Chickens as pets

Chickens can make good companion animals and can be tamed by hand feeding, but roosters can sometimes become aggressive. Some have advised against keeping them around very young children. Some people find chickens' behaviour entertaining and educational.

While some cities in the United States allow chickens as pets, the practice is not approved in all localities. Some communities ban only roosters, allowing the quieter hens. The so called "urban hen movement" harks back to the days when chicken keeping was much more common, and involves the keeping of small groups of hens in areas where they may not be expected, such as closely populated cities and suburban areas. City ordinances, zoning regulations or health boards may determine whether chickens may be kept.[5] A general requirement is that the birds be confined to the owner's property, not allowed to roam freely. There may be strictures on how far from human dwellings a coop may be located, etc.^[15]

Chickens are generally low-maintenance. The major challenge is protecting the birds from predators such as dogs, raccoons and foxes. A bird left out at night is likely to be killed by a predator. Chickens are usually kept in a roost at night and a pen in the day (unless they are free-range). The floor is covered with bedding such as straw or wood shavings, which, with the high-nitrogen droppings, can go into a compost pile.

Roosters are not required, as hens still lay eggs, but these eggs are not fertilized by the rooster therefore they will not hatch. Fresh egg yolks are "perky" and float above the white. Yolk color varies. According to Gail Damerow's handbook, "Egg yolks get their color from xanthophyll, a natural yellow-orange pigment in green plants and yellow corn, and the same pigment that colors the skin and shanks of yellow-skinned hens. The exact color of a yolk depends on the source of the xanthophyll." A subsequent table ascribes raw yolks colored "orange to dark yellow" to "green feed, yellow corn."^[16]

If hens are allowed to forage or are fed additional greens, their eggs may differ from USDA standards. Barb Gorski, a Pennsylvania farmer of pastured poultry, had some of her chicken eggs analyzed under the USDA-supported Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. According to the laboratory results, "Eggs of the pastured chickens contained 34% less cholesterol, 10% less fat, 40% more vitamin A, twice as much omega-6 fatty acid, and four times as much omega-3 fatty acid as the USDA standard."^[17]

While the bulk of a pet chickens' diet should be a balanced commercial mix, for household chickens "green feed" can be as simple as poison-free, short grass clippings from lawn mowing. Chickens will forage for chickweed and other plants, seeds, and insects.

Chickens can also consume pulverized eggshells or otherwise unused food, such as meal leavings and old (but not rotted) produce. Damerow recommends leftover baked goods, fruit, or vegetable peelings, excess milk in modest amounts; advises against making such scraps the sole diet, or including raw potato peels "which chickens can't easily digest..." or "...anything spoiled or rotten...strong-tasting foods like onions, garlic, or fish."^[18]

In Asia, chickens with striking plumage have long been kept for ornamental purposes, including feather-footed varieties such as the Cochin from Vietnam, the Silkie from China, and the extremely long-tailed Phoenix from Japan. Asian ornamental varieties were imported into the United States and Great Britain in the late 1800s. Distinctive American varieties of chickens have been developed from these Asian breeds. Poultry fanciers began keeping these ornamental birds for exhibition, a practice that continues today. Individuals in rural communities commonly keep chickens for both ornamental and practical value.