Raising a house chicken

[ChickenNanaZoo]

Hi, I am new to this site and I need some help. In about 2 weeks, if all goes well, I will have a brand new Polish frizzel bantam hen and I want to raise her as a house hen. I would like her to be bonded to me and either wear diapers or be potty trained. I need all of the help you can give me. We have 2 dogs, 6 birds, 4 tanks of fish and a fish pond outside and all of these animals are pets. I don't have chickens of my own but I am grandma to Princess Wilamena, Maxine, Phylis and Henretta--one polish, and 3 silkies, all bantams. I am so exited about this that I am having trouble sleeping!!! If any of you have raised (I have already PM'd 3 of you) house chickens and diaper trained them or potty trained them or even just bonded with them, please tell me how you did it. I plan to take my hen with me when I visit some of my family members so hopefully, the bonding will work out well. Some of the help I need: at what age do you start diaper training the chic? Can I hold the chick a lot if I keep her warm? Can I use small blankets instead of chick bedding? Is it OK to raise the hen the same way I would raise a puppy, accepting the differences, of course? Does a house chicken need to be socialized with other people and how might they do with other chickens when I visit my daugher's house? Teach me all you know!!! I would love to hear from other chicken people even if you don't have house chickens.

 

[excited2getfirstchickens]

www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=299187&p=17

Check out this link.

 

[Buugette]

Yes, that is my mother... and we are all very excited about the upcoming

hatching. Princess Wilamena became a house chicken out of circumstances, now she is just plain spoiled. Here's hoping we have lots of hens... cause we can't have no roos.

 

[iluvcks]

Irene,
I hope I will be able to help you. There is also a lot of information on my thread. House chickens, but I see you have already been there.

First thing is it is VERY difficult to sex a chicken from day one unless you have been trained to do so. I seen it on Dirty Jobs. At the hatchery they take the day old chick and squeeze it untill the poop comes out. They look at the insides of the chick to tell wether its boy or girl. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING! Otherwise I guess some chickens start showing signs of being a boy between two and three weeks. I am sure I can find you someone who could look at pics of your babies at a few weeks old and be able to give you educated guesses. Thats the best I can offer you unless you order from a hatchery. Most breeders can't sex a chicken that young either. So good luck with taking home your chicken and it being a girl. I recently bought 8 silkies from a breeder. Hoping all would be hens. 7 are roosters and my hen drowned in the duck pool. So much for the silkies. Sorry.

Next... you mentioned that you have two dogs and 6 birds and a fish pond. The natural response for a dog is going to be to kill your chick. Be very careful untill you are sure. And then still don't entirelly trust them. Chicks start losing their fluff and getting wing feathers so fast. Before you know it she will be able to fly and the dogs will be interested all over again. I don't know what kind of birds you have. But again I would be careful if you have parrots and such. The fish pond... Chickens can NOT swim. they should be smart enough to stay out of it, but I know from experience... stuff happens. Be careful. I read the other day about a chicken falling into a 5 gallon bucket and drowning in 3 inches of water.

As you already know I don't use diapers on my girls. But the goal of my girls is to eventually get them back outside full time. Tilly my white cochin has now been outside a week. Gabby my Ameracuna still sleeps in the house. She has been in since December and just recently decided she could hang out with the other chickens. She doesnt think shes a chicken. I think thats what you want. LOL

Their is someone on BYC that has a theory about potty training chickens. I think they said you have to start at about three weeks and basically train them like a puppy. Take her out often. Watch for the poop clues. They stop, stand up straight, bend slightly and push and poo. then move on. USUALLY. I luck out, but so do a lot of others on my thread. They say its like the chicken knows to stay on hard surface flooring. Diapers are fine I guess. I would think they are going to require bathing because of the poo all over their butts. Also I would think that laying an egg would be uncomfortable. I mean more than ususal. LOL When you bathe your chicken use a mild shampoo rinse well. Then rinse again with white vinagar then agin with water. The vinagar cuts the soap and makes the feathers shiny.

Bonding 101-hold her, talk to her, spoil her with treats. But don't start the treats to early and make sure they are the proper treats. I can PM you a list if you'd like. I assume you know all about the heat requirements for babies. (If not let me know I will PM you are care guide.) So hold as much as you want to. Watch for signs. To hot and they will have their wings out and be panting. To cold and they snuggle even more. I have found baby chicks love to lay on your chest up in you neck. So cute. Make sure you talk to her. She will learn your voice. Chickens are like dogs. If you want her to be social, socialize her with people. If you don't, don't be surprised if she won't let others touch her.

It is never a good idea to put your chicken with anyone elses chickens. Ever. First of all they won't know her or like her and they will be mean to her. Don't do that to her. Second, a chicken thats never shown symptoms of being sick can get very sick just from being thrown into a stressful situation. It usually takes days to weeks to get chickens used to each other so they don't get sick and won't kill each other.

Bedding. I would use pine bedding with papertowels over it for the first day. Just untill they know what the food is and won't try eating the pine bedding. After that just use pine bedding. You can use blankets, if you love doing laundry. They poop a lot after the first couple weeks.

Good luck. Any more questions PM me.
Take pics of mama and daddy and post them so we can see.

Susanne

 

[ChickenNanaZoo]

Hi Susanne,

Remember me?? I needed help on how to raise a "house chicken". Well, I have had my "baby" for nearly 3 weeks now and I was sure I had a hen. I got the chick from a breeder at Chicken Stock and she was pretty sure my chick was a hen. She was wrong--I had the chick DNA sexed and just found out a few days ago that I have a roo. Oh well---I intend to keep him anyway! He is going to be a house chicken and his paper training is just about to start. Your tips on bonding really worked!! We are bonded to each other and I am socializing him with other people but he comes back to me. My daughter used a bator to hatch chicks and my boy does socialize with his "friends". There are 4 of them--2 roos and 2 hens--again, I had them DNA sexed too. My daughter and grandaughter needed hens so I felt that the testing was necessary. So far, he is in a clear plastic bin with a lattice top on it. He can see me and usually is OK if I am in the room but if I leave the room there is screaming!! That's OK cause I have a cockatoo and my roo can't be any louder than my cockatoo is!!! I started out thinking he was Cleopatra but now I know that he is Julius Ceasar. We call him Ceasar and my DH is Ok with all of this. One of my lovebirds was just killed by my daughter's dog and my husband knows it is his fault for letting the bird out while the dog was at our house. I could probably bring a baby elephant in our home and he would accept it out of guilt!!! Ceasar has a puppy pee pad in his bin and a small blanket that he sleeps on beside his beanie baby chicken. This will be one spoiled roo!!!! If anyone askes--we have a frizzeled, crested, Hungarian giant house pigeon!! He is really a Polish frizzleled bantam roo. Wish me luck!! Keep in touch if you want too!!!!

Irene

 

[Fruitloopz]

I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of their hens wearing diapers? That'd be quite interesting to see and I'm curious how its done. Thanks so much!

 

[iluvcks]

Quote:
I have a people with house chickens thread. Plenty of pics there.LOL

Irene,
Congrats. I actually ran across your pm a couple days ago. Do you still want to me to get the treat and everything info for you? Its been crazy busy as of late. I dont know if you know but right about the same time you and I were talking the Township that I live in came over to tell us we have to get rid of the chickens. So we immediatly started doing research about changing the ordinance. We started going door to door getting signatures. Anyway we were finally talked into calling Michigan Deptartment of Agriculture. I have been in communication with them for the last couple weeks. There is this thing with the Michigan Right to Farm Act called the GAAMPS. Generally Accepted Agriculture Management Practices. If your not following GAAMP then your not a farm under their specifications. There fore not protected from township rule. Ok so I had to write my own Poultry Operations Guide. Its 12 pages long. From the day we bring the chick home untill the day it dies and how deep to bury it. Everything has to be covered. Its a lot. And everything has to follow GAAMP. Ok so fast forward to about a week ago, we got the certified letter from the Township telling us we not only have to get rid of the chickens in 30 days but that the fence and the coop and where it all is on the property is against their ordinaces. Blah Blah Blah. (I really hate these people) So this morning MDA came out. He inspected everything, took some notes and lots of pictures. He said there was NOT one thing he could suggest to make our operation better. He said he wished it was all this easy. We have been working our tails off putting the addition onto the coop. We have 9 13week old babies. The big girls didnt want the babies rooming with them. LOL I'll get some pics posted soon. So anyway I am rambling, but we are certified a farm under GAAMP. We will be getting a letter within the next couple days that we can take to the Township. State guy said that Township doesnt have a leg to stand on, but they still may want to take us to court to get rid of the chickens. Of couse we would like to avoid that...but we are not willing to give an inch. We have about $1,000 invested into the coop and run already and the fencing isent even done yet. Plus we LOVE our girls.

Ok now you. I love the name. Ceasear. How classic for a spolied boy. LOL I love that your calling him Hungairan Giant House Pigeon. Too Funny! I am sorry that hes not the girl of your dreams, but with any luck you can turn him into quite a little flamer. LOL

Where are the pictures? I need to see baby pictures?

Talk soon
Susanne