Anyone have a Pet Chicken??

[Skippy123]

Well, I had a pet chicken for a brief time as a kid but I was talking to some friends and it turns out they did too!!! I am curious if there are any other chicken lovers out there and no not the food!!

 

[ladypirate]

I''ve always wanted a pet chicken! SO says that if I get one, though, he gets a pet goat, so we''ll probably have to wait until we live somewhere where we could have both.

 

[neatfreak]

We did! My mom still has 3-4 chickens...

 

[Selkie]

No, but we had a pet goose! His name was Gizmo, from "Gremlins". And he wasn''t really a pet because you couldn''t get within 10 feet of him. Um, and my mom ran over him on April fool''s day. He liked to sit in the driveway.

Geese are kinda dumb.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 6/2/2008 5:00:52 PM
Author: neatfreak
We did! My mom still has 3-4 chickens...

Neatfreak, Wow, how fun!!! My hubby had a chicken too! I was surprised that I had one and later found our he had one! Also the friend we saw in Chicago had one as a kid; we happened to be talking about it because we saw them at the Museum of Science and Industry out there!!!


Ah, I want you to have one LadyPirate

Selkie, I had a duck for about a week and then gave him to my grandma who had a ranch and the chicken went to her too. That is too bad about the goose.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

We keep a few hens around the place, they''re fantastic! We have them in a chicken run on the lawn in summer, and put them in our fruit cage in the winter, where they fertilise the dwarf orchard trees and soft fruit bushes ready to crop in summer. Plus we get lovely fresh eggs.

They''re sweet little things and they eat a lot of kitchen waste - veg peelings, leftover veggies etc. They''re better than composting!

Jen

 

[erica k]

If I could, I definitely would have a pet chicken, or two!

My neighbors have about 6 chickens that live in their backyard. I don''t think they''re pets, if you know what I mean.

 

[Miranda]

My DH did. He had a little chick named Peep as a pet...Along with one of about every type of animal known to man. The wittle chickies are so cute!

 

[ladypirate]

LOL, Skippy, I want one too! I did read that Portland is big on urban chickens, so maybe I'll have to start working on convincing Kris again...

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I always felt chickens were too dumb to be a pet I would want, to be perfectly honest. Anything that can live indefinitely without a head just seems like it wouldn''t have much going on up there.

However, I do think chicks are cute and I like them, but I wouldn''t want one.

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 6/2/2008 6:18:43 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy
I always felt chickens were too dumb to be a pet I would want, to be perfectly honest. Anything that can live indefinitely without a head just seems like it wouldn''t have much going on up there.

However, I do think chicks are cute and I like them, but I wouldn''t want one.

I think many people own chickens not because of their personality as pets but because they will eat most kitchen scraps and they provide fresh eggs. Plus, if you have a rooster, it''s an instant alarm clock.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 6/2/2008 5:59:05 PM
Author: Miranda
My DH did. He had a little chick named Peep as a pet...Along with one of about every type of animal known to man. The wittle chickies are so cute!

They are!!!

What other pets did he have?? You have me curious Miranda. hehe

 

[Selkie]

Date: 6/2/2008 6:22:13 PM
Author: ladypirate

I think many people own chickens not because of their personality as pets but because they will eat most kitchen scraps and they provide fresh eggs. Plus, if you have a rooster, it''s an instant alarm clock.

Unfortuntately, you can''t turn a rooster off on weekend mornings like you can an alarm clock!

 

[akmiss]

We briefly had chickens, ducks, and geese. I must have been four but I still remember how terrrified I was of those birds. I distinctly recall a mass of bird charging at me and making all sorts of noise! I am not a fan of the chicken to say the least.

 

[sumbride]

We did!!! It was purely by chance. One day a little red hen showed up on our back porch. I was in highschool and was doing my homework at the table and my dad was reading the paper. I said "Dad, there''s a wild chicken on the porch." He said "No, it''s a dove." I said "It''s NOT a DOVE, it''s a CHICKEN! A WILD CHICKEN!!!"

Well, it was a lost chicken, but it decided to live with us. We named her Henrietta, of course, because what else do you name a little red hen? She was pretty young (started laying eggs a month or so later) and extremely tame. Was probably somebody else''s pet but nobody nearby was missing her. She spent a lot of time perched on the roof, but when we came outside and called her, she would fly down to us. She loved it when you petted her. She even let my 3 year old niece carry her around. My niece was taking ballet at the time and didn''t like her teacher. She said she wouldn''t go unless Henrietta went too. So we put a towel down on the backseat and in went Henrietta, into the Buick, to ride to ballet. After her first car ride she kept trying to come into the house. I''m not sure she knew she was a chicken.

Henrietta''s demise was unfortunate though. She had befriended our hound, Beth, who spent the days in a dog pen that had a roof because she kept climbing out. The wire roof had square openings so Henrietta could hop through but couldn''t fly out. Every afternoon she''d go in to see Beth and they would hang out together. Then I would go get her when I got home from school. Then my mom put her new puppy, Bubba, a chocolate lab, in with Beth. Bubba picked up Henrietta and shook her to death. Was very, very sad. Poor Henrietta! My niece found her. It was so sad. They buried her in the back yard. I was out of town and got the tragic phone call.

My mom would like to get some more chickens but she was worried about the Avian flu for a while. Henrietta was one of the best pets we ever had.

 

[Hera]

I think chickens and geese are soooo cute! I would love to have some as pets but my husband said no way

 

[somethingshiny]

Heck, everyone around here has had chickens! We also had a gander named Jell-O. We gave him a wading pool, he loved it.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I grew up on a farm, so we had lots of chickens, but none of them were pets. I used to have to gather the eggs every day and had to wear long leather gloves because those things peck like the dickens. We only ate what we raised on the farm and I never minded eating the chickens...that''s probably a terrible thing to say to a group who grew up with pet chickens, but that was my only experience with them...

We did have pet geese and ducks, but the poor things never learned how to fly so we''d have to pen them when the pond froze over or the coyotes would get them.

 

[miraclesrule]

I don''t think I could have a pet chicken. They are so cute when they are young. But on a night like tonight...when I am really hungry and didn''t grocery shop....well, I''m afraid I wouldn''t be too afraid to start plucking.

 

[Hera]

Date: 6/3/2008 12:48:06 AM
Author: miraclesrule
I don't think I could have a pet chicken. They are so cute when they are young. But on a night like tonight...when I am really hungry and didn't grocery shop....well, I'm afraid I wouldn't be too afraid to start plucking.

LOL!! Miraclesrule, no pet chickens for you

 

[Lorelei]

This is a pic of two of mine which have now gone to the Great Chicken Coop in the Sky unfortunately, but it is Kojack on the right, and Baby K-norr on the left.

They decided a spare cat bed was just the thing for the communual nest, as there were several chickens using it, so Kojack used to whine and make a nuisance of herself until the chickie on the nest moved!

 

[Lorelei]

This is Amy K-norr, Baby K-norr''s Mommy. Amy was my special pet, she was very spoiled and I adored her.

 

[Delster]

I never had them but most of my Aunties kept them, and geese and turkeys too. One Auntie recently lost all hers to the fox

I definitely want to keep some chickens once I have a place of my own with enough land to do it!

There's actually a newsagents right in the middle of Dublin, it's someone's house with the front room converted into a shop, and they have chickens in the garden to the side. It's so incongruous looking because it's the only detached house around there, the houses either side are big old Georgian terraced houses and 1930's semi-detached houses. All these chickens and a rooster right there in the middle of the concrete jungle! I always make sure to sit on the left side of the bus going up to Dublin so I can gaze in at the chickens when we stop at the lights and have a wee chuckle. It's the little things eh?

 

[Lorelei]

Another thing some might find interesting, is that one of my chickies, Mildred, comes when I call her name like a dog! It doesn't matter where she is, as she roams at will, I can yell MILDRED!!! and even after about a minute, depending on where she is, she will come running. None of the others do, even if I call CHICKIES!! so it seems Mildred knows her name.

Del, it is indeed the little things!

 

[Pandora II]

My parents had geese, chickens and muscovy ducks.

Muscovy's are very quiet and don't need a lot of water. I adore Indian runner ducks - they're so funny to watch - a bit like penguins.

I'd also love a turkey!

There is an amazing house for hens called an eglu - so cool.

My FBIL has one...

 

[tiffanytwisted]

When I was little my grandparents had chickens. Mostly for the eggs I think. They had a rooster named "Roost" (clever, huh) that was so mean and used to chase one of my cousins. For some reason that rooster really didn''t like my cousin.

Skippy those little chicks are so cute!

 

[Deelight]

When I was really little we had a pet Goose - best guard dogs ever and we also had a couple of chooks, I can''t remember what happened to them I was only little but they are fairly good pets .

When I was older I bought my dad a duck we named her Patka ( Serbian for duck ) and then later on we got two little baby ducks (named pinky and the brain) to keep her company unfortunately someone one day someone decided to poison them and we found them dead in the backyard

my dad was devastated we have not had any since.

 

[Ninama]

A family friend brought us two chicks from Indiana (when I was a kid) - a Polish crested and s Belgian something. One was sillver and one was more brownish... I remember that they liked to run rip-the-potato-bug-to-shreds relay races. They were really pretty chickens, but some neighbor cats got to them while they were still pretty small.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 6/3/2008 10:29:12 AM
Author: Ninama
A family friend brought us two chicks from Indiana (when I was a kid) - a Polish crested and s Belgian something. One was sillver and one was more brownish... I remember that they liked to run rip-the-potato-bug-to-shreds relay races. They were really pretty chickens, but some neighbor cats got to them while they were still pretty small.

Oh no, I am so sorry,

is right!!!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 6/2/2008 11:20:10 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I grew up on a farm, so we had lots of chickens, but none of them were pets. I used to have to gather the eggs every day and had to wear long leather gloves because those things peck like the dickens. We only ate what we raised on the farm and I never minded eating the chickens...that''s probably a terrible thing to say to a group who grew up with pet chickens, but that was my only experience with them...

We did have pet geese and ducks, but the poor things never learned how to fly so we''d have to pen them when the pond froze over or the coyotes would get them.

Me too, I would go to my grandma''s ranch often; it was so much fun to see all the animals. We had coyotes out there too! I didn''t know that about you, soooo cool!!!