friend told me one time long ago! Chickens aren't happy - unless they are scratching!

TC

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi all,
Is there a particular formula you use for cleaning floors? I've been using straight vinegar water. I'm worried that it might be eating away the grout between the tiles, though.
I have two bantam cochins in the Florida room and 3.5 silkie chicks (the other 0.5 is Black Copper Marans) in the living room!

It's called chicken diapers. That way you only have to wash the chicken butt in a tub of warm water evenings and blow dry her and not pick up poops off the floor all day - we got tired of picking up poops off the tile floor every 15 minutes. We never used vinegar but just a spray bottle of VERY diluted regular (not Ultra) Dawn to squirt on the floor for a quick clean up with 1/2 sheet paper towels or a paper napkin.

Also we use a 4x4 foot 8-panel indoor dog kennel for our inhouse chickens that need to recuperate from illness or if we order new juveniles that need quarantine. The kennel is just 8-panels that hook together and while still connected can fold up flat quickly if not in use plus one panel has a gate we can enter the pen to clean and put out food. Under the kennel we taped down a thick plastic sheet to the floor/carpet with blue painter's tape and a year later that plastic sheet is still secured to the big throw rug with that tape. In the kennel we lay out the Wall Street Journal sheets every day and just roll up the spilled feed and poop once a day and lay out a fresh paper floor over the plastic sheet. We love our kennel and more panels can be purchased to make it bigger - our kennel is 3 feet tall and 4x4 square but these panels come in various heights from 2 feet to 4 feet tall. Also the walls can be configured in different shapes like octagon, square or rectangle. There's no roof so we can stand once we enter the pen through the little gate. We keep one covered nestbox in the pen and a portable perch plus feed and water. For our flighty birds we clip bird netting to the top so they don't fly/jump out.

We used to fold up the kennel out of the way but left the taped clear plastic sheet on the big throw rug so we could just bring out the pen anytime we needed to use it. Well we leave the pen out all the time now. We have one Black Silkie that likes to come into the house to use that kennel's nestbox to lay her egg and go back outside again. She doesn't like waiting in line with the other chickens to use the favorite nestbox in the coop outside! Chickens always fight over one nestbox when there are plenty others to choose from!

 

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Thanks for the cage ideas guys! Right now she is in a parrot cage. It is huge but she cannot use most of the height since she will not climb up two perches. I can't tell whether it is big enough for her. There is not really room for a nestbox but she doesn't use one anyways. And keeping in the bedding is impossible. Right now I have up cardboard guards but it is gets all over. Does this cage look good enough? I could consider adding a second level and the under the level can be the nestbox. But I would need a rock or something for her to climb to get up on the level. The have the roost up way higher.

You can get all sorts of wire racks in stores to attach to the bird cage for your hen to jump up on for other areas to roost on and stand on. That cage is large enough to have several different areas for different racks. One could hold a box for dusting in, another with hay in it for laying eggs or just sleeping in! I don't have a chicken one that sits on roosts! And by all means! Put a couple of hand mirrors in the cage for her to talk to herself. All my carriers have mirrors in them. I also leave a TV turned on for them too!

Get you a bag of zip cable cords for attaching the wire racks to corners of the cage! You can even put several feather dusters together to hang above where she sleeps. Put a mirror there and the feathers hanging above the mirror. That will make her feel like she's snuggling with another chicken! If she's constantly pulling feathers out of the duster though? I'd say remove it! LOL

You can find hay for the egg box at a Pet store! Just feel the bag to find the one that's got the softest hay in it. I just bought three bags yesterday! Shredded paper is a good thing to use too for the bottom. You can make your own or find somewhere where they will just give it to you!

TC

 

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Good afternoon Sylvester!

We are on the ball here with suggestions - aren't we? LOL

TC

 

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duckncover: BTW! You have a beautiful hen there!

TC

 

[chrissy903]

Came home and found a suprise!! My first egg from my Aracauna hen

she's seven months now

 

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Came home and found a suprise!! My first egg from my Aracauna hen

she's seven months now

Isn't that funny when you aren't expecting any eggs and then BAM! There's a surprise waiting for ya in the box! Is it light green in color? Can't really tell by the lighting!

TC

 

[chrissy903]

Isn't that funny when you aren't expecting any eggs and then BAM! There's a surprise waiting for ya in the box! Is it light green in color? Can't really tell by the lighting!

TC

Yes it's green, very pretty! They call them easter egger. I knew she would be laying soon. She's so sweet too How's your day going

 

[mg15]

Dottie our house chicken and her eleven. One of the babies is as big as Dottie

 

[Skink]

Pepper has finally become chicken shaped! She'll be 6 weeks tomorrow. It's a lot like having a small, peeping cloud as a house pet. Really hard to think she descended from dinosaurs when she's being a quiet puff, but then she'll strike a pose or make a fuss and it's so obvious to see!

Here she was on the 30th:



Photos from the 27th: