CHICKENS IN THE APARTMENT: WHAT TO DO. IS IT POSSIBLE TO START AND HOW TO KEEP A BIRD AT HOME

There are not so many who want to keep a chicken in a city apartment, but such people still exist. The reason for this desire can be both the love of these wholesome birds, and the practical goal of constant access to fresh eggs and environmentally friendly meat. But keeping chickens at home is not an easy task, which is accompanied by many limitations and peculiarities that we will consider in the article.

Can I keep a chicken in the apartment

In fact, the question "is it possible to keep a chicken in the apartment?" does not have a clear answer. To date, there is no law in Russia that specifically and clearly regulates the rules for keeping chickens in a city apartment.

But there are some regulations in which a loophole can be found both in favor of keeping the hens in the house, and as a clear prohibition of this.

At the moment, a regulation on the list of prohibited for keeping animals in an apartment is being developed. However, the bill has not yet been adopted, the list has not been compiled, and it will deal mainly with wild, aggressive and exotic animals.

But the cultivation of farm animals is still not clearly regulated by law.

First you need to decide whether the chicken is a pet.

the federal law "About the responsible handling of animals" in clause 4, clause 7 defines a domestic animal as "an animal kept by the owner, an individual, and under his temporary or permanent supervision, cats, dogs, as well as unproductive and wild animals in captivity, not included in the list of animals prohibited content. "

A chicken, even an ornamental breed, is definitely a productive bird because it lays eggs.

Ornamental breeds of chickens also include Brahma, Shabo, Paduan, Gudan, Minorca, Araucana, Kochinquin, Phoenix, Pavlovsk.

Thus, it is hardly possible to talk about the absolutely legal content of these birds in the room or on the balcony.

Also federal law "On the protection of animals from cruel treatment" says that any pet should be kept in proper conditions that correspond to its biological characteristics, satisfy the need for food, water, sleep, walks, vigorous activity, communication with other animals and humans.

And the number of animals kept in the apartment must be such that it is possible to maintain the living space in accordance with sanitary and epidemiological norms.

In this regard, we can hardly conclude that the chickens in a residential environment can satisfy all their natural needs. At a minimum, their living space will be very limited, and walking in the open air, in a natural, natural habitat is impossible, even if the hens live on the balcony.

So the question of how humane in relation to the birds themselves, their content in the house, according to this law, is quite controversial.

The third law that regulates pets is Article 17. Housing Code Russian Federation.

This article states that "the use of living quarters is carried out taking into account the observance of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and neighbors living in this living space, fire safety requirements, sanitary and hygienic, environmental and other legal requirements, as well as in accordance with the rules of use residential premises approved by the federal executive body authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation. "

Thus, growing chickens in a residential apartment building is time consuming and difficult to implement within the laws of the Russian Federation. With chickens, it is rather difficult to maintain sanitary and hygienic rules, and neighbors are usually extremely unhappy with such feathered tenants, because they make a lot of noise.

In practice, we see that some owners, despite all the restrictions, still grow chickens at home.

In most cases, the neighbors are very dissatisfied with this, since in the middle of the night the roosters start shouting loudly, the chickens are clucking, and the smell from the products of the vital activity of birds is rather harsh and unpleasant for city dwellers.

Did you know? The cock crow is very loud and is heard for a human ear at a distance of up to 2 km.

On the one hand, such a noise in the middle of the night violates the rights of tenants, but on the other, law enforcement agencies say that the ban on noise only applies to objects and phenomena that are controlled by man, but the noise from both young children and pets is not such is an.

Although in this place it is worth returning to the definition of "domestic animals" according to Russian legislation.

Consider that even if the neighbors cannot prevent you from raising chickens on the balcony, you will still have to live with their discontent and the scandals taking place on this basis.

However, practice shows that keeping hens in an apartment is still possible. Some intricate owners have a responsible approach to this matter - so that the neighbors may not even guess about the feathered “domestic animals”.

With the right choice of breed of birds, their number, sex and conditions of detention, it is possible to ensure their existence, which does not violate the rights of tenants of panel houses and meets sanitary and hygienic standards.

Advantages and disadvantages

Keeping chickens in an apartment has its pros and cons.

Did you know? It is considered that chickens are rather stupid and do not differ in special mental abilities. However, this is not entirely true: these birds can memorize and distinguish up to 100 objects (other birds and people), mark those who are kind to them, and even show empathy when reacting to a person’s mood.

The advantages of home poultry:

this provides owners with constant access to egg products;
when the egg-laying period ends, chickens go for meat, which is always preferable to the product from the store;
you know exactly what the chicken was fed and under what conditions it was kept, and therefore you can be sure of the quality of its products;
housing maintenance provides homemade meat and egg products of people who do not have the opportunity to live in the village or in the village in a private house and own animal husbandry;
psychological function - it is pleasant to take care of birds, they become not only useful, but also beloved family members;
Chickens, which were taken for maintenance at a very young age (about a couple of days from hatching), are very attached to the person, like to spend time with him, and even ask to be stroked.

However, the growth of agricultural birds in the house is not limited to only advantages, because in the conditions of urban dwelling they cause a lot of inconvenience:

it is difficult to find a room suitable for chickens and satisfying all their needs, because you will definitely have to sacrifice something (for example, free walking);
Chickens are rather dirty birds, they fulfill their needs absolutely uncontrollably and according to their needs, they cannot be taught to the toilet, so you need to be prepared that the birds will crap wherever they go, and all this will have to be constantly cleaned after them;
an unpleasant smell that is difficult to remove will be present to some extent, even if you meticulously observe cleanliness;
increased noise that is produced not only by roosters, but also by chickens, who constantly cluck;
the need for significant expenses to equip an equipped bird house;
discontent of neighbors because of bird noise, smell, unsanitary conditions;
the risk of violation of the laws of the Russian Federation, which is fraught with fines or forced sale of residential premises, if the owner of the birds does not release the apartment from them or in the case when the behavior towards the birds can be considered as cruel treatment.

Keeping chickens at home

The first thing to do before you bring chickens into the house is determine their purpose: meat, eggs, companion or all together. Having determined the purpose of the bird house, select the breed that best matches this goal. It is better to take chickens more calm, unpretentious and compact, so that they feel comfortable in a limited apartment space.
The next question is number of heads. Usually, when keeping chickens in free-range, when arranging a bird's place, it is assumed that one individual requires at least 1 square meter. m of free space. At home, this is impossible, so proceed at least from the fact that birds need about 30-40 cm of space on their perches.
The fewer hens will be located on the premises, the less labor for their care and the less noise and dirt they will produce. Pairs of individuals will be quite enough to periodically please yourself with scrambled eggs completely homemade.
Only prefer layers. Roosters are noisy birds: every morning they will emit a piercing vocal trill that will lift not only you and your family, but also all the nearest neighbors. In addition, in order to carry eggs, chickens do not need roosters. Its only function is fertilization of eggs for reproduction.
Having defined the goals, breeds and number of chickens, think about the room where the birds will live. For this you can use one of the rooms or a glazed balcony, loggia.
Improvised chicken coop should be well ventilatedwhere there is a hood or ventilation. At the same time, the air here should not be too dry or too humid.
If the choice fell on a balcony or loggia, then they must be necessarily closed and well warmed.to chickens are not cold in the winter. The minimum temperature in winter should not be below + 10 ° C.
In the summer, it should be possible to create shading on the balconyso that the chickens do not overheat in the sun.
Birds should always have access to fresh air., but windows should be protected with mosquito nets so that no other wild bird can enter the community of your chickens.
To protect neighbors from excessive noise, take care of sound insulation.especially if you have a rooster in your little flock. Plastic windows - the minimum necessary to protect the psyche of neighbors from constant noise.
The room should allow regular and frequent cleaning and disinfection.
"Birdhouse" should contain all the attributes necessary for chickens - feeders, drinkers, perches and nests.
Chickens need a long light day - at least 11-12 hours. Therefore, you will need to equip the room with additional lighting.

Caring for the bird in the apartment

Caring for the chickens living in the apartment is not easy and responsible.

Important! Keeping chickens in cages saves space and allows you to place a larger number of heads. Finished products already contain drinkers and feeders, and under them you can put the trays, which will accumulate litter. This greatly simplifies the cleaning of an improvised "house."

It is necessary to monitor the temperature and humidity of the air, turn on the additional light, clean up, feed the birds, let out to walk around the "hen house" so that they warm up and communicate with each other.

Feeding chickens must meet the needs of the breed of your choice, be regular and as rich as possible with proteins, minerals, vitamins. It is necessary to feed the hens with grain, wet mash, fresh greens and grass, vegetables, be sure to give gravel, chalk, crushed shells.
Cleaning birds should be carried out daily, and even better - several times a day, otherwise the room will very quickly begin to smell dung. In addition, be prepared that during the period of molting feathers from birds will fly in all directions, and cleaning will be needed more often.
Once a week it is necessary to disinfect the premises so that parasites, fungi, mold and pests do not start there.
All food residues must be removed from the feeders, from the floor and from the cages immediately after feeding. This is important because, firstly, excess food leads to overfeeding of birds and their obesity, the risk of which with a fixed lifestyle increases several times, and secondly, the food remaining on the floor will attract some of the most dangerous peddles of infections - Cockroaches, which, if you start, will soon settle on the whole house, and it will be quite difficult to get them out after that.
Chickens should have constant access to fresh and clean water.
The room must be ventilated daily to avoid air stagnation, but at the same time to prevent the occurrence of drafts, because the birds are very afraid of them.
If you do decide to take such a step as keeping the hens in an apartment, then try to make the most of the room that meets their needs and characteristics.

As we can see, the breeding of chickens in an apartment or house is quite a practical exercise, but very problematic. Birds require a lot of time and need constant care.

Did you know? Chickens have very ancient roots. To date, scientists have proven that these domestic and familiar birds are the distant descendants of a tyrannosaur dinosaur, as evidenced by the similar protein structure of the fossil remains of a tyrannosaur and modern chicken.

In addition, be prepared for the dissatisfaction of your neighbors, as the keeping of farm animals and birds in the living room violates at least three laws of the Russian Federation.