people with house chickens

[Calichicken2015]

Yup, and until then, I am gonna continue feeding and watering the hen.

She is drinking out of a large rabbit waterer. We would hang it in there for her, but it leaks, so I hold it for her so she can drink from it when I do my checkups. Last thing we want is mold in the nest!

She did have a bowl of food in there too, but she knocked it over... No need to clean out the seeds anyways as she'll eat it when she is ready and if any is still there after today, I'll take it out during her toilet break that also doubles as a nest-egg check.

 

[MageofMist]

The hen was being stubborn this morning, being a bit of a grump and not wanting to drink and instead just pecked at me. So made giving her water a form of enrichment today, putting some seeds in a bowl of water and wriggling it. She then goes to catch the moving seeds and drinks the water in the process.

A little tip for when one has a nestbound broody who is being a grump.

She has some REALLY good aim! No matter how fast I wriggled the bowl to make the seeds move faster, she still caught them.

 

[LadyVictorian]

I recently took in 2 more house chickens. A little baby had wry neck so I took her home with me and one other chick to aid her in her recovery. So far she's been doing much better but boy are those two super clingy to me now. I think they associate me with mommy chicken and if I leave their sight all I hear is loud shrill cheaps coming from the bedroom they are in. Once I go back in and they can see me they settled down.

 

[RoxyAnny]

Hello!    Can you post a pic?

Thanks for welcoming me on board! Here's some pictures of the cabinet. I tried to get a picture of Claudette sitting in it, but she was not being cooperative. I managed to finally get one of her in focus. That's Claudette for ya! The box (also lined with contact paper) looks like heck, but I'm not worried about it for now. What's important is it works! I've been eyeballing larger (& nicer) wall units at my favorite used furniture store. But this one is a nice size. Maybe some day if I want to confine them for longer periods I can justify it. For now they're spoiled; have the run of the house from morning 'til night.

 

[Calichicken2015]

The hen was being stubborn this morning, being a bit of a grump and not wanting to drink and instead just pecked at me. So made giving her water a form of enrichment today, putting some seeds in a bowl of water and wriggling it. She then goes to catch the moving seeds and drinks the water in the process.

A little tip for when one has a nestbound broody who is being a grump.

She has some REALLY good aim! No matter how fast I wriggled the bowl to make the seeds move faster, she still caught them.

LOL! My girl wasn't too grumpy when she was broody and hatching...but BOY did she SPEED eat, drink, poop and dust when she did get off her nest! She would get off twice a day...once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. How much longer before she has cheeping fluff balls under her?

 

[Calichicken2015]

I recently took in 2 more house chickens. A little baby had wry neck so I took her home with me and one other chick to aid her in her recovery. So far she's been doing much better but boy are those two super clingy to me now. I think they associate me with mommy chicken and if I leave their sight all I hear is loud shrill cheaps coming from the bedroom they are in. Once I go back in and they can see me they settled down.

Aww...so glad that your little babies are doing well and YES! Once you have them they do get very attached to you

Our girls loved snuggling on our lap and hanging around with us throughout the day! They are so lucky to have you!

 

[Calichicken2015]

Thanks for welcoming me on board! Here's some pictures of the cabinet. I tried to get a picture of Claudette sitting in it, but she was not being cooperative. I managed to finally get one of her in focus. That's Claudette for ya! The box (also lined with contact paper) looks like heck, but I'm not worried about it for now. What's important is it works! I've been eyeballing larger (& nicer) wall units at my favorite used furniture store. But this one is a nice size. Maybe some day if I want to confine them for longer periods I can justify it. For now they're spoiled; have the run of the house from morning 'til night.

Aww...she is sweet and looks happy in her house! And if it works, that is all that matters! Ours also have the run of the house and use their house for sleeping and laying eggs

LOVE house chicken life!!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

I recently took in 2 more house chickens. A little baby had wry neck so I took her home with me and one other chick to aid her in her recovery. So far she's been doing much better but boy are those two super clingy to me now. I think they associate me with mommy chicken and if I leave their sight all I hear is loud shrill cheaps coming from the bedroom they are in. Once I go back in and they can see me they settled down.

It's good you have TWO chicks. I had one chick alone and she was very demanding. As long as we were in the room she was happy and chirpy but if we stepped too far away she'd scream bloody murder trying to jump through the cage to follow us. To keep her from injuring herself we had to put her on the floor and let her follow us around the house. Baby chicks are very demanding and I won't do chicks again. I only go with juveniles over 2 months now. I don't know how the momma hens put up with the demanding chicks!

 

[MageofMist]

LOL! My girl wasn't too grumpy when she was broody and hatching...but BOY did she SPEED eat, drink, poop and dust when she did get off her nest! She would get off twice a day...once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. How much longer before she has cheeping fluff balls under her?

Should be 1 day, but it could end up being 2 or 3, and I am sure mama hen won't mind sitting extra days.

So not long! The hen has been doing an amazing job and I recently got an egg candler with an incubator we ordered, to hatch stubborn quails, as all my other attempts at hatching them failed and I KNOW the quail eggs are fertile. XD

Anyways, back to da chickens. I got the egg candler and examined a few eggs and compared them to a store egg for reference, and I could tell the egg had a chick in it right away, I could hardly see though it and around the air sac, where it was brightest, I saw some of the veins. Compared to a store egg that even when not in pretty much total darkness which I needed to see the Silkie egg, was a glowing ball of orange. So the eggs are def fertile and def on the way to hatching!

Luckily she doesn't mind me examining her eggs much, probably since she is used to me touching them such as when the eggs are poking out from under her from her breaks on the nest or from when she shifted position, so I lightly push them in back under her.

 

[LadyVictorian]

It's good you have TWO chicks. I had one chick alone and she was very demanding. As long as we were in the room she was happy and chirpy but if we stepped too far away she'd scream bloody murder trying to jump through the cage to follow us. To keep her from injuring herself we had to put her on the floor and let her follow us around the house. Baby chicks are very demanding and I won't do chicks again. I only go with juveniles over 2 months now. I don't know how the momma hens put up with the demanding chicks!

I have a mirror in there for them as well so they assume there are 4 chicks in there all together. Even with all that they are still super demanding. My little wry neck chick is a LOT of work to get her better and Elsa her buddy is very very VERY needy and has to be cuddled and snuggled for hours. Sometimes I have to yell at Elsa and tell her she needs to eat and drink for a little while and not sit on my lap because she would do that until she starved so I have to set her down for an hour to get her food and water intake. She also gets jealous when I am giving Whinny her vitamins because she is getting attention and Elsa is not. She will walk around screaming at the top of her lungs and when I put Whinny back I need to hold Elsa or she will run over and pick on her. I call them my toddlers, at least this age doesn't last long.