Indoor Chickens?

[freemotion]

Lola moves indoors once the ground freezes. She lives in a large dog crate that sits on top of another large crate (I feed the dogs their raw chicken wings in this crate) in the living room. The wood stove keeps the air pretty dry, so she doesn't smell unless I let the cage go too long. I use a sandwich baggie to pick poop daily, and clean out the entire cage when I notice a smell in spite of the daily cleaning. I bed her with hay. She doesn't leave the cage....she finds that upsetting. She lives in the yard all spring, summer, and fall, and her return to the house is as gradual as I can make it....outside she goes when the weather permits, and back inside at night. She will come up to the house when she wants to come in.

Sigh....how long do chickens live?

 

[shareneh]

She will come up to the house when she wants to come in.

Sigh....how long do chickens live? :rolleyes

Funny, I can feel your pain.

 

[Wifezilla]

Sigh....how long do chickens live?

(I had no idea a cat could live past 20. I don't think Cookie appreciates me whispering "go to the light!")

 

[FarmerChick]

The stinkiest indoor animal I ever encountered was a ferret. Fortunately I was only pet sitting...LOL. WAY stinkier than my brooder with 3 ducklings.

OH NO wait til Quail gets you....eww...you in trouble..LOL-LOL

 

[Farmfresh]

The main problem with indoor chickens is the dust!

They have quite a bit of natural dander about them, the feed is dusty, and the bedding is dusty. If you keep them in the basement the dust still floats around the house - PLUS they really need more light, sun and fresh air, most basements are damp.

I sent you a PM tortoise.

 

[tortoise]

I bathed, perfumed, and diapered the goat. Can I bathe a chicken? I have one with nasty dirty feet, and a dingy white one. I know - they're livestock - but being in the city, I need everything clean, pretty and smelling sweet.

 

[DianeB]

I bathed, perfumed, and diapered the goat. Can I bathe a chicken? I have one with nasty dirty feet, and a dingy white one. I know - they're livestock - but being in the city, I need everything clean, pretty and smelling sweet.

You can make them a foot bath. Fill a shallow pan with water and have them walk through it. Also, make sure to provide them with a dust bath. They can roll around in it and groom themselves. Usually, I wipe them down with a damp cloth when they get poop on their backend. Baby or pet wipes also work well.

If you do decide to bath them, do it in some type of kiddy pool or small dog bathtub. Fill it up about 1/2 to 3/4 feet. Dip them in to wet them down. Take them out and scrub them down. Dip again to rinse. Be careful. Chickens are not too found of water. Do Not Let Their Heads Go Below Water! Do Not Let Them Fly Out! I don't ever bath mine in a porcelain bathtub. Once my chicken flew out of one and badly bruised herself. Don't forget to blowdry on lowest, coolest setting. It takes forever for hens to airdry.

For light, full spectrum CFLs can give them plenty of sunlight. I put one in a tall adjustable lamp and hang it over their crate.

You could also look into a collapsiable mini dog run or some pet/childs gate. If you can, dedicate one room for them to run around. When it is really bad weather and they have to stay indoors, I have put some sheet or canvas dropcloth in the TV room. Blocked off the room with a child's gate. Just lift up the drop cloth for easy cleanup.

 

[Farmfresh]

There is a whole section in a thread about washing chickens. Blackbird had to bathe his for the 4-H show. http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2080&p=46 it starts with entry # 456.

You are exactly right! In the city all the animals MUST be cleaner, softer, quieter and nicer than on a normal homestead. We are up against LOTS of prejudice in the city. If our animals are VERY nice they make a good impression on people who have been told awful thing about animals and never been around any.

When people have heard horror stories about rodent harboring, fly producing, stinky chickens that crow incessantly and are horrible - then they meet my beautiful (and I make sure and always have a selection of beautiful breeds when I buy hens), clean, (fairly) quiet hens that live in their adorably cute tidy little City Biddy Hen House AND I give them some fresh eggs - they begin to question ALL of the bad things they have heard.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

*Ahem*

Crazy, absolutely insane, lost her marbles, chicken lady stepping into this conversation!

IF I had things my way, ALL of my Bantams would be house chickens. I can totally see it!

They sell HUGE parrot cages, and I do mean HUGE, for those big old fancy big beaked I'd like to eat your fingers for breakfast parrots that they sell for upwards of $3500 to $6000 depending on color, and talking abilities. Did I mention these cages are huge? Yea, well, so is the Parrot poop!

I would NOT keep any house chickens in the basement. Too damp, IMO.

Have an extra bedroom??! Line those walls with cages and fill them up with bantams!!!

NO way would I ever keep Large Fowl in the house. They would need BIGGER cages and more space Bantams, some bantams are only the size of a Cockatiel and most are smaller than those big ol' parrots, and bantam eggs are DELICIOUS!

So, yea, I've given it some thought LOL

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

The stinkiest indoor animal I ever encountered was a ferret. Fortunately I was only pet sitting...LOL. WAY stinkier than my brooder with 3 ducklings.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!!!

I have FIVE, and they don't STINK!

If a ferret smells they're being fed the wrong foods or their litter box isn't being cleaned, or they're being bathed too often.

MY Ferrets don't stink! Plus, we use conditioning baby powder scented sprays on them every few weeks.

Cat's stink worse than ferrets, with those nasty litter boxes and gravel litter and the amonia from their pee!