My Pet Chicken is so Much Fun!
My Pet chicken is so much fun to raise at home, and to collect the eggs every day. The best part of having pet chickens is watching the excitement on the kids faces as they learn how to look after their very own pet chickens every day, and get so much satisfaction and excitement from watching the antics of their favorite pet chicken. In fact, that has been the most rewarding part of keeping pet chickens at home is watching the children’s interest, involvement and excitement in raising our adorable pet chickens.
Where it all began for my pet chicken
For a long time now, we have been keeping chickens in our backyard, and looking after the chicken house, and collecting the eggs every day. Then one day we had an opportunity to take some fertilized eggs and place them under one of our broody hens. The dutiful mother hen quite happily sat on those fertilized eggs for a few weeks, until we all started to get a little more interested. When we started hearing some different and strange sounds from within the chicken coop, it wasn’t hard to guess that my pet chicken had finally arrived!
The arrival of my pet chicken was very exciting!
Can you imagine the look on the children’s’ faces when they peeked under the wing of the mother hen for the first time, to see some cute little bundles of yellow fluff, peeking back at them! It was love at first site. It was an incredible experience to see the mother hen sharing her proud moment with our children, and allowing the children to touch the baby chicks and to even take them out and handle them briefly, before returning them to the safety of mother hens wing.
Baby chicks are very cute!
Within a day or so, those baby chicks started to become very demanding! Baby chicks need special starter food which is designed to help them grow and develop, and they need warmth and lots of sleep. Most often we see baby chicks raised in brooder boxes where they can be kept safe from larger chickens, and to make sure that they get all the special requirements needed to survive the early days. But we had decided to allow these baby chicks to stay with mother hen.
The excitements and disappointments
It was very exciting for the children to keep an almost hour by hour watch over the baby chicks to make sure that mother hen was looking after them properly. It didn’t take long for the children to name each of the chicks, and for them to become firm favorites in each of the children’s eyes! But for all the excitement, sometimes life can throw up some challenges also – that is a part of life and a part of nature. Not everything can be rosy all of the time. That was when we noticed one of the baby chicks sleeping more than the others, and not seeming to be as rambunctious as its siblings.
One of the chicks was not doing so well
Sure enough, one of the baby chicks was simply not growing as fast as the others, and so this was naturally a cause for concern. A rescue plan was hatched! Although we never really had a plan for a pet chicken, very soon we had a baby chick living in the kitchen with everything needed for survival, such as heat lamp, supplies of chicken starter food and plenty of fresh water. Despite my initial apprehension, operation my pet chicken had begun!
Operation my pet chicken!
With the survival of such an adorable little chick at stake, there was no shortage of volunteers for operation my pet chicken! This was a very heart warming situation, to have our children caring a sick baby chick, and actually organizing themselves to take responsibility for caring for this little pet chicken.
My pet chicken needed a name
It didn’t take long for the naming celebration to take place, and without a doubt, we all agreed that my pet chicken had become a star within the family! So “Starry” it was, and it didn’t take long before this little baby chick became an integral part of the daily routine within the household. Needless to say, everyone thought Starry was my pet chicken! Taking pride of place in the kitchen, there was no shortage of attention for the growing baby chick. Thankfully, the extra attention and personalized service did the trick, and Starry recovered in next to no time. The sounds of her incessant and demanding cheeping throughout the house became a constant reminder of the joys of looking after my pet chicken!
The children loved my pet chicken!
As soon as Starry grew large enough to begin exploring outside the brooding box, we learnt a whole new dimension about keeping my pet chicken! Starry is fearless! She just loved running around and exploring the whole house. It was a lot of fun to have an indoor pet chicken, and the children were amazed to watch her explore, and even return to her “home” for food, warmth, and a bit of a nap when she got tired. Keeping my pet chicken inside the house was so much fun, being able to watch her grow up and become an integral member of the family household.
Starry is still a treasured member of the family
My pet chicken has remained a treasured member of the family, and a wonderful pet for the children. Starry is completely tame with the children, as well as being quite an affectionate little creature. Starry will often follow the children around the house, and beg to jump up to be held and stroked and petted. She loves to be held and carried around the house, and will always come running at dinner time ready for food. My pet chicken is truly a lovely domesticated pet, and equally as adorable as a cat or dog. Starry has been trained to poop in a litter tray, and returns home to her comfortable roost when she is resting or sleeping.
What type of chicken is best for my pet chicken?
Starry is a bantam chicken, with white “frizzle” feathers, and a cute and adorable manner. Bantams are a great choice for my pet chicken as they come is many different colors, shapes and sizes. The ornamental bantams are very cute pets, such as the downy Chinese varieties, pom-poms, frizzles, and the list goes on. Bantam chickens can be some of the best indoor pet chickens. But there many other choices for suitable options for my pet chicken, and most breeds of chicken are able to be tamed and hand reared, which is the secret to keeping my pet chicken. I have seen Isa browns become wonderful pet chickens, and Australorps be hand reared, and many other breeds as well. When a tame chicken is accustomed to being reared by hand, and comfortable in the presence of people, then they become completely tame and bonded with people, such that they are no different from other domesticated household pets like cats and dogs.
My pet chicken is a delightful pet for children
Of course the children think that my pet chicken is the most delightful pet they have ever owned. Indeed it has been a wonderful experience for the whole family. Especially for parents, it has been an enlightening experience to watch the children take responsibility for helping to raise a baby chicken, and spending their time taking care of their special pet chicken.
Whatever happened to my pet chicken?
Life does move on for all of us, and with children going back to school, and with Starry becoming a fully grown and healthy chicken, it was decided to re-introduce her to her other family of backyard chickens. As with any other new adventure, Starry took it all in her stride, and was more than happy to meet up with her siblings, and surrogate mother. Despite joining her own flock, Starry remains our dearest little pet chicken, and still runs to meet her human family whenever we appear. My pet chicken is still there and close to our hearts, but she just lives with her own kind these days. Even as I write this, Starry is sitting broodily on a clutch of eggs. We don’t have a rooster, so it will all be in vain, unless we decide to get some more fertilized eggs for her…
Who knows, maybe we will raise some more baby chicks one day, and my pet chicken will reincarnate in the form of more little yellow balls of fluff in the future!
Learn more about how to raise your very own pet chicken – click here for more information.
