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Backyard Pet Chickens
The chicken can be a vegetarian and can make a very interesting pet.
Back in the Day, as the current phrase goes, my Mom's childhood friends, Helen and Millie, had a chicken for a pet in the Chicago suburban town of Berwyn, Illinois. They got a clutch of eggs from an Iowan family visiting for awhile. One of the eggs hatched and a chick popped into their world.
Excited by this turn of events, the sisters raised it in a cage on the back stairwell of their two story apartment building. For those unfamiliar with the structure of these apartments, you have a common entry door in the front and rear of the building. Unheated, it is nevertheless enclosed from the elements -- rain or snow. In most buildings, each floor is a different apartment served by that stairwell. Many residents used the rear landing, where the stairs turned to go up to the next floor, for temporary storage as space is at a premium for apartment dwellers. This is where the chick slept in its cage.
The sisters would take the chick out into the fenced in back yard with them when they were about their chores, hanging clothing on the lines outside or tending to the vegetable garden. The chick grew rapidly and developed some really pretty feathers. Not being country girls, they watched delightedly as the chicken grew up, getting more beautiful each week. What a beautiful chicken, they thought. They eagerly waited for the chicken to start laying eggs. That was the singular reason their parents let them keep a pet in these not-so-great economic times.
One morning, their father was leaving for work. As he shut the apartment door and headed for the stairs, he was greeted with a gargled "cock-a-dregah-ysh". He stopped, startled, and looked back at the cage. There was their chicken, looking right at him, and again that awful sound came from its beak. He laughed, called the girls from their beds, and told them their chicken was a banty rooster! They'd not be getting any eggs from him, for sure.
The girls played with the rooster, teasing it occasionally with the broom, to which he responded with a crouched spreading of wings and lifted neck ruff. He followed them around in the yard, gradually improving his crowing to a full-throated "cock-a-doodle-do".
Occasionally, he escaped from the back yard and wandered down the alley for a distance. The neighbors would usually bring him back home. One day, however, he just disappeared. The girls asked the neighbors if they'd seen anyone around and apparently one had seen a group of boys in the alley.. Whether they took the rooster or not remains unknown; the girls looked for him and listened for his crowing for several months, but to no avail.
That was then; now, you would probably have to make sure that your local statutes allow a chicken as a pet in city or town limits. You should also read up on the care and feeding of a chicken as well as finding a veterinarian that handles this somewhat unusual pet.
Chickens have personalities, just as all animals do. It is best if you raise your pet from the fertilized egg, hatching it yourself. That way, it will imprint on you and the bond is for life. Speaking of life, a healthy chicken can live -- and produce eggs -- for up to 12 years!
Chickens eat ... ta dah ... chicken feed! Ever think of what chicken feed consists? Well, much of the commercial feed is ground and pelletized grains with added vitamins and minerals. When chickens are truly free-range raised, they will eat green grass and plants and the bugs that come with them! Do read about how to include enough protein in the feed for your chick. There are soybean feeds that will provide this ingredient as well as other nutrients necessary for healthy living. The usual ingredients are coarsely ground and pelletized mixtures of corn, oats, wheat bran, peanut and soybean meal mixed with yeast and a vitamin supply heavy in vitamin A, D and riboflavin.
An interesting and link-filled backyard chicken site is: TheCityChicken.com as of February, 2011.
Back in the Day, as the current phrase goes, my Mom's childhood friends, Helen and Millie, had a chicken for a pet in the Chicago suburban town of Berwyn, Illinois. They got a clutch of eggs from an Iowan family visiting for awhile. One of the eggs hatched and a chick popped into their world.
Excited by this turn of events, the sisters raised it in a cage on the back stairwell of their two story apartment building. For those unfamiliar with the structure of these apartments, you have a common entry door in the front and rear of the building. Unheated, it is nevertheless enclosed from the elements -- rain or snow. In most buildings, each floor is a different apartment served by that stairwell. Many residents used the rear landing, where the stairs turned to go up to the next floor, for temporary storage as space is at a premium for apartment dwellers. This is where the chick slept in its cage.
The sisters would take the chick out into the fenced in back yard with them when they were about their chores, hanging clothing on the lines outside or tending to the vegetable garden. The chick grew rapidly and developed some really pretty feathers. Not being country girls, they watched delightedly as the chicken grew up, getting more beautiful each week. What a beautiful chicken, they thought. They eagerly waited for the chicken to start laying eggs. That was the singular reason their parents let them keep a pet in these not-so-great economic times.
One morning, their father was leaving for work. As he shut the apartment door and headed for the stairs, he was greeted with a gargled "cock-a-dregah-ysh". He stopped, startled, and looked back at the cage. There was their chicken, looking right at him, and again that awful sound came from its beak. He laughed, called the girls from their beds, and told them their chicken was a banty rooster! They'd not be getting any eggs from him, for sure.
The girls played with the rooster, teasing it occasionally with the broom, to which he responded with a crouched spreading of wings and lifted neck ruff. He followed them around in the yard, gradually improving his crowing to a full-throated "cock-a-doodle-do".
Occasionally, he escaped from the back yard and wandered down the alley for a distance. The neighbors would usually bring him back home. One day, however, he just disappeared. The girls asked the neighbors if they'd seen anyone around and apparently one had seen a group of boys in the alley.. Whether they took the rooster or not remains unknown; the girls looked for him and listened for his crowing for several months, but to no avail.
That was then; now, you would probably have to make sure that your local statutes allow a chicken as a pet in city or town limits. You should also read up on the care and feeding of a chicken as well as finding a veterinarian that handles this somewhat unusual pet.
Chickens have personalities, just as all animals do. It is best if you raise your pet from the fertilized egg, hatching it yourself. That way, it will imprint on you and the bond is for life. Speaking of life, a healthy chicken can live -- and produce eggs -- for up to 12 years!
Chickens eat ... ta dah ... chicken feed! Ever think of what chicken feed consists? Well, much of the commercial feed is ground and pelletized grains with added vitamins and minerals. When chickens are truly free-range raised, they will eat green grass and plants and the bugs that come with them! Do read about how to include enough protein in the feed for your chick. There are soybean feeds that will provide this ingredient as well as other nutrients necessary for healthy living. The usual ingredients are coarsely ground and pelletized mixtures of corn, oats, wheat bran, peanut and soybean meal mixed with yeast and a vitamin supply heavy in vitamin A, D and riboflavin.
An interesting and link-filled backyard chicken site is: TheCityChicken.com as of February, 2011.
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How? It's easy!
Privacy policy:
Your email address is safe;
we NEVER share our list.
