people with house chickens

[Sylvester017]

3 busy Dominique chicks in their dinosaur stage - half juvenile feathers and half downy feathers. Curious about EVERYTHING!

 

[Chickie Momma]

I have really missed the support of this thread!
I'm back to stay

 

[Chickie Momma]

View attachment 1107060 One of my 3 house chickens.

 

[Chickie Momma]

My Dom chicks are almost a month-&-a-half-old.

Baby Dominiques in kiddie pool brooder - Aug 4th:
View attachment 1130568 View attachment 1130569

A little over 5 weeks old now - gangly little dinosaurs. Very outgoing pesty friendly little breed. I'm constantly cleaning the tile floor but they don't fit in the kiddie pool very well and I don't have the heart to cage them up in a dog kennel. Waiting for them to get to two-months-old so we can put them outdoors overnight.
View attachment 1130572

 

[Chickie Momma]

Kiddie Pool is a great idea for a brooder! Esp in summer time

 

[Chickie Momma]

After being a house chicken for 4 years my Silkie Roo loved being an outside guard chicken in my fenced yard. Darn I miss him!

 

[Sylvester017]

Kiddie Pool is a great idea for a brooder! Esp in summer time

The kiddie pool was effective for only about 5 weeks and then we let the little dinosaurs have free reign of the kitchen. They're about 6 weeks old now and the 3 of them are driving us nuts with their flying, chirping, and standing on our shoes when we're trying to do stuff. I take them outdoors for some time with the two adult outdoor hens and for some bug chasing quality time - teehee! I'm giving them until about 8 or 9 weeks old before joining the two adults in the coop full time. In researching introductions it was suggested to introduce the youngsters as early as possible to the adults but with supervision. The old Partridge Silkie hen wants nothing to do with the chicks but the year-old Cuckoo Breda hen is very comfortable with the 3 Dominique chicks -- as long as no one is competing for food it's been relatively peaceful having the 5 birds together -- in a couple weeks it should work out to put them all in the coop for the night. The old Silkie will let them know she's boss even though she'll be the smallest chicken.

After being a house chicken for 4 years my Silkie Roo loved being an outside guard chicken in my fenced yard. Darn I miss him!

We lost our 6 year old Black Silkie hen last month to a bleeding ovarian tumor. We let the vet put her down and it was so hard to do. She was the spunkiest cutest littlest chicken we ever had and full of personality even while she was ill. We love Silkies so much but are having a hard time thinking about having more in the yard since they are overly broody which keeps their egg production too low. I'm zoned for only 5 hens/no roos so have to get selective about keeping egg layers. Silkies are great pets and good for showing frightened visitors that chickens are not mean, but we are too overly attached to sweet Silkies and it hurts too much when we lose one. I mean, it's sad to lose any bird but Silkies are so little and delicate at 2-lbs.

 

[Ponyfeather]

My unintentional house chicken right now is a little bantam phoenix hen. Lulu is a doll and after a few days of confusion, she is getting into being a house chicken. I had to pull her from a mixed breed flock out where I board my horses as when the old rooster was rehomed and his son took over the new guy got way, way too big to mate with her and she was being picked at by the other hens. This isn't the first time I had to pull a hen from this flock and I have a hen she used to buddy up with in my tiny flock of two out back.

But until Lulu adjusts to our dogs who run around outback and protect our other two and I get a handle on the case of Scaly Leg Mites she will be a house chicken.

 

[Sylvester017]

My unintentional house chicken right now is a little bantam phoenix hen. Lulu is a doll and after a few days of confusion, she is getting into being a house chicken. I had to pull her from a mixed breed flock out where I board my horses as when the old rooster was rehomed and his son took over the new guy got way, way too big to mate with her and she was being picked at by the other hens. This isn't the first time I had to pull a hen from this flock and I have a hen she used to buddy up with in my tiny flock of two out back.

But until Lulu adjusts to our dogs who run around outback and protect our other two and I get a handle on the case of Scaly Leg Mites she will be a house chicken.

Changes in flock dynamics is so disruptive but necessary - especially when little bantams are concerned. Any photos of Lulu with her buddy?

 

[robinwhiskers]

I wish we could let our birds in sometimes but we have 4 cats. I life that they can have fun outdoors but every now and then I wish I could sneak 'em in, haha.