Tell me about your house chickens please

[amyquilt]

We had some "outdoor" chickens, but when we decided not to buy this place we're currently living in and move back to town for a year or so, we gave them to a friend. They were LF, so no chance of having them inside.

I am missing them so much!

I am thinking of getting 2-3 bantam girls to keep inside in a large cage in my sewing room in our new place (we move this weekend). They can be let out some during the day in the yard to play, but the yard is very tiny, so no room for a coop outdoors. I'm not wanting to do the chicken diaper thing.

My dh thinks I'm nuts, but I miss having chickens so much. I am recovering from depression and they are such good therapy.

Those of you that have "house chickens" please fill me in on how you do it. Do you have problems with smell (I plan to change the tray under the cage every day or every other day) ??? Do you have problems with flies getting in the house worse than when you didn't have chickens inside?

Any advise/tips would be appreciated.

 

[Akane]

My japanese bantams are outside now but I kept them inside until they were nearly fully feathered. They'd make good house chickens. I just don't want something quite that big inside. I was thinking of getting a pair of seramas but actually the largest seramas I saw listed are about the same size as my japs. I had no problem with smell. The hen and roo pair I had first were easy to take care of in a 48x18" aquarium and the 2nd batch I had 8 in there until everyone went to the coop and it still wasn't bad. Long term you'd want something a little bigger. I'm thinking of using my 3'x6' guinea pig cage. The tank required less cleaning and had less smell than when I had that cage full of guinea pigs. The only problem was the droppings that got left behind everywhere when they were out but that's solved by chicken diapers. I also let them wander around in a 10x10' double fenced herb garden when the weather was nice. I do miss having inside chickens.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/chickens/SANY0776.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/chickens/brooder2/SANY0800.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/chickens/brooder2/SANY0893.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/chickens/?action=view&current=SANY0897.flv

 

[amyquilt]

I forgot one thing...I'm considering a wire bottom cage. Would that be ok with Bantams or would something like Akane posted (a fish tank) work best??

 

[Ladyhawke1]

I am so glad someone brough up the subject of a house chicken. This is what I want to do. My yard has been neglected for such a long time due to my being ill, and it will take a lot to get it in shape. I have no help.

However, I still want a chicken. I have raised chickens before but not in this house. I have a great portable pen I can use for outside-supervised forays. I found a great indoor cage on line and I will post it for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Rabbit-Cage-M...1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1224895307&sr=8-1

I have been looking at certain Bantams and Seramas. I really miss having chickens. I may later move up to bigger birds.

 

[lovemychix]

I have to admit....You people are brave!

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I love my house chickens. 13 to be exact coujting the newly hatched chick. We have 4 dog cages we use for them. I let them outside in the morning and at night all of them are on the porch. We change the shavings once a week and the have fresh water for the night. We been doing this every day for the past 3 years.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

By the way , people keep rabbits and parrots in the house. I was told the only difference in keeping a parrot in the house and a chicken is $3,000.00.

 

[LittleYellowOne]

My Blackie has been a house-chicken since the day I brought him home.

He spends time in his wire rabbit cage (i have cardboard laid out on top of the wire, and pine shavings on top of that), outside in the yard under supervision, but mostly he just roams around my living room.

I have no problems with smell or flies, but I do have to chase him around and clean up his poop; good thing my mom is so understanding~

He makes QUITE the mess when he gets it into his little mind that he wants to dust-bathe in the pine shavings, and flings the across the room~

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Have told this story before but I guess I can tell it again. Many years ago, I had a Buff Cochin Rooster. I had raised him from a peeper and he grew to be about three feet tall. So, we called him Godzilla. He was a big gentle boy. I saw him swallow a mouse whole once, that is after he beat the crap out of it first.

When he was older and he knew how to get around, he had a nightly routine. At night when it started to get dark, he would come to the glass patio door and start tapping. My then husband would say, hey HE wants in. Then he would let Godzilla in. That Roo would make a beeline for me and he would jumped into my lap.

There he stayed watching television until he fell asleep. I mean he would be out cold and I would then carry him out to his nest box in the muse. The Muse is where we used to keep recuperating hawks. We used to do hawk rescue. Of course, there were no hawks in there at this time. I just loved that bird.

 

[dastardlydeed]

here we have a lot of fox and hawks. i am thinking of keeping only 3 hens and bringing them in to the screened in porch at night. at 7 weeks they arent tame, they have bonded to each other really. how do you gather them to bring them in? guess we will have to start taming them. i too, suffer from depression and i never thought about it before just now, but watching the chickens is very theraputic for me.