# Chickens in the basement?



## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

Has anyone ever heard of raising chickens in the basement? My husband was reading a book recently that talked about this. He got excited and was talking about giving it a try. He wanted to keep three birds, with deep bedding that would be changed weekly. I told him that we will not be trying this. (I seldom put my foot down, but I am NOT doing this.) It sounds unsanitary, and I would feel bad for the birds being trapped in a dank dark basement all the time. I am just curious to know if anyone else has tried this or heard of this.


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## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I guess it would depend on what else is in your basement. I think I've read that same thing, and my thought was about the lack of sunlight those poor birds would get.

Also, I've had chicks up to 2 weeks old temporarily housed in my basement, and the 'chick dust' was awful; it got on everything. Not good when my laundry area is also in my basement!


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

yeah...all I can think about is that dust! I don't think it would be healthy for you or the birds!

I could see doing rabbits, in a basement though, if they are kept clean and given light.


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## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

NickieL said:


> yeah...all I can think about is that dust! I don't think it would be healthy for you or the birds!
> 
> I could see doing rabbits, in a basement though, if they are kept clean and given light.


We're actually thinking of doing rabbits. We'll keep the hutch outside in the nice weather, and for winter move them into our mud room.


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## happychick (Sep 20, 2010)

All creatures deserve sunlight - DO NOT PUT THEM IN A BASEMENT FOR LIFE! In an emergency sure, but not forever! Also, you would quickly realise just how much chickens can smell without adequet ventilation. Tell your husband he crazy!  :smack


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I had a friend who kept rabbits in the basement. The urine vapors seeped up through the floor and into the main part of the house. It was horrible. However, she had a lot rabbits. Either way, tell him to put the chickens outside. Three chickens are easy to take care of, the problem is predators so he'd need a coop and fencing.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Why in the basement and not outside?

I agree that the dust is awful.. we have chicks inside for a while and it gets messy really fast.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Done it quite a few times. You don't need to let them roam the whole basement, just pen off a spot and place a heat lamp. Sawdust to keep the dust down to nothing.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Maura said:


> I had a friend who kept rabbits in the basement. The urine vapors seeped up through the floor and into the main part of the house. It was horrible. However, she had a lot rabbits. Either way, tell him to put the chickens outside. Three chickens are easy to take care of, the problem is predators so he'd need a coop and fencing.


We thought about keeping rabbits in the basement to help keep them cool in the summer. We've had rabbits before though and that was outside in a shed, so we know how stinky it can get. Once I started thinking about that smell working it's way into our house through the air ducts.. yuck! Nixed that idea.

With only three chickens you could make a chicken tractor with an attached and insulated hen house.


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## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

We live in town, and there is an ordinance against chickens in the yard. SO, I think he was hoping to circumvent that ordinance by putting them in the basement. But I'm not going to let it happen. I think the smell would quickly overwhelm the house, and I agree that animals deserve to be in the sun. I have some neighbors who want to raise chickens too, maybe at some point we'll all get together and get the ordinance changed, they recently did that in a neighboring town.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Ah okay. When we lived in the city we had rabbits - much easier and quieter than chickens. They are easier to butcher too if you were thinking of keeping them for meat.

We had chickens too.. 6 civilly disobedient chickens (no roosters!) but we were on 1/2 an acre. They had a chicken coop attached to a dog run as their pen. We kept the neighbors supplied with eggs and everyone was happy. I *was* always waiting for Mr. Code Enforcer to come knocking on our door though.


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## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

A bit of thread drift here, forgive me blynn but so many made comments about the dust from chicks in the house I thought I would share this. My bff's grandmother, savvy old lady, had a wonderful method of brooding baby chicks in the house for a couple of weeks until they are old enough to go outside in the "big house". I am going to try this myself this spring.

Put them in the fireplace! Clean it out, take out the firedogs, put down a bed of shavings and hang a heat lamp. Place the fireplace screen up against the fireplace (mine is one that bows out and the edges go against the brick so this will work). Viola! When you take the chicks out, all you have to do is scrape out the bedding then start a small fire to sanitize the fireplace. The draft from the chimney provides ventilation and the most important part--the dust goes up the chimney instead of in the house. Smart old lady, was Clytie Coker. 

End of drift back to OP. As to chickens in the basement--no way would I try that. Too smelly, too dusty and no sun for the poor things.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I would be afraid of keeping them in the basement, not just because of the smell and the chicken dust, but for health reasons. My Mom has all kinds of respiratory problems and scarring on her lungs from working in chicken houses when she was younger, imagine breathing in all that 24 hours a day.


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## sandsuncritters (Nov 18, 2011)

Must be a Suthern Thing cause our Mammy did the same thing! 
Word of warning though, that cleansing fire will STINK like no tomorrow so be prepared to lay on some dried herb like lavender, rose petals, or preferably pine needles. No pinecones, they explode and then you have a bigger problem :run:

Oh the joys of learning from our elders :clap:

In His Love
Mich




RebelDigger said:


> A bit of thread drift here, forgive me blynn but so many made comments about the dust from chicks in the house I thought I would share this. My bff's grandmother, savvy old lady, had a wonderful method of brooding baby chicks in the house for a couple of weeks until they are old enough to go outside in the "big house". I am going to try this myself this spring.
> 
> Put them in the fireplace! Clean it out, take out the firedogs, put down a bed of shavings and hang a heat lamp. Place the fireplace screen up against the fireplace (mine is one that bows out and the edges go against the brick so this will work). Viola! When you take the chicks out, all you have to do is scrape out the bedding then start a small fire to sanitize the fireplace. The draft from the chimney provides ventilation and the most important part--the dust goes up the chimney instead of in the house. Smart old lady, was Clytie Coker.
> 
> End of drift back to OP. As to chickens in the basement--no way would I try that. Too smelly, too dusty and no sun for the poor things.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Sonshine said:


> I would be afraid of keeping them in the basement, not just because of the smell and the chicken dust, but for health reasons. My Mom has all kinds of respiratory problems and scarring on her lungs from working in chicken houses when she was younger, imagine breathing in all that 24 hours a day.


This. I think it would be very bad healthwise to have chickens full time in your house. I can hardly stand having chicks in the house for a couple of weeks. Makes an awful dust, bad for the lungs, and it gets on everything.

Also, what good are chickens without daylight? They need a good amount of light for laying.

I love chickens, but I'd put my foot down, too.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I know someone who hatches quail for a major hatchery who's name you all know. Sometimes she has 3000 quail in her basement!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Just nasty. That's all.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Brooding chicks is one thing, I have done it in the basement and upstairs in the house, too. But for hens to be "cellar dwellers" for life isn't a good life for them at all, and probably creates air quality issues for everyone in the house, too. Send hubby to the city council meetings to work on getting the ordinance changed!


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## Jan in CO (May 10, 2002)

Somewhere in my stuff I have a book from just after WWII where a couple raised chickens to butcher in their garage. Kind of one of those metal stacking deals like they have in feed stores sometimes. Each age moved down one level til they were in the largest one in the bottom, then butchered. I think the book is 'The Have More Plan'. If your hubby plans on keeping them in the house forever, I'd think it would get pretty stinky, too.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

My father-in-law did it. Done correctly the biggest problem is the noise.


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## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

I would suggest a garage or barn... They would get plenty of light. If the garage or barn has a second floor then it would be even better! Here is another option. I think it is pricey, but you could probably build something equally stealthy:

http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Chicken-Coops/The-Stealth-Coop-p493.aspx


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## jd4020 (Feb 24, 2005)

We got chicks one year & it was really cold so we put them in the basement, using a round wading pool and heat lamp to brood them. They were only there for a week, but the feed and fecal dust was there for longer, even though we used pine bedding for them. I would not do this again. I don't even like to think of letting grown chickens in my house, that's just nasty!! 
When I do raise them, I have old metal water tanks with heavy attached screened lids. These lids keep the critters out. I hang a heat lamp from the ceiling joists. I can raise the lids, hook them to a chain, also attached to the ceiling, and give them their feed and change the water. From my brooder tanks, I move them to my chicken house or tractors. Works really well for me.
God bless,
jd


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## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

sandsuncritters said:


> Must be a Suthern Thing cause our Mammy did the same thing!
> Word of warning though, that cleansing fire will STINK like no tomorrow so be prepared to lay on some dried herb like lavender, rose petals, or preferably pine needles. No pinecones, they explode and then you have a bigger problem :run:
> 
> Oh the joys of learning from our elders :clap:
> ...


Thanks for the warning! I had not thought about the fire stinking. Got lots of yellow pines in our woods so I will gather some needles for the fire when I try this.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

Look up histoplasmosis. It's a terrible disease that can be caught from chicken manure even in good, fresh air, barn situation. I know someone with it. You don't want it.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Chickens stink. You'd have to change the bedding daily if it's in a house. How in the heck could you remove the chicken stink from the floor? Chickens fly so they spread their stink.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Mid Tn Mama said:


> Look up histoplasmosis. It's a terrible disease that can be caught from chicken manure even in good, fresh air, barn situation. I know someone with it. You don't want it.


Thank you for posting this. I couldn't remember it when I spoke about my Mom. She has had histoplasmosis since childhood because of working in her parents chicken houses. Her lungs are scarred up and she always has issues with respiratory infections because of it.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

Stink. Big stink. Raise your chickens outside. I brood the little chicks in the mudroom till they are big enough to go outside, and by that time it is just VILE. If it's too cold to have young chickens outside, it is the wrong time to raise them. Wait for better weather.


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

We raised our 2 pet Pekin drakes in the basement in a refrigerator box and my dad changed the newspaper bedding every other day. We had tthem from easter (baby ducklings) till November. We put them outside in a a wire moveable pen every afternoon and most all day on weekends. A couple of dogs came to investigate when they had gotten bigger and we got careless about staying closeby to keep an eye on them. Dogs wound up with sevrely bitten noses. In November my parents took them to a bird sanctuary on the Potomac River and dumped them. I am guessing my dad had been trimming one wing's flight feathers-sure hope he let them grow out before he dumped them.
I don't remember A SMELL but to be frank we were all out of the house from 7am to 6 pm every day as both parents worked and went to school. Maybe my father anticipated more odor from them when the house got buttoned up for winter, and we couldn't have provided sunshine except on weekends.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

When I was a kid my dad decided to try to brood chicks. Somebody told him he could do it in the basement and he believed them. It was bad. It was too dark and damp and chilly down there. Almost all of them died, and the smell was bad.

When my husband and I moved out here from town, we decided to brood our first chicks indoors for two weeks. We did it upstairs in the pantry (which didn't have much food in it yet) and it worked out OK. We wouldn't do it again, though. Chickens belong outside.


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

This came from Mother Earth News a long time ago - 1970.

By today's standards, it's kinda inhumane, but doable.

Set up a Chicken broiler battery just like the factory farms do. For chickens that taste just as good as store-bought, or a little worse!










http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1970-03-01/Easy-Ways-To-Raise-Tender-Chicken.aspx

A complete chicken raising plant. With this broiler battery in your basement, garage or shed, and with no other equipment, you can raise baby chicks to 2 or 2 1/2 pound broilers in 8 to 10 weeks. Not more than 10 minutes a day care will give you 30 broilers a month at a feed cost of 16 cents a pound or less, depending on feed prices.

ONE of the most successful projects we've undertaken is raising chickens to eat - broilers and fryers, in what is called a "broiler battery". This efficient new way of raising eating chickens has become increasingly popular among the large commercial poultrymen during the past few years, but only recently have small broiler batteries been made for family use.

Directly below is a picture of our "home-size" broiler battery. Here is the way it works: In the top deck we place "30 day-old" chicks, dipping their beaks in the water tray (and the mash) as we take them out of the shipping carton. Dipping their beaks once or twice teaches them where to drink and eat. At the rear of the top deck is a heated chamber with a drape at the front. This is the brooder. It's heated automatically by an electric heat-unit. When the brooder drops below a certain temperature, the heat automatically goes on together with a small light. The light attracts the chicks and they duck under the drape into the warm brooder.

As they get hungry they come out to eat and drink from the feed and water trays. Once or twice a day - and it doesn't have to be done at a definite time - we change the water and add feed, a specially prepared battery broiler mash (be sure to get a vitamin fortified b attery feed). The chickens live on wire and are kept sanitary at all times. A few sheets of newspaper spread out in the dropping tray makes the daily cleaning easy - simply pull out tray and roll up newspaper.

At the end of 4 weeks, the baby chicks are divided into two equal groups - half go into the second deck, half into the lower deck. At the same time, another batch of 30 baby chicks may be added to the top deck.

In another 4 weeks, and each succeeding 4-week period, if you keep your battery running at capacity, you have 30 two-pound broilers.


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Jul 28, 2006)

Yuck. We don't even have young chicks inside. Tried that and don't want to do it again. Chickens are an outside critter.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

NickieL said:


> yeah...all I can think about is that dust! I don't think it would be healthy for you or the birds!
> 
> I could see doing rabbits, in a basement though, if they are kept clean and given light.


We had one rabbit in the house last week, It was sick and needed to be warm. It only took 2 days and it started to smell bad.


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