Tell me about your house chickens please

[meriruka]

The perfect desk accessory:

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Ya know….I think I am one of those people who must have lived in another life at another time. I was born in Southern California. I have never lived on a farm although my mother says she did.

However, there must be some kind of ancient memory that comes back to me when I travel.

When I go out into the country and I come upon pastured animals…I am overwhelmed by the perfume of the cows, horses, and yes, the chickens…and I just go ahhh….and it is like heaven to me.

So, in defending my sense of smell….and to those that come into my home and do not have that connection with nature…..I feel sorry for them. It is a warm and a reassuring sense, that sense of smell. And, if cultivated…it will be your first warning that something is wrong with your animals.

No one is talking about having a dirty home. I read somewhere that about 90% of people around the world “live” with their animals. In the days of the old west and, on our vast prairies, the people more than likely had their animals under their roofs with them. And, more than likely that would have been in the wintertime.

I think that is why some of us still crave that animal closeness and kinship. Without it, it is like there is something missing.

Has anyone here ever smelled puppy feet? Is that not a wonderful smell?

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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Just a beautiful setup. I am jealous.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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This is so very nice. It shows lots of love.

 

[flakey chick]

Ladyhawke1, I think I can understand what you mean about animal smell. I was taking a walk late at night along our country road and noticed a happy smell that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't sweet or floral, but I knew it was a good smell. Then a heard a horse nicker. It wasn't horse poop- just horse. I have never smelled puppy feet and probably never will. I suppose it can be a bit like human babies. They smell great when they are clean, but when they need to be changed....

As far as the smell from our 2 bantams in our house- I guarantee it smells no where near as bad as my silent but deadlies. It's a matter of perspective. They probably smell better than a teenagers sneakers as well.

 

[LindaN]

Ok, you got me with that mention of puppy feet.

I love certain animal smells, too. I've also loved the smell of horses and stables. Yep, even the urine and poop smell of horses in the barn appeals to me. I like it.

But, I live in a city and will not have horses. I do have chickens (of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here), but don't enjoy them in the house. I had 4 chicks in my house until they were 6 weeks old and didn't learn to like the smell and mess.

I do love the smell of my dogs' feet, though. I have 2 dogs, both shelter adoptees. One of my great, guilty pleasures is smelling their feet. Two smells I love: dog and earth.

So, now you all know how weird I am!

Here are my girls, Hannah (L) and Sadie (R).

 

[Chickenaddict]

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This is so very nice. It shows lots of love.

Thank you

i had alot of fun building it, the best part is it cleans up so easily

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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You are not wierd. You are so normal.

I just decided to smell my cat's feet...eeekkk!
don't! I forgot ...they really are good with the kitty box.

 

[Chez Poulet]

This is Chicken Little a couple of weeks ago. She is one of two runts from the original six redcaps I got this spring. I raised her and Peep in the house in an oversized wire dog kennel. They were in a parrot cage before that. They loved to watch movies with me at night and slept on my shoulder. It took forever for them to get up to normal size. When they were ready to integrate into the flock, they were being picked on. They seem to be doing fine now and even started laying eggs a couple of weeks ago.

They live outside most of the time, but I love to bring them into the house to spend the night. They're so calm and sweet and like to cuddle, expecially Chicken Little. CL and Peep don't like to be apart, so if one comes in, the other does too. Chicken diapers work great as long as their poo is solid, if it's not, it can smash into the feathers below and it's hard to clean them up. Having them in the house was fun, but it was a constant chore cleaning up after them. The food is always kicked outside of the cage and if you don't clean up the poo right away, it gets stuck to their feet.

Here they are wearing their capes to keep the big girls from picking their saddle feathers out. They're all feathered in now.

 

[amyquilt]

I'm still working on dh to agree to at least trying to have a couple of house bantams. I think he's just about decided there's no harm in giving it a try. If it doesn't work out, the friend at work that we gave our LF chickens to will take them for us.

BTW Curt, the friend, told my dh yesterday that the chickens we gave him were the most spoiled rotten chichens he's ever had in all his life of having chickens. They follow he and his family around to be held and hand fed. LOL He said they are wonderful birds, but rotten rotten rotten. No wonder I miss them so much. :|