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thechickenwhisperer

Are hens welcome in your house ?

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For me sadly it's a no....the reason is, my dogs have given up half the garden to the hens and have accepted them free ranging around them and getting the odd peck with good grace so I feel the house is their haven too and some places are just out of bounds to those pesky little cluckers much as I love them! :shameonu:

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Leave the back door and they will wander in.

 

Many years ago, when LMW was much littler she had a Pekin bantam called Snowy and many a time I would find the pair of them watching Cbeebies in the living room. LMW learnt that Snowy had to sit on a newspaper (which Snowy did and rarely wandered off).in fact Snowy rarely pooped in the house.

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No. If I lived on my own and had wipe clean floors then they probably would, but if I let them now I think OH would ask both me and them to move out! I'm the same as Olly - they are fenced into the back garden and aren't even allowed on the patio. I have to be honest, it has been nice being able to walk across the back garden without thinking about poo whilst they've been shut in for worming week.

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Ours sneak in to the kitchen whenever they can. I don't encourage it - but I can live with it as the floors are wooden and we are on a farm so its always filthy from the daily in and out (3 cats and a messy husband) as we only use the backdoor, so I am always cleaning it anyway. Mine are always after the cat food - much to the cats' disgust!

 

Did find one in the sitting room once - she had come in the open window in protest at being shut out of the kitchen. Cheeky beggers Pekins! I do draw the line there - not on carpet!

 

Layout of house and garden makes it impossible to keep them out when free ranging if we want the door open (rented house so can't make changes).

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We let ours into the kitchen, 70s style marley tiles are easy to wipe clean and they will pop in to see what is going on, hoping for a treat. The boss chook, however, has learnt that the humans might leave tasty treats on the worktop and has been known to fly up to take a look. Since that time their "kitchen time" is closely supervised.

 

We did leave the internal kitchen door open once by accident and our amber left a "calling card" in the lounge. Thank goodness for scotchguard, it really did work!!

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I was going to say 'Absolutely Not' but then I recalled that a)the long term resident cockeral had no fear and would regularly wander down a flight of steps which kept all normal chickens at bay, and I'd find him in the conservatory, he'd just loved human company b)show birds would be primped in the conservatory c)small batches of chicks would be incubated and hatched in my study and d)ill chucks would be in a cage in my study or the conservatory :oops: Despite all that I would not welcome any mature chicken in the house if it did not fit in categories a) to d) above and all our floors were wood or tile :D

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No! Only utility room in dog cage (which is called chicken hospital) though in the past have been known to nip out to bin and find them eating the dog biscuits, exploring kitchen and even found one on more than one occasion in my living room (one made herself at home on my spot so sofa, another smashed a vase in her panic when found)

 

More vigilant now as my wee Lhasa apso turned into a chicken killer for fun so make sure kitchen door always closed. They are nosy madams and have snuck in windows in the past. Garden split, their half and mine and the dogs half (tho a little white leghorn can squeeze thru the trellis to lay her egg in a barrel) so still have to watch out fr her before I let the dogs out to our bit!..... :wall:

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If we leave our back door open the chickens are in like a shot! They are always after my tomato plant in the conservatory and love running around under the dining room table but rarely make it past the living room. If it's raining I sometimes leave the conservatory door open so they can dry off if they want. The cats get very unhappy though

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For a while the hens would pop into the kitchen and help themselves to the dog food, but we have been much more successful recently at keeping them enclosed. So no henz in da hauz :!: Cant remember who used that lovely line :!: All except my little poot who has defied all attempts to keep her enclosed and pops into the kitchen most days. Such a sweetie tho, not hen like at all. :D

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As ours is a hen solo we've give her free reign now ad leave the kitchen doors open. Funnily she only goes as far as the kitchen tiles on the floor and doesnt step onto the wooden floor in the dining room. The poo clears up easily from the kitchen tiles so its not a problem. :D

 

Id love to be able to take her into the lounge but dont fancy cleaning poo out of the carpet!

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This post made me laugh. When I first had chickens a few years ago now, they free ranged and one of them managed to get through the cat flap into the kitchen! I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or the chook. I have a much smaller garden now, so my hens are allowed out of their run with supervision, but they always make a beeline for the open patio door given half a chance...much to the cat's annoyance. So they're not allowed in now, but I do miss the surprise cat flap visits.

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