How to Keep a Pet Chicken: A Detailed Guide to Feeding Methods and Precautions

Chickens have been a domesticated poultry bird since ancient times, mainly kept for meat and egg production, but nowadays some people also keep pet chickens, so how do you keep a pet chicken?

1. Living habits of chickens

The chicken is a poultry bird of the family Phasianidae, genus Gallus, originating from the wild red junglefowl, with a domestication history of at least about 4000 years. China is the earliest country in the world to domesticate chickens, with a history of at least more than four thousand years. Chicken bones or pottery chickens from more than four thousand years ago have been found in Hubei, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Gansu and other provinces.

Chickens have poor cold resistance. Newly hatched chicks have a body temperature 3°C lower than adult chickens, and it takes 10 days for them to reach normal body temperature. In addition, chicks have short and sparse down feathers and cannot withstand cold, so their ability to adapt to the environment is not strong. Artificial warmth must be provided for chicks to grow and develop normally.

Chicks from 1-30 days old all need to be kept warm and raised in a clean and hygienic environment. For chicks over 30 days old, the feathers are basically fully grown in, so warmth is no longer needed. Body temperature is high and development is fast.

2. How do you keep a pet chicken?

1. You need to prepare a small nest for the pet chicken, which can be made from a cardboard box or foam box;

2. When choosing a pet chicken, you need to pick a lively, active chick that looks relatively healthy;

3. To feed the chick, you can give it millet soaked in clean water, vegetable leaves, rice, etc. After the chick grows up, you can feed it other different foods;

4. During the raising process, you also need to pay attention to disease prevention.

Among them, the main diseases are:

1. Fowl pox

It is an acute, contact infectious disease of chickens. The disease is characterized by pox lesions on the featherless or sparsely feathered skin of chickens, or the formation of fibrinous necrotic pseudomembranes on the mucous membranes of the oral cavity and throat, and it easily causes serious consequences in young chickens.

2. Pullorum disease

It is an infectious disease caused by Salmonella pullorum, and its excrement is an important transmission medium. It can also be transmitted vertically through eggs. Main symptoms and lesions: chicks show refusal to eat feed, fear of cold, hunched body, drooping wings, depression or lethargy, and pass white viscous or pale yellow, pale green loose droppings. The anus is sometimes blocked by hardened dung, and breathing is difficult.