Can a chicken be considered as a pet…? Definitely yes, even if it is a somewhat peculiar pet.
Ideally, the chicken should have a piece of land in the open air and a shelter where it can shelter and sleep. It is a bad idea to confine the chicken on a floor inside a cage, and worse to let it roam freely around the house; unless you don't mind the hen leaving signs of her "personality" above the TV, on the floor, on the table and chairs, and all over the floor in general. Think that chickens have an abundant and dispersed "personality", and it will be very difficult for you to get them to use the cat litter to deposit the bulk of their incessant "personality" in it.
But as there are tastes for everything, on our site we will tell you about some very beautiful breeds of chickens. In addition, with the hen you can establish a "Quid pro quo" of concerted interests: You provide her with feed and grain, and in return you can eat her fetuses, that is, the eggs she lays daily.
Jokes aside, with care and knowledge you can have a hen as a pet, since it is an animal that can be affectionate if we proceed properly. At AnimalWised we will provide you with some guidelines to follow to achieve your desire.
Imprinted hens
The ideal way to have an affectionate hen is to imprint it. Imprinting is a usual reaction in birds and other animals that at birth take as parents the first beings they see. Therefore, the ideal would be to adopt an egg about to hatch. In this way, when the chick was born in your presence and you provided it with its first food, it would consider you your mother forever. With which she would follow you and be more receptive to your teachings, greatly facilitating her training.
If you cannot carry out this maneuver, you can also take in a day-old chick at home, which will be imprinted by another person. The chick will not recognize you as its mother, but it will know that you are of the same species (a characteristic of imprinting is that the animal thinks that it is like you, since you are its mother), however it will recognize you as of the same species as his fleeting mother and will accept you.
This adoption modality is the most usual, since it has the advantage that the chickens will already be sexed, so you will have the certainty of adopting a hen instead of a rooster (more complex bird of tame than chickens). A chick that has lived with its mother hen will never consider you to be of the same species. It will always see you as a potential predator, making it very difficult to tame.
Setting up the hen in your home
It is definitely essential that your hen be raised outdoors, even in a small pen all to herself. Chickens should be raised on soil, as the soil will absorb the chicken's feces and convert it into harmless fertilizer.
In a small corner of the space reserved for your bird, you will place a protected and comfortable chicken coop that will be sheltered from the elements. Inside there will be a wooden bar where the hen will sleep. You will also place a kind of drawer for the hen to lay her eggs or incubate them.
You have to be careful when living with other pets, especially with cats during the chick period. The average life of chickens ranges from 5 to 10 years of existence. There are many breeds of chickens, and at AnimalWised we will show you some exotic breeds and others that are more common.
Colorful Spanish breeds
- The Pita pinta Asturiana is a subspecies of the species Gallus Gallus Domesticus with spectacular black and white marbled plumage.
- La black castellana is a hen of ancient ancestry among hens. It is a very old and pure breed from which various subspecies come. It is a slender hen with a beautiful and shiny black plumage. It is a large laying hen, capable of producing 220 medium-sized, snowy-shelled eggs per year.
- La Menorquina is a large hen native to the island of Menorca. Its size is the largest among the Mediterranean breeds. It lays about 120 eggs a year. Its plumage is black and its face has a white part. It is not industrially farmed.
Colorful races
- La Araucana chicken is of Chilean origin. It is a medium-sized hen that we can find in different colors. Some simple and basic, and others very complex and motley. The great peculiarity of this breed is that it produces eggs of a beautiful turquoise blue color
- The Imperial German has a haughty look and is of German origin. It has a calm character and is available in many colors. Produces cream colored eggs.
- La British Blue Andalusian is a hybrid developed by the British from the Andalusian breed crossed with the Menorcan. It has an elegant bluish color with black trim. Its size is medium.
- The Andalusian dwarf is similar to the British blue hen, but much smaller. Its origin is British or Austrian. Their eggs weigh about 40 gr.
- The Appenzeller is a medium-sized hen from Switzerland. A peculiar characteristic of this breed is the feathered tuft on the head and its beautiful fan tail. Their eggs weigh 50-55 gr., their color is white.
Very exotic hens
- The ayam cemani is a truly spectacular hen. All of it is black: feathers, skin, eyes, beak, legs, nails, bones, meat, entrails, etc. Only his blood is not black, although it is darker.
- La australorp is a hen with very fluffy and very shiny plumage. This plumage has a dense black color with greenish metallic reflections. It comes from Australia and is a very good layer.
- La sebright is a wonderful hen whose breed was created in 1800 in Great Britain. The main characteristic of this bird is its plumage made up of white feathers edged with a fine black profile. It also sports a graceful, fan-raised tail.
- La faverolles is a hen produced in Germany. The peculiarity of this breed is the feathery collar that it wears on its neck. She is a great egg layer and an excellent pet due to her mild temperament.
