people with house chickens

[Sylvester017]

I just found out recently that in a little less than a year, I will have two more house chickens living in my house.

My boyfriend and I are currently long distance, but we have made plans to close the gap early next summer. He has two house chickens, a Silkie mix named Frizz, and a Buff Silkie named Pepper. Frizz will be two in May, and Pepper is about 3 and a half months old. My house can already get a little crazy with Sunni and Stephen around. It'll be interesting to add two more to the bunch!

Interesting indeed! Our cottage is only 927 square feet of living space and when we have to keep a sick chicken indoors it is crazy - with or without diapers it's a lot of work. I can't imagine having 4 indoor birds. You might have to figure a way to keep them outside. I mean, I adore my girls but I know it would get old really fast to have all 4 of them inside the house 24/7. They are, after all, birds that love to forage, dust-bathe, dig for worms, sun-bathe, run and flap their wings, even fly a bit. I love having my juveniles indoors to bond with us humans but after a month or two we're more than ready to move them outdoors. The only reason I can see for keeping a chicken indoors is if it is handicapped too severely to be integrated into an outdoor flock. I know an owner who has a pullet with a missing wing and tried to put her outdoors but the poor thing lost its balance, fell, and couldn't get up again - she was found flapping on her side and it was good she was quickly found and brought back into the house. She will have to be a permanent house chicken. Some people keep a couple indoor chickens as pets but give them time outdoors to do their chicken thing since indoor carpets aren't the best dust-bathing substance and there aren't any worms to scratch for in area rugs! GL and let us know how the experience turns out!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Interesting indeed!  Our cottage is only 927 square feet of living space and when we have to keep a sick chicken indoors it is crazy - with or without diapers it's a lot of work.  I can't imagine having 4 indoor birds.  You might have to figure a way to keep them outside.  I mean, I adore my girls but I know it would get old really fast to have all 4 of them inside the house 24/7.  They are, after all, birds that love to forage, dust-bathe, dig for worms, sun-bathe, run and flap their wings, even fly a bit.  I love having my juveniles indoors to bond with us humans but after a month or two we're more than ready to move them outdoors.  The only reason I can see for keeping a chicken indoors is if it is handicapped too severely to be integrated into an outdoor flock.  I know an owner who has a pullet with a missing wing and tried to put her outdoors but the poor thing lost its balance, fell, and couldn't get up again - she was found flapping on her side and it was good she was quickly found and brought back into the house.  She will have to be a permanent house chicken.  Some people keep a couple indoor chickens as pets but give them time outdoors to do their chicken thing since indoor carpets aren't the best dust-bathing substance and there aren't any worms to scratch for in area rugs!  GL and let us know how the experience turns out!

Sunni originally started living in the house because she was a rehab pullet. After she was better, she had been in the house for so long and liked it so much, that we just let her stay. She will have been in the house for two years this October. I got Stephen from my boyfriend this summer as kind of a companion/buddy for Sunni to keep her company while I work long shifts. I believe she imprinted on me after all of the care I was giving her when she was so young, and she has a lot of separation anxiety. My boyfriends girls are in the house for pretty much the same reasons. We are thinking we might try to have his girls live outside with my small flock during the warm months of the year, and then have them in the house during the winter since Michigan winters can get so brutal. But we're not sure yet. We'll probably just keep them in the house. We won't have any dogs, and our cats are indoor/outdoor, so it'll really just be the chickens in the house to manage.

I take my house chickens outside to get some fresh air and sunshine whenever I get the chance as well I know house life isn't ideal for them, but the way I see it is that dogs and cats were never meant to be house pets either. Same with any other domesticated animal. They seem to really enjoy the house, so we let them stay. If they were to ever become unhappy, we would of course do the right thing and move them outside. It'll definitely be interested to have all four of them in the house. I'll have to keep you all updated with how it goes if the thread is still up and going next summer.

 

[Naliez]

We have a doggie door and our 5 chickens come and go as they please. 3 of the 5 come in everyday, hang out for a bit and then leave. The other two prefer to stay outside unless weather is bad. One of them in particular likes being inside more than the others and she will follow me around all day sometimes, but they spend most of their time outside. Idk if I could do it if we had carpets though. We only have hard floors and pleather furniture, so all wipeable surfaces.

 

[lost70344]

I have a silver laced polish that didn't grow at the rate of the rest of the flock. I can't put her outside because she is way too small. She still fits in my palm. Six months old and the others are outside laying eggs and this one I call peep peep lives in her own canopy bed in the house. She is puppy pad trained. She won't leave the padded area unless I move her off of it. She developed a cross beak, but, I keep it trimmed by a vet. She has a fun personality and is very cuddly. She loves sitting on my lap and watching the action on my iPad. When nothing on the iPad is moving she taps the glass with her beak. I take her on road trips just as anyone else would take their dog with them.
I also have a buff Orpington living in the house. She also is puppy pad trained. She was attacked by a dog and won't use one of her legs. I took her to the vet and had her leg x-rayed. The vet said their was nothing wrong in the x-ray. She said I may need to take her to a neurologist vet if she doesn't start walking soon. To rule out a nerve damage problem. I plan to do that soon if my message therapy doesn't work. She also is very cuddly. I talk to her and she makes noises like she is answering. She is too funny. She is laying eggs in the house now, but I do take them outside to play in the grass.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sunni originally started living in the house because she was a rehab pullet. After she was better, she had been in the house for so long and liked it so much, that we just let her stay. She will have been in the house for two years this October. I got Stephen from my boyfriend this summer as kind of a companion/buddy for Sunni to keep her company while I work long shifts. I believe she imprinted on me after all of the care I was giving her when she was so young, and she has a lot of separation anxiety. My boyfriends girls are in the house for pretty much the same reasons. We are thinking we might try to have his girls live outside with my small flock during the warm months of the year, and then have them in the house during the winter since Michigan winters can get so brutal. But we're not sure yet. We'll probably just keep them in the house. We won't have any dogs, and our cats are indoor/outdoor, so it'll really just be the chickens in the house to manage.

I take my house chickens outside to get some fresh air and sunshine whenever I get the chance as well

I know house life isn't ideal for them, but the way I see it is that dogs and cats were never meant to be house pets either. Same with any other domesticated animal. They seem to really enjoy the house, so we let them stay. If they were to ever become unhappy, we would of course do the right thing and move them outside. It'll definitely be interested to have all four of them in the house. I'll have to keep you all updated with how it goes if the thread is still up and going next summer.

Let us know how the integration goes with the 4 chickens. House chickens get very territorial when new ones are added to the household. Our new pullet that was in-house for a month got testy when we brought inside one of our previous house chickens. They can get very peckish. They're finally all outdoors now and have worked it all out. Our newest indoor pullet is now toward the bottom pecking order status outdoors. Nutsy chickens but we love them! Our household is too small for several animals so we had to decide if we'd get a dog, a cat, or I suggested chickens since I was from the farm. My DH fell in love with the chickens and doesn't miss having a dog or cat. You get more pets with chickens -- you see, because they are flock birds, you can't have just ONE

 

[Naliez]

Let us know how the integration goes with the 4 chickens.  House chickens get very territorial when new ones are added to the household.  Our new pullet that was in-house for a month got testy when we brought inside one of our previous house chickens.  They can get very peckish.  They're finally all outdoors now and have worked it all out.  Our newest indoor pullet is now toward the bottom pecking order status outdoors.  Nutsy chickens but we love them!  Our household is too small for several animals so we had to decide if we'd get a dog, a cat, or I suggested chickens since I was from the farm.  My DH fell in love with the chickens and doesn't miss having a dog or cat.  You get more pets with chickens -- you see, because they are flock birds, you can't have just ONE

And if you get bantams, two count as one!

 

[Sylvester017]

And if you get bantams, two count as one!

 

[pdx2phx]

Quote: And with Seramas, 3 = 1

 

[Naliez]

And with Seramas, 3 = 1

You guys are terrible for my chicken math.

 

[RAnst4038]

Has anyone else who has kept a house rooster had the experience of them crowing in distress for you? Topaz has taken this up, and it is as annoying as it is amusing. Today he broke a quill on his foot, not sure how but I was in the other room and then there was this single distressed crow from the other room. There is blood spots on the little blanket he had been sitting on and he was sanding up looking so pathetic like 'mommy it hurts'.


I stopped the bleeding quickly and cleaned him and then he wanted cuddles. I feel like I am dealing with a two year old, I started putting him to bed in the large rabbit hutch and he seemed to be handling it fine the first night. Then the next night he was find but crowing like a maniac and didn't stop until me and my mom where up. Third day I realized he was missing his brooder which has nice fine shavings in it that he can flop around inn. Silly thing thought he couldn't get inside it because he moved into the big boy house. He had been perching on the edge of it but no longer jumping inside. I finally set him down inside third morning and he just fell over happily into the shavings and flopped around in them again. Silly bird.

I took Ross my 14 month Dominique Roo to the family reunion & he hollered a warning every time a horse shoe was about to be thrown. Had to take him where he couldn't see it.