Potty Training Chickens, How-to!

[MareeZoCool]

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Same here! PLUS, my hubby will treat me like I'm ready for the loomy bin. "potty train a chicken."

 

[Angelline]

Birds can store and control passage of excrement. Whomever has said otherwise have had no experience with birds. A mated pair of pigeons for example take turns incubating their eggs. Each parent will sit for about 12 hours and hold their waste until the other parent comes to do their duty. Once relieved of duty the parent will release the stored waste.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

I had a Moluccan Cockatoo who sat on the coach with me and watched TV every night. Whenever he had to poop, he would duck his head up and down towards his tray. I would put him on his tray and he would poop, then crawl back up my am and we'd go back to the coach. For the five years I owned him, he never ever poop on me or the couch. I did not train him, it was his choice. He had absolute control of when and where he pooed.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I had an orphaned bantam I raised way back in the 90's who did the same thing. He perched on my shoulder, protected me from spiders, slept in my tent when we went camping... and he would always let me know when he had to go. As long as I paid attention to him, I would never get pooed on. Mom wouldn't let me keep him in the house, but if we HAD had a litterbox set up I am sure I could have trained him to use it. He didn't want to make a mess, he was a great chicken!

 

[Noble Rooster]

Very helpful post! I had been wondering about the extent to which chickens can "hold it," given that broody hens can, especially if it was just a question of running over to a litter box rather than having to keep it in for hours until taken out, like a dog. While I certainly see the utility of chicken diapers they strike me as involving extra work as far as helping the chicken keep its bottom fluff clean.

I totally need a desk chicken!!!

 

[prov31gal]

this all seems a little far fetched to me. im sorry, but i just dont think a chicken WILL "hold it" whether or not they CAN. it all seems a bit..........i dont know........out there. ive had a chicken sit on my lap and poop on me, ive had a chicken sit on my lap and not poop me. i have chickens that poop on eggs and chickens that dont, i just dont think there is any rhyme or reason to it. i think they just poop when they have to poop, because they are chickens ...... not dogs, not pigeons, not cats, chickens. they just arent that smart and not too concerned about poop.

 

[bigstack]

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You learned WRONG! Any one who has ever raised a broody hen can attest to the fact that chickens CAN and DO Hold in their movements! ( to a point of course) But yes they can hold it!

God Bless!

 

[bakerjw]

This post has once again gotten me on my wife's "Gotta keep an eye on him again." list. I called her yesterday when she was on her lunch break and mentioned in passing that I had read on the forums where you can house train a chicken. She quickly rebutted my statement with a "You are not housebreaking chickens and bring them inside."

I could hear her coworkers laughing quite heartily in the background.

At some point a chicken will come inside. She just doesn't know it yet. Wife that is.

 

[bigstack]

I just read my post. Maybe I was a lil over reacting. I appologize for that! But yes they can hold it. The question is WILL they hold it? As with almost every animal, there will be the exceptions who do great and the ones who could just care less! It also depends on YOU and your ability to train. Not just any one can do it. It takes ALOT of patience and time and you must be very sweet and gentle, even when there are accidents. Birds are the worst at over reacting to stress. One NO too loud and you can have to start over from the beginning. A bird has to trust you. If you break that trust and they begin to fear you..... You can forget it! I have also known vengefull chickens too!!! I agree they are not The brightest animals but there is the exception here and there. As for my reaction to the learning wrong statement.... I get so fed up with people who think they know it all! (teachers, scientists, or just people in general) Every day we hear on the news where science is wrong again! Something they have taught for decades is now found out to be false. Or we just learned blah blah has been proven wrong! NOTHING in life is certain or guaranteed except death! And even that depends on you religous beliefs!!!! I guess its just a pet pieve. So I appologize for the brash statement! But yes they can hold it! Yes I have seen it! No I dont have time to teach it!

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[Mrs. Green Thumbs]

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Dogs can hold it for hours, I don't think chickens can.

Like many thing's for us humans, just because we can does not mean we should. Forcing a dog to "hold it" for extended period's of time is VERY stressful to the dog. Our chi was abused over potty training by his first "family". We found this out AFTER we had him home and we began potty training. The poor thing would hold it as long as he could till he just could not hold it any more and then he would run to hide as he peed, like he had been a bad boy.... This does have more to do with the human response but unless you want a very nervous dog I suggest ALWAYS allowing some option for your dog. In our home that is a rental we can't install a doggy door for Ricky to get outside so we invest in puppy pad's. Ricky ALWAYS has an option to relieve himself.