people with house chickens

[mommaduck2014]

My house chick Lucy hatched the 23rd, 3 days after my birthday! She is a bantam EE. She is so tiny but is now starting to get her wing feathers in. She also loves to cuddle. Hopefully she stays a she. Lol.

 

[Sylvester017]

Pancake is DORK she was consuming enough new print I noticed a shred of it rather intact in her poo, no more newsprint for her to rip up for awhile. No treats either I told my mom, only her chicky crumbles + water and grit at least until I know she hasn't impacted her crop. What a little dork I have, thankfully she seems fine and has become more energetic since I put her on a restricted diet. What a silly thing to do while she is in molt, newsprint can't grow feathers.

One guy said he didn't think his chickens were very smart since he found them eating a styrofoam block in the backyard. Another chicken owner said not to worry because the styrofoam will come out of the chicken just like it went in! Since then I don't worry too much about what my chickens eat. Sometimes the indoor chickens eat things in lieu of outside grit, grass, or dirt that they don't have access to inside the house. The main thing is not to expose them to toxic things like onions, avocados, vines/leaves from tomatoes, raw potatoes, etc etc. I'm sure there are many internet links but I like the following websites for toxic vs safe for chickens:
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html
http://www.ehow.com/list_7372892_plants-chickens-garden.html
http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/poisonous-plants-for-chickens
http://www.grit.com/animals/common-...-to-dogs-cats-and-chickens.aspx#axzz3KpE7wOXl
Sometimes there are warnings about giving salt to chickens but I also researched that some salt can help in preventing feather-picking. So I always use a very light sprinkle of salt whenever I cook up brown rice for my hens - not a lot but just a light sprinkle. Also tomatoes are ok for chickens but not the tomato plant. Citrus fruits should be avoided. Supposedly pumpkins and pumpkin seeds are ok for chickens but my particular set of hens won't touch them whether I serve them raw, boiled, baked, whole, or cut-up!!! Yet I see videos or photos of other people's flocks going to town on pumpkins. Go figure? Chickens have a mind of their own when it comes to meeting their own nutritional needs.

 

[Sylvester017]

My house chick Lucy hatched the 23rd, 3 days after my birthday! She is a bantam EE. She is so tiny but is now starting to get her wing feathers in. She also loves to cuddle. Hopefully she stays a she. Lol.

I hope you will adore your EE. I have an APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana LF (my avatar) and she is absolutely a doll. She's jittery, kooky, spooky, alert, wary, talkative, and one of the gentlest hens I have ever had. Ameraucanas will adopt orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock where other breeds are not so tolerant. She is very gentle and sweet around our bantam Silkies. We have had to re-home so many other LF breeds that were mean to the Silkies. My friend says she loves her one Ameraucana and 3 EEs - very sweet birds.

 

[Sylvester017]

So when you talk about putting a diaper on a chicken, what do you use?! I have really wanted to know what I could put on my chicken so she could run around the house freely without pooping on the carpet! Is this the kind that she wears http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Diapers-and-Saddles/Chicken-Diaper-p494.aspx , or do you use another kind? @patyrdz

I made my diapers from chickenmom's pattern on youtube.com. There are a lot of diapers sold online now but I can't afford them. I make my own out of leftover chicken pattern material from my kitchen cosies project. A lot cheaper than paying $15-$27 for one diaper. I need 3 different sizes so that can run expensive. Especially since you need at least 2 diapers to changeout if a chicken has diarrhea. I didn't use a sewing machine but stitched mine by hand.

 

[Ponyfeather]

One guy said he didn't think his chickens were very smart since he found them eating a styrofoam block in the backyard. Another chicken owner said not to worry because the styrofoam will come out of the chicken just like it went in! Since then I don't worry too much about what my chickens eat. Sometimes the indoor chickens eat things in lieu of outside grit, grass, or dirt that they don't have access to inside the house. The main thing is not to expose them to toxic things like onions, avocados, vines/leaves from tomatoes, raw potatoes, etc etc. I'm sure there are many internet links but I like the following websites for toxic vs safe for chickens:
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html
http://www.ehow.com/list_7372892_plants-chickens-garden.html
http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/poisonous-plants-for-chickens
http://www.grit.com/animals/common-...-to-dogs-cats-and-chickens.aspx#axzz3KpE7wOXl
Sometimes there are warnings about giving salt to chickens but I also researched that some salt can help in preventing feather-picking. So I always use a very light sprinkle of salt whenever I cook up brown rice for my hens - not a lot but just a light sprinkle. Also tomatoes are ok for chickens but not the tomato plant. Citrus fruits should be avoided. Supposedly pumpkins and pumpkin seeds are ok for chickens but my particular set of hens won't touch them whether I serve them raw, boiled, baked, whole, or cut-up!!! Yet I see videos or photos of other people's flocks going to town on pumpkins. Go figure? Chickens have a mind of their own when it comes to meeting their own nutritional needs.

It isn't that they aren't smart it is the fact they are 100% pica. Which means they consume non edibles but we knew that already. I had a horse like that before, tired to eat a lily, ate a feather out of my mom's hat... I wasn't overly shocked Pancake ate some of the paper it was more... about how much of it she ate. Thank you for those lists, I know I need to move our lilies into the front yard where Pancake does not tread.

But with chickens as with all animals it is never ending battle with trying to keep them a. out of the garden or b. trying to find things they simply have no interest in. Like yours with pumpkins, Pancake loves pumpkin sometimes other times she ignores it. I don't think one could keep a 100% chicken safe garden, because even safe plants can become toxic if they eat to much. Unless it was a rock garden. Also weeds will always find a way into the garden.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I hope you will adore your EE. I have an APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana LF (my avatar) and she is absolutely a doll. She's jittery, kooky, spooky, alert, wary, talkative, and one of the gentlest hens I have ever had. Ameraucanas will adopt orphaned chicks or injured birds into the flock where other breeds are not so tolerant. She is very gentle and sweet around our bantam Silkies. We have had to re-home so many other LF breeds that were mean to the Silkies. My friend says she loves her one Ameraucana and 3 EEs - very sweet birds.

I have a roo out of this latch hatch (they are almost 8 weeks now) that will grab my silkie mixes by the 'hair' on the top of the head and pull it making them scream if they are left together. Fortunetly he's not a roo we are keeping for our coop and will be going soon, I hope. Meanwhile, they are kept seperate. I guess even animals can discriminate the mean little bully. He's the smallest of the roos that hatched. Very lean and light weight, but he's the most aggressive of them. My other's are sweethearts compared to him.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a roo out of this latch hatch (they are almost 8 weeks now) that will grab my silkie mixes by the 'hair' on the top of the head and pull it making them scream if they are left together. Fortunetly he's not a roo we are keeping for our coop and will be going soon, I hope. Meanwhile, they are kept seperate. I guess even animals can discriminate the mean little bully. He's the smallest of the roos that hatched. Very lean and light weight, but he's the most aggressive of them. My other's are sweethearts compared to him.

I understand roos of any breed - especially the young cockerels - can be unpredictable. I was referring to the female gender of EEs/Amers as being the sweethearts of the flock. We have been so impressed with our Blue Wheaten hen that we've ordered a Blue Amer for Spring 2015. My friend and I have had excellent feedback from our EEs and Amers. The mixed EEs not so much. EDIT: By mixed EEs I mean the regular EEs that are cross-bred with other breeds of chickens. The pure Amers and EEs are forever my sweethearts. I guess there can be individual exceptions but not a very common occurrence.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I understand roos of any breed - especially the young cockerels - can be unpredictable. I was referring to the female gender of EEs/Amers as being the sweethearts of the flock. We have been so impressed with our Blue Wheaten hen that we've ordered a Blue Amer for Spring 2015. My friend and I have had excellent feedback from our EEs and Amers. The mixed EEs not so much. EDIT: By mixed EEs I mean the regular EEs that are cross-bred with other breeds of chickens. The pure Amers and EEs are forever my sweethearts. I guess there can be individual exceptions but not a very common occurrence.

The roo I mentioned is not EE. I was agreeing with the sentiment of you having to rehome other breeds for being rough with your silkies. Right now I have to EE roos -my going on 4 month pet chicken roo. And another out of the 8 week olds. The 8 week old EE roo will be going to my sisters along with a couple other confirmed roos from that hatch. But my older EE roo is a sweetheart. He tolerates the younger ones with no problems and usually only pecks in retaliation...lol He's never been aggressive with them. All of mine are barnyard mixes.

 

[Sylvester017]

The roo I mentioned is not EE. I was agreeing with the sentiment of you having to rehome other breeds for being rough with your silkies. Right now I have to EE roos -my going on 4 month pet chicken roo. And another out of the 8 week olds. The 8 week old EE roo will be going to my sisters along with a couple other confirmed roos from that hatch. But my older EE roo is a sweetheart. He tolerates the younger ones with no problems and usually only pecks in retaliation...lol He's never been aggressive with them. All of mine are barnyard mixes.

In researching chicken breeds for about 3 years I've noticed something fairly common about mixed breeds. If two assertive type breeds are cross-bred the offspring seem to be calmer in temperament. For example, a cross between a White Leg and Barred Rock will produce a California Gray and people who have them say they are much calmer than their parents. Same with California Whites or Austra Whites or Amberlinks/Amber Stars. The crosses seem to negate the more aggressive natures of their parents. However, I haven't found this always true about the Sexlink hybrids (the Reds and the Black links can sometimes be quite aggressive) Of course, I speak only of the hens. Roos can be "iffy" in temperaments although many owners say their roo crosses are calmer than the parent breeds. Hey, natural selection or mixed crosses created many of the imported multi-colored "landrace" breeds lately like the Swedish Flower Hen, Olandsk Dwarf, Icelandic, etc. and owners claim these are sweet breeds. IMO the Amer/EEs must have the most mixed background of any breed I've researched - there were so many Indonesian breeds crossed with South American/European backyard chickens to ultimately come up with a chicken that has the oddest look - however, it sure turned out a lovely temperament bird!

 

[flufssilkies]

Hello! My name is Kim, and I have 2 house chickens! I wish I saw this thread sooner. Lots of people think that I'm slightly off for keeping 2 house chickens, but there are LOTS of us who do! Ronnie is an 8 month old Serama, and Dora is a Sebright, 2 or 2.5 years old. Ronnie was just a little guy when I got him, and I wasn't planning on keeping him. He was hatched by a friend of mine, but she can't keep roosters, so I found a lady to take him. The lady backed out, so I kept Ronnie. He was a noisy boy, especially at night, so I would cuddle with him in bed to calm him. Yes, I sleep with my chickens.

i sleep with mine too!