Oh what A WONDERFUL LOVING site!! Another BYC pal directed me here. You are all such awesome people!! I am A FANATIC when it comes to animals.. and I most sincerely mean that. I have a 10 yo Japanese Chin dog, a year and a half old Oriental Short Hair cat and a 3 yo Maine Coon cat and then there's Daisy, my Barred Rock gal. I have a HUGE problem going here. You see I had two beautiful chickens.. Daisy and Olivia aka Livie. I lost my Livie June 4th and am devastated!! We don't know what was wrong but suspect cancer somewhere. Two vets saw her and could not find anything wrong. So I nursed and nursed her and kept her since last November and she was doing good again.. eating, walking about and pretty normal. Then that morning my husband found her dead in the nest just laying peacefully as if she was just sleeping on her side?? Oh here I go crying again...... This has been so hard. You see, Livie was my sweet cuddle bug. She's the one that let me do anything to her. Such a sweet soul. God I miss her so!! Well what brings me here now is my Daisy.
She's the Barred Rock. She's always been top of the pecking order of course. At first, the few days after we lost Livie she seemed to be doing fine. Doing everything just as always. Oh let me explain their setup and I'll post pics after too. Their coup is in our screened lanai. My husband then came up with A GREAT idea and he fenced in (just that green plastic fencing material) about 1/3 or maybe a little more actually and we made a run all around the coup!! There's bedding on the entire floor except for the feeding area which is just tile flooring. So it's a nice big area and theres a big open screened area with a ledge (it has 2 ft cement walls all around the lanai)so it creates window ledges where she can jump up and look out and my husband even made homemade like weather panels covered in very heavy duty plastic then framed in wood that are easily taken off and put back on depending on the weather.. rain everything is stopped from coming into the run area. Well anyways on about day 5, I was in the kitchen when I heard this loud rooster crowing?? We live in a housing sub division and aren't even supposed to have chickens!! I thought OMG someone's gotten a rooster!! UH NO... the "rooster" was my Daisy!! Unbelievable!! I couldn't believe it but I've video to prove it!! So we decided to open the door to the run and just give her free run of the entire lanai. That has helped. She stopped the crowing for a bit. But has since done it some more when she wants me to come out or better yet when she wants to come in!! We've been letting her come in for little whiles at a time.. like when I'm cooking or getting her treats ready for her etc etc. She loves being in and now doesn't wanna go back out. The only way to get her to walk out is if there's a plate in my hand!! I honestly don't know what to do?? We have NEW expensive carpet, a gift from my mother in Law yet, all over the rest of the downstairs. She poops alot and now in the Florida summer heat, with all the water she drinks the poop is mainly huge splatters all over the place!! There is just no way I can let her roam out of the kitchen!!?? We have just made a new little family room upstairs in my daughters old room and hubby put wood flooring which would be great to maybe carry her up here and let her hang out here with us when we're in here?? BUT s stupid me had not thought of this yet and we just bought a big area rug for the room. Duh.. now another issue!! See my husband is TOTALLY AGAINST a chicken in the house!! Took losing Livie and feeling so sorry for Daisy to even let her in the kitchen!! I would LOVE a place to have her here with us but don't know HOW in our situation that would or could work?? So I'm just in such a tough spot. I really don't know if just letting her in for awhile in the kitchen where she sees (and runs off!!) the dog and cat, Lol, is enough to keep her going and to be happy?? But I don't have much more I can offer her. I have even thought of giving her away to someone with maybe a small flock but then with her having been queen of the castle since birth, I'm not sure that's going to work as we know she'll go in at the bottom of the pecking order and will probably always be the odd man out?? So is that really going to be best for her?? I don't think so. I really don't think she'll thrive that way. I'm sooooooo sad and depressed at our current situation.. I have days all I do is cry.. like today!! Then on the other hand, even IF I convince my husband to let her come up to our new room and we remove the new carpet.. then this is also what she'll get used to and when we have to travel anywhere, what then?? My parents are gone but both in laws are alive and well but they're both away!! Father in Puerto Rico!! So my husband naturally wants to go see them at least not to mention even taking a vacation!! WHAT would we do then?? Would she be alright just being left outside with someone to come feed and water her, etc etc?? I honestly don't know of ANYONE who is going to come stay at our house, be carrying her inside AND UP THE STAIRS to the room and THEN be behind her cleaning poop every 10 minutes!! WHO DOES THAT?? LOL LOL NOONE BUT US WITH HUGE HEARTS WHO LOVE OUR BABIES AS WE DO OUR OWN CHILDREN PRACTICALLY!! heeeeheeeeee Sooooooo with ALL THIS being said, does ANYONE have any thoughts or ideas they could offer?? Anything that could maybe help at least keep her busy and entertained while outside even?? Oh in fact she LOVES to play with a coke bottle with little holes I punch in it, then I fill it with scratch and they BOTH would each get a bottle and they'd play for hours!! Daisy loves her bottle playing BUT it's too hot to give her scratch now and she just doesn't seem to like ANY other kinds of seeds I've tried?? Wild bird seed, sunflower seeds, etc etc nothing??!! Any ideas on something else I could put in it for her to try??
Well I wanna apologize for going on and on but rather than leave a zillion questions and later try to answer them, I wanted to give you a full scenario of our situation. So do please forgive my long post. I'll post some pics and some video also although I may have to open a new window or reply in order to post the video??
Well, thank you in advance for any ideas you can give me to help my Daisy have the best life possible!! Thank you for opening this thread.. I just LOVE AND ADMIRE all of you that have beautiful house chickens!! You are all truly blessed.
This is the area my hubby made for my girls!!
The coup, roost and nest he made them!!
And my added touch!!
This is my beautiful girl, Daisy!!
A more close up of her...
And lastly this is Daisy after she totally pigged out before going up to roost!! Look at that crop!! Lol lol
She's the Barred Rock. She's always been top of the pecking order of course. At first, the few days after we lost Livie she seemed to be doing fine. Doing everything just as always. Oh let me explain their setup and I'll post pics after too. Their coup is in our screened lanai. My husband then came up with A GREAT idea and he fenced in (just that green plastic fencing material) about 1/3 or maybe a little more actually and we made a run all around the coup!! There's bedding on the entire floor except for the feeding area which is just tile flooring. So it's a nice big area and theres a big open screened area with a ledge (it has 2 ft cement walls all around the lanai)so it creates window ledges where she can jump up and look out and my husband even made homemade like weather panels covered in very heavy duty plastic then framed in wood that are easily taken off and put back on depending on the weather.. rain everything is stopped from coming into the run area. Well anyways on about day 5, I was in the kitchen when I heard this loud rooster crowing?? We live in a housing sub division and aren't even supposed to have chickens!! I thought OMG someone's gotten a rooster!! UH NO... the "rooster" was my Daisy!! Unbelievable!! I couldn't believe it but I've video to prove it!! So we decided to open the door to the run and just give her free run of the entire lanai. That has helped. She stopped the crowing for a bit. But has since done it some more when she wants me to come out or better yet when she wants to come in!! We've been letting her come in for little whiles at a time.. like when I'm cooking or getting her treats ready for her etc etc. She loves being in and now doesn't wanna go back out. The only way to get her to walk out is if there's a plate in my hand!! I honestly don't know what to do?? We have NEW expensive carpet, a gift from my mother in Law yet, all over the rest of the downstairs. She poops alot and now in the Florida summer heat, with all the water she drinks the poop is mainly huge splatters all over the place!! There is just no way I can let her roam out of the kitchen!!?? We have just made a new little family room upstairs in my daughters old room and hubby put wood flooring which would be great to maybe carry her up here and let her hang out here with us when we're in here?? BUT s stupid me had not thought of this yet and we just bought a big area rug for the room. Duh.. now another issue!! See my husband is TOTALLY AGAINST a chicken in the house!! Took losing Livie and feeling so sorry for Daisy to even let her in the kitchen!! I would LOVE a place to have her here with us but don't know HOW in our situation that would or could work?? So I'm just in such a tough spot. I really don't know if just letting her in for awhile in the kitchen where she sees (and runs off!!) the dog and cat, Lol, is enough to keep her going and to be happy?? But I don't have much more I can offer her. I have even thought of giving her away to someone with maybe a small flock but then with her having been queen of the castle since birth, I'm not sure that's going to work as we know she'll go in at the bottom of the pecking order and will probably always be the odd man out?? So is that really going to be best for her?? I don't think so. I really don't think she'll thrive that way. I'm sooooooo sad and depressed at our current situation.. I have days all I do is cry.. like today!! Then on the other hand, even IF I convince my husband to let her come up to our new room and we remove the new carpet.. then this is also what she'll get used to and when we have to travel anywhere, what then?? My parents are gone but both in laws are alive and well but they're both away!! Father in Puerto Rico!! So my husband naturally wants to go see them at least not to mention even taking a vacation!! WHAT would we do then?? Would she be alright just being left outside with someone to come feed and water her, etc etc?? I honestly don't know of ANYONE who is going to come stay at our house, be carrying her inside AND UP THE STAIRS to the room and THEN be behind her cleaning poop every 10 minutes!! WHO DOES THAT?? LOL LOL NOONE BUT US WITH HUGE HEARTS WHO LOVE OUR BABIES AS WE DO OUR OWN CHILDREN PRACTICALLY!! heeeeheeeeee Sooooooo with ALL THIS being said, does ANYONE have any thoughts or ideas they could offer?? Anything that could maybe help at least keep her busy and entertained while outside even?? Oh in fact she LOVES to play with a coke bottle with little holes I punch in it, then I fill it with scratch and they BOTH would each get a bottle and they'd play for hours!! Daisy loves her bottle playing BUT it's too hot to give her scratch now and she just doesn't seem to like ANY other kinds of seeds I've tried?? Wild bird seed, sunflower seeds, etc etc nothing??!! Any ideas on something else I could put in it for her to try??
Well I wanna apologize for going on and on but rather than leave a zillion questions and later try to answer them, I wanted to give you a full scenario of our situation. So do please forgive my long post. I'll post some pics and some video also although I may have to open a new window or reply in order to post the video??
Well, thank you in advance for any ideas you can give me to help my Daisy have the best life possible!! Thank you for opening this thread.. I just LOVE AND ADMIRE all of you that have beautiful house chickens!! You are all truly blessed.
This is the area my hubby made for my girls!!
The coup, roost and nest he made them!!
And my added touch!!
This is my beautiful girl, Daisy!!
A more close up of her...
And lastly this is Daisy after she totally pigged out before going up to roost!! Look at that crop!! Lol lol
