Comic Strips

Stop? That's a bit of an overstatement if I claimed that lol.

But strongly limit is easy enough. You just reward the bird any time they go where you want them to, while starting out with that "place" being huge, and eventually shrinking it. That is made faster if you can identify when the bird is going to poop, and help them get there.

We used disposable pads at first, then switched to washable pads that are the same size and color (no idea if chickens can see in color, I just realized I never looked that up). We got her in October, and it was December before she would try to get to a pad reliably.

Luckily, unless she's voiding only the wet stuff (calling it urine doesn't feel right, nor pee, but it's the equivalent), it isn't bad. When she does miss the pad, it's because she doesn't really know that the poop is supposed to be on it, not just her feet lol. It's mostly very dry and firm, so there's not enough mess to be a problem as long as we monkeys pay attention. She'll do a light dance, lift her tail, and a little blob of stuff pops out, dry enough that even on a white pad surface, you can't see anything when you remove it.

She gets insistent when she's on my shoulder and needs to go, so I just keep a pad handy and move her onto it.

Since it's that dry, it's very easy to just grab the poo with some tissue and toss it in a bag and then dump the bag into the compost heap at the end of the day, when she's inside all day

I'm not saying there's never accidents, but she tries to do what we want in that regard. But our floors are all easy to clean, so it isn't onerous when an accident happens.

Currently, she's probably at 95% making it onto a pad with the poop, and 99+ with trying. Pretty damn unusual for a chicken, or so I've been told.

Nah, I'll sit there eating chicken, and give her a bit. Seriously, if you look up lists of food that's okay/good for them, chicken and eggs are on almost every list. She very much enjoys both.

Now, would I eat her? Nah, and not only because of the breed not being very good as meat, nor that I hope she lives to be very old, which makes for not good meat. She's part of the family, and you don't eat family unless it's life-or-death. Like, I have no objection to eating dog, but I wouldn't eat my dog.

Hell, I don't even object to the idea of eating one's own pets in general, I can see the way it could be a respectful and good thing. I just can't do it lol.

I will say that I'm pickier about sourcing my chicken for food now though. I've always preferred non industrial meat sources when possible, but now that "when possible" has turned into "well, I guess I'll just skip it this time".