House Pets....?%&@

[dixieland]

This evening during a 4 H meeting, one of the parents asked me about making their 2 LF Silvers (who came from me) into true house pets....
After lots of questioning I came to the realization that she was SERIOUS....
I was very honest intelling her that I did not think this was the best route to go for many different reasons, but I told her I would check with  you all.....The temperament onthese girls is very sweet and docile.... Have any of you heard of diaper wearing Ameraucana housepets?
If so can you give me some pros and cons and any additional data?
My birds are all loved and EXTREMELY well cared for, but they have their own houses just as I do.....

[Don]

Jes, I think Beth was just talking about Folks and the Full moon on another post.  Folks will try to make pets of all sorts of animals.  Just not too sure how to over come all of the crazy things I\'ve had chickens do in their own houses and in the yard.  

[Beth C]

Lol, Don, I haven\'t looked lately - is it full yet?

Folks will try to make pets of all sorts of animals.

Have you seen this one: http://animal.discovery.com/videos/fatal-attractions-wild-thing-the-buffalo.html

I have heard of the house chicken thing, but never known anyone to actually do it, although I jokingly mentioned the diapers to a friend who has bought several birds from me (her birds live better than I do, but they still live outdoors.) They seem to be based on the FlightSuit. I have one of these for my Quaker and it works well for keeping poop off of you while carrying him around, but they aren\'t designed to be worn all the time, plus chickens poop considerably more than parrots. I can see how one might pull it off with, say, an OEGB, but keeping a LF chicken in the house just doesn\'t seem practical. If she is truly serious, tell her to do some googling, check out BYC - they\'d likely have a thread for that - and give it a try. I suspect they will be back outside in short order...

[Jean]

I have read horror stories from people who have sold goslings to people and they tried to make house pets out of them.  The birds never got sunlight and rarely got green grass to eat and ended up being malnourished and small.

These people then blame the breeder for not selling them a healthy bird.  I have seen two instances on another forum where people have taken the birds back and had to \"rehab\" them to become a normal goose capable of foraging on their own.  Pictures and daily updates were provided and it was really sad.

Not a good idea in my opinion.

[bryngyld]

I did know a person who kept the birds in the house, but they also got to go outside during the day, most days.  She didn\'t let them out until late morning.  I think she also had some kind of indoor coop, but I saw photos of them free ranging on the kitchen floor.  No diapers.

[Birdcrazy]

bryngyld said: I saw photos of them free ranging on the kitchen floor. No diapers.                                          

YUK!!!!

[dixieland]

Thank you very much! I will pass this along.....

[bryngyld]

Oh, the floor was clean.  She just kept cleaning it.