people with house chickens

[Sylvester017]

We set up a tall folding dog kennel 4x4 and 3-feet tall sitting on a thick plastic sheet taped to the floor/rug with wide blue painter's tape (12 months later that stuff is STILL in place!). We line the top of the plastic sheet with our old Wall Street Journals and every day just roll up the spilled feed and poops. We don't use any slick colored newspaper sheets.

Anyway the pen is portable with no floor and no top - the 8 kennel panels can be configured in any shape like octagon, square, or rectangle and more panels can be bought individually to make it bigger - Walmart had the best prices on these collapsible kennel walls that fold flat and out of the way with no top or botton panels to deal with. Ours is 3 feet tall (they also come in shorter or taller heights) with an access gate in one of the panels so we can get into the pen. Silkies can't fly so having a roof on the kennel was never a need and not having a roof means we can stand in the cage during daily cleanup.

This kennel was what we used when we had to quarantine juveniles before introducing them to the main flock. Today we use it as an isolation pen or hospital pen for sick or recuperating birds. For LF we clip a bird net to the top of the kennel to keep them from flying out. The 4x4 kennel dimensions would make a nice nursery for chicks if a smaller guage wire border were fastened around the perimeter base as a chick barrier. We put a portable perch in it and a nestbox. In fact one of our Silkies comes into the house to lay her egg in the pen and goes back outside again. Silly but my DH is a softie and lets her.

P.S. If we have a lone bird recuperating in the hospital pen and we leave for the day we leave the radio on a talk show so the bird can hear voices and not feel alone. They seem to like radios and if at their level they push each other to stand in front of the speakers.

 

[cailynne]

Hi All,

I took advantage of the nice day and let the chickies forage in the front yard this afternoon.
Lots of scratching, flapping, eating, crowing and other fun chicken type activities abounded.
My oldest pullet(6 months old) has been laying for about 2 weeks now!! Yay!, fresh eggs!!

 

[chrissy903]

Hi All, I took advantage of the nice day and let the chickies forage in the front yard this afternoon. Lots of scratching, flapping, eating, crowing and other fun chicken type activities abounded. My oldest pullet(6 months old) has been laying for about 2 weeks now!! Yay!, fresh eggs!!

What breed is the white chicken?

 

[subhanalah]

What breed is the white chicken?

that's a silkie!

 

[duckncover]

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.

 

[Ponyfeather]

So has anyone had their house chicken pull Parrot behavior, of running their beaks against the cage side if you are near to get your attention/single they want out? Pancake will do this when she wants out. Normally right after I wake her up and after she has ate and drank, she starts it and then sits with me for awhile. Once she starts wandering around and scratching she is happy to go back and eat.

 

[Crickett]

So has anyone had their house chicken pull Parrot behavior, of running their beaks against the cage side if you are near to get your attention/single they want out? Pancake will do this when she wants out. Normally right after I wake her up and after she has ate and drank, she starts it and then sits with me for awhile. Once she starts wandering around and scratching she is happy to go back and eat. 

I suddenly had a picture in my head of those old time jail shows. The ones where the prisoner clangs his metal cup against the bars to get the attention of the guard! Hee-hee!

 

[Ponyfeather]

I suddenly had a picture in my head of those old time jail shows.

The ones where the prisoner clangs his metal cup against the bars to get the attention of the guard! Hee-hee!

That pretty much explains it. But cuter... because this little yellow pullet is doing it that wants to cuddle for awhile is doing it.

 

[birdbrain222]

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!

 

[birdbrain222]

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!