Like, this little hen will scold you for not giving her treats fast enough. And that's when you're literally pulling them from a bag and handing them directly to her with no delay

It's kinda weird. I always liked birds, but never felt I could care for one properly. I would never have thought of having a chicken as anything but dinner. But now? I'm not sure what in the hell I'll do without her.

I didn't want more animals after my dog died. I was done with losing companions.

But there was a chicken down the road that needed a home, and we were that only ones available. So we got the first bird. Thought it was a hen (it wasn't), but keeping one chicken isn't good for them, they kinda need company. So, we got another one.

The rooster is pretty big, and very much a punk lol. He beat the crap out of a dog twice his size a few weeks back. But he ain't really a pet. He's a chicken that shares space with us, he wasn't socialized well before we got him.

But this hen? She was hand raised before us, and was a cuddly little thing for the first few months. Now, she's all grown up and thinks she's the boss. She isn't cuddly, but she insists on being right beside me when she's inside. Yeah, an inside chicken part time. Only in the evening for a few hours, but still. And she's gotta be on or beside one of us, usually me.

She used to lay on my chest and nest in my beard when she was still tiny. She would trill and purr until she'd go to sleep.

Like, how the hell did this happen?

And, we now have another hen. Damn thing just showed up in the yard one day with some chicks and started eating. The dog our rooster beat the crap out of killed the chicks before I could get out there.

But the hen stayed around. She's tiny. Our first hen is a marans, which aren't big birds. The volunteer hen is maybe half her size. The volunteer is a feral chicken, one of the few dozen that roam the area. But she's chill. She'll hang out with us as long as we don't try and touch her, just clucking and doing that sweet little trill/purr thing they do.

So now we've got three, and I'm fairly confident that the whole "chicken math" meme isn't actually a joke, it's an inevitability.

[–] Truffle@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I knew about the cat distribution system, but chicken distribution system? That sounds so random lol. My kid has wanted a hen for years but we are suburb dwellers and I am afraid of having a chicken indoors. Do you have any tips on how to deal with a hen indoors? I really liked your story, especially the bit about the beard nesting.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well, if you haven't ever dealt with birds, they're all messy. Feathers everywhere, they strew their food everywhere, and poop is a reality.

That being said, pads and a bit of early attention can help reduce/eliminate the poo factor from being a problem. Chickens give a little sign before they poop. It's kind of a tail lift. If you can identify that, you can move them to a spot you want them to go, then reward them when they do.

It is not easy. But our hen hasn't missed a pad in a while, other than not aiming well enough. Which is saying that it won't be perfect, but I've never run across anything other than the big parrots that will get close to perfect poop training.

They can also be loud. Lots of trills and purrs and sweet little clucks for sure, but there's squawks, growls and screeches too. Not as loud as some birds, but they're never fully quiet.

But really, that's the bad. That's as bad as it gets. Our hen just runs around after us, or sits with us while she preens most of the time. The poop issue, it's maybe once an hour, and only large first thing in the morning. The noise is mostly in the morning too, since she sleeps in a small coop with the door closed. Basically a rabbit hutch with a more bird friendly ramp.

They're super cheap to feed. Maybe 40 bucks every three months or so for all three of ours. We use layer feed for all of them, even the rooster. Extra for treats, like seed or insects, but they'll gladly finish off fruits and veggies that would otherwise be wasted. Have to read up on the stuff they can't have though.

Like, right now, it's not quite 10 pm here, and our pet hen is on the arm of the couch next to me, trilling in her sleep, and has been for about a half hour. They sleep as soon as it's dark, so just dimming the lights and giving them a quiet space means they're not any kind of problem at night at all. She had hopped over to her poop pad just before snuggling up next to me an hour or so ago. I'll get her into her coop here in a bit, and she'll barely wake up for it usually.

Now, you have to look into breeds. Unlike with cats and dogs, adopting an inside chicken is very unlikely to end well. You want hand raised pet chickens that are well socialized. And different breeds are prone to different behavior ranges. Marans are noted for being even tempered and friendly. Something like a leghorn tends to be a little less human oriented by default, even when well socialized. There's all different sizes from tiny enough to fit in one hand as an adult, up to the big brahmas that are massive.

Seriously, I would have never thought an indoor chicken could work. I grew up with family that farmed, so the chickens I had known were all working girls. Messy, extra loud, not interested in human company beyond food. We got our hen in the winter when she was a week or two past the age she could be transferred, but her plumage wasn't ready for cold. So she was an inside bird all the way for the first three months. By the end of that, we didn't want her outside lol. It's better for them to have yard time, so we didn't keep her in all the time, but she's fit into our family better than I would have even dared imagine.

I wouldn't recommend it for young kids, say under about 12. Chickens aren't fond of being grabbed and petted heavily even with the sweetest of them, and the younger kids tend to want exactly that from them. But if the kid can understand that they'll keep you company, but aren't really fond of petting regularly, it works fine. My kid was 15 when we got the hen, and no issues. My niece was 12, the neighbor kids were 10 and 12. They all listened and it was fine. The one kid that didn't listen was 8 and had to be told to leave her alone instead of trying to play with her like a dog, chasing and such.

So, yeah, that's what I can think of offhand. If you have questions, I love talking about her lol.

I just wish she was small enough to still nest in my beard :)

[–] Truffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Thank you for the very detailed answer. I can tell you have being taking good care of your birds as you speak so fondly of them.

I will show my child your answer so they can read all the implications that you so kindly shared and maybe have a talk about what having a pet chicken entails.

[–] ChaosCoati@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

I would add that chickens are somewhat dusty birds - it comes from their dander. So if you don’t already have a good one I’d invest in an air purifier.

Also in addition to marans, buff orpingtons are called the golden retriever of chickens for a reason. Very sweet and easy going. I miss my Tillie bird

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