# Urban Chickens



## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

Has anyone here ever tried keeping a pet hen, as opposed to a whole chicken coop? 

I was thinking about those awful egg-factory situations in which hens are kept in tiny cages, and it suddenly occurred to me that if they can survive in that awful environment, then why not keep a hen in a household cage like any other pet bird that can come out and be part of the family, thus not being subjected to any cruelty?

I want to try this. I used to keep parakeets and lovebirds, so why not? I have already checked the rules and a single chicken comes under "pet" as opposed to "livestock" regulations.


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

Good luck. Let us know how it works out. Personally I don't think our dogs and cat would like a chicken in the house.


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## BrendaEWalsh (Apr 10, 2014)

I am new here and you got my attention, I am really curious if this will work out, first because I think it's a great idea for us urban preppers and second of all because I've got my mind set on having a duck pet for a long time  and if you can do it so could I! Good luck!


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Let me congratulate you ladies for thinking outside to proverbial box.
There is nothing better than eggs straight from the source. Eggs that are free from antibiotics and hormones and other chemicals. 
My wife and I have kept chickens for almost two decades now. We have had as many as 50 at a time but now we keep things manageable (less than 20).
Ours are free to roam a fenced in area during the day. They like to take dirt baths and run around and search for bugs, etc. 
They also deficate much more than a parakeet. 
I do not think they would do well in a cage inside a house. I don't really know because we've never tried it. Maybe someone else has.
I recommend that you check out these two sites:
Raising BackYard Chickens, Build a Chicken Coop, Pictures of Breeds
Chicken Forum


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## nephilim (Jan 20, 2014)

Firstly, chickens are social animals, they NEED other chickens to be around or they get depressed, which results in reduced egg laying, plucking their feathers out and pecking at their defecation which will result in the animal being incredibly ill.

Also keeping one in a cage, unless you have a well ventilated house, it is not advisable as they poop more than a person with a bad stomach, and it stinks after a while. If you have a yard you can keep them in, do that, and cage that off nicely, and they would be much happier as they can scratch at the ground, eat bugs and grubs and generally have their natural diet (supplemented with any feed you give them)


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## luckyduck2 (Mar 31, 2014)

save the chicken shit, make potassium nitrate out of it. BLACK POWDER FORMULA 75% potassium nitrate , 15% charcoal, 10% SULFUR or 70% POTASSIUM NITRATE ( MADE FROM FRESH CHICKEN SHIT), 20% SULFUR , 10% SODIUM SULFATE


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

nephilim said:


> Firstly, chickens are social animals, they NEED other chickens to be around or they get depressed, which results in reduced egg laying, plucking their feathers out and pecking at their defecation which will result in the animal being incredibly ill.
> 
> Also keeping one in a cage, unless you have a well ventilated house, it is not advisable as they poop more than a person with a bad stomach, and it stinks after a while. If you have a yard you can keep them in, do that, and cage that off nicely, and they would be much happier as they can scratch at the ground, eat bugs and grubs and generally have their natural diet (supplemented with any feed you give them)


Well, I do know it would take dedication to daily cleaning the cage. I have seen a method of keeping chickens called a "chicken tractor" which is essentially a moveable pen to place them on a lawn and move it from place to place as she does her thing. That could take up a good part of the day since I work at home (artist) and could keep an eye on her. I am thinking that a pair of hens could solve the social problem.

I also have seen harnesses for parrots. I need to research the possiblility of walking a hen just like a dog.

I am thinking that the cage will be one of those dog-type of cages, a large rectangular one with a tray in the bottom, rather than a bird-cage. I have a spot in the house where it could be set up.

But all of this is way off in the future right now because I have too many other projects going on. Still, it is something i have wanted to do for a long time.


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Let me congratulate you ladies for thinking outside to proverbial box.
> There is nothing better than eggs straight from the source. Eggs that are free from antibiotics and hormones and other chemicals.
> My wife and I have kept chickens for almost two decades now. We have had as many as 50 at a time but now we keep things manageable (less than 20).
> Ours are free to roam a fenced in area during the day. They like to take dirt baths and run around and search for bugs, etc.
> ...


wow, ty for the links! I will be back tomorrow, 4 sure!


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## luckyduck2 (Mar 31, 2014)

My daughter has a few layers and it wasn't until a couple weeks ago they started laying. Has something to do with the longer day light that triggers it.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

Instead of chickens how about quail? you can keep a bunch of them for laying eggs and nobody would probably realize they were not normal house birds. Supper small and lay eggs like chickens do. 3 to get the same size as a chicken but supposed to have more nutritional value also.


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

tirednurse said:


> Instead of chickens how about quail? you can keep a bunch of them for laying eggs and nobody would probably realize they were not normal house birds. Supper small and lay eggs like chickens do. 3 to get the same size as a chicken but supposed to have more nutritional value also.


That is an interesting thought. i have seen "button quail" which are even smaller than regular quail, but I suppose you mean standard-size quail? i might try that instead of chickens. Do they lay every day? Will female quail lay without the presence of a male?


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

luckyduck2 said:


> My daughter has a few layers and it wasn't until a couple weeks ago they started laying. Has something to do with the longer day light that triggers it.


Yes. Although there are exceptions to all rules, generally speaking when the days become shorter than 12 hours of daylight, that tells the chickens to start preparing for winter. Egg production slows down while they begin to molt and then stops. Then when the daylight gets longer again the hens know spring is here.
The hens can be tricked into laying longer by the use of a light in the coop. But we don't mess with nature here at Answered Prayers Farm.


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## Mule13 (Dec 30, 2012)

look into courtnix quail if your interested in them, i have 10, 5 normal and 5 Texas A&M. my chickens arent laying yet, but it is my understanding that (most)chickens usually lay around 5 eggs a week(someone correct this if i'm wrong). most of my quail lay an egg every day. i have a few that lay every other day though. but quail start laying at a very young age 7 weeks i think. when you look at that web site Back Yard Chickens they have a whole section dedicated to quail also


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

I've been told the average chicken will lay an egg every 36 hours. We have 17 hens at the moment and get 11 to 13 eggs a day.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

View attachment 5057


Our first attempt with a Rooster did not end well for the Rooster. Mrs. Slippy's terrier, Tucker (who by the way is an excellent rat and mice killer, he brought me a dead mouse just yesterday) did not appreciate having a Rooster around. Tucker's still here, Rooster is not.



microprepper said:


> Has anyone here ever tried keeping a pet hen, as opposed to a whole chicken coop?
> 
> I was thinking about those awful egg-factory situations in which hens are kept in tiny cages, and it suddenly occurred to me that if they can survive in that awful environment, then why not keep a hen in a household cage like any other pet bird that can come out and be part of the family, thus not being subjected to any cruelty?
> 
> I want to try this. I used to keep parakeets and lovebirds, so why not? I have already checked the rules and a single chicken comes under "pet" as opposed to "livestock" regulations.


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## DanteAHellsong (Apr 16, 2014)

Used to raise chickens when I was younger, they may be able to survive in those layer environments but it isn't healthy living for them that is for sure. You may also want to look into Japanese chicken breeds as they developed dozens of breeds each for specific traits of the bird. Hope this helps some. Also, if you wish to breed them keep the roosters in separate cages, my mother found that out the hard way in my not so little brother's mini rooster killed both the larger brown roosters in less than 3 hours. From personal experience I recommend pheasant, wonderfully quite most of the time and lay very nutritious eggs, albeit small. You do have to keep an eye on them as they are smart as the devil. Mother let her guard down once when I was a teen. We now have a healthy pheasant population near my grandparents property


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## Lifer Prepper (Jun 1, 2014)

Had three, till my terrier got one. We have a coop with an attached 8' run, and our original tractor. The tractor is great, unless you have a dog that can pound the side panel in and go mix it up with the birds. 

If you want to keep a couple, and avoid the stink and noise, build a tractor with an upper level hen house. Insulate the walls. This will keep temps more reasonable, and keep the early morning singing to a low level. Be sure you close the hen house door before going to bed so they don't wake you up the next morning. Being a tractor, you can more it around so they have access to fresh grass, and you can clean up the droppings, collect them, or hose them into the ground.

Yes. Fresh eggs are the best!


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

Well, I am slowly making progress and combining this with my "Adventures in metal Collecting" thread! *LOL* One of my neighbors has started collecting all kinds of metal while I, as a perennial pedestrian, limit myself ot aluminum cans. The other day she came home with two huge bird cages, one of them perfect for an indoor coop (or even outdoors if I wanted to). I traded eight bags of cans for one of the cages and she got about $25 for the cans.

The cage fits perfectly into a corner of my kitchen. I am planning to outfit it like a luxurious hen-condo and maybe get two hens. Any ideas for the kinds of plants I should put near the cage? I am thinking of a shallow pan of grass over half of it. I will treat them as pets and for lots of reasons including a local coyote family ( the four-legged kind) I will only bring the hens out when I am with them, much like one walks a dog. Like this:






I


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Im not so sure who well keeping one in a dog type kennel is gonna work for you. Chickens can be pretty nasty at times although not nearly to the extend that a duck will.

Now if you wanna keep a couple or three and use a Chicken Tractor in the back Yard that will probably work out very well for you even in suburbia provided Zoning permits you to keep that many. Khaki Campbell Ducks are another altenrative. Don't lay as often as a chicken does but one of the best egg breeds of ducks though. Often times locals that don't allow for chickens will allow for ducks as your more likely to get away with calling them a pet than you can a chicken. They less but bigger and richer eggs too.


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

LunaticFringeInc said:


> Im not so sure who well keeping one in a dog type kennel is gonna work for you. Chickens can be pretty nasty at times although not nearly to the extend that a duck will.
> 
> Now if you wanna keep a couple or three and use a Chicken Tractor in the back Yard that will probably work out very well for you even in suburbia provided Zoning permits you to keep that many. Khaki Campbell Ducks are another altenrative. Don't lay as often as a chicken does but one of the best egg breeds of ducks though. Often times locals that don't allow for chickens will allow for ducks as your more likely to get away with calling them a pet than you can a chicken. They less but bigger and richer eggs too.


I'm a little concerned about neighborhood "nannygoats" if I keep any chickens outside. ("nannygoats" are those people roaming around with cellphones who like to complain about everybody.) Ducks seem more problematic to me since they require a pond and are bigger. I think two small hens will be ok as housepets. Now that I have a large cage, one designed as an aviary or parrot cage, I am planning to fix it up as their indoor home and if I can train them to walk on leashes as I've seen people do, I will provide them with a pretty happy life while they supply breakfast  .

I've got a little nesting box in the cage and I think I want to make it a decorative part of the house by outfitting it with plants. A shallow box of turf-grass, for example, with a philodendron draped over the top. I'll be getting the hens after the "henny condo" is all set up


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## Southern Dad (Nov 26, 2012)

I built my chicken house out of recycled pallets. The girls have raised four hens and one rooster since they were a day old. We are looking forward to eggs in another month.


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## SquirrelBait (Jun 6, 2014)

microprepper said:


> Has anyone here ever tried keeping a pet hen, as opposed to a whole chicken coop?
> 
> I was thinking about those awful egg-factory situations in which hens are kept in tiny cages, and it suddenly occurred to me that if they can survive in that awful environment, then why not keep a hen in a household cage like any other pet bird that can come out and be part of the family, thus not being subjected to any cruelty?
> 
> I want to try this. I used to keep parakeets and lovebirds, so why not? I have already checked the rules and a single chicken comes under "pet" as opposed to "livestock" regulations.


You'll want a Dominecker hen then, They love people. ^_^


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## Titanic (Jul 15, 2014)

I've got 4 chickens and would echo someone else's relpy that they are sociable creatures and thrive better in a social environment. Also, if it came to it and you really had to rely on their eggs then it makes more sense ot have a few in case anything happens to any of them. They are great animals to haver around though.


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## ordnance21xx (Jan 29, 2014)

Quail are much easer to raise in a smaller space. in an urban setting, however they are quite, but the eggs are small. Try them


MOLON LABE


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

ordnance21xx said:


> Quail are much easer to raise in a smaller space. in an urban setting, however they are quite, but the eggs are small. Try them
> 
> MOLON LABE


How often to they lay eggs if they don't have any chicks?


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## oldgrouch (Jul 11, 2014)

We don't have chickens, but we are going to get some guineas! They will strip the yard of ticks and other bugs and, from what I've read, harass and run off copperheads and rattle snakes (critters we sometimes have to discourage with a hoe ). Drawback ---- they cry and scream at almost everything that moves into the area. Good alarms!


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## Derma-Redi (Aug 23, 2014)

Great Name for a band!! Ladies & Gentleman pleae welcome "The Urban Chickens"


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

I had a pet chicken when I was a kid, she lived for at least 10 years and was a very smart and affectionate bird. I remember her laying eggs (not fertilized) but I don't remember how often. I have to say, chickens need to have access to fresh grass and be able to run around outside, good for their long term health.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Ok here is chicken man. If you live in the burbs and have a decent sized yard you can have 6-8 hens and no one will know. I received to bantam hens one time from a person who got them as a birthday joke. But they were held and petted everyday. They were not much different than dogs or cats, they wanted attention. They will talk to you and investigate things with you. But I had 70 that wouldn't give you the time of day


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