Can Chickens Wear Diapers?
Yes, chicken diapers are real and are becoming commonly used by many chicken lovers. You don’t want to miss this read because it’s rather intriguing. Pampering our poultry has gone to an all-new level!
If you’re thinking of adding diapers to your brood, read on to get all the details! Information gathering is good when wanting to make any decision. And whether to get diapers for your chickens is no exception.
Why Would You Put A Diaper On A Chicken?
Just when you think you’ve heard it all when it comes to spoiling our chickens, along comes wardrobe options and accessories for our feathered friends! Trying to understand why a diapered chicken is a “thing” is unfathomable, right?
Some of us who love chickens so much opt to keep them indoors full time, just like a cat or a dog. Or we allow our chickens to come inside to visit and be with us every now and then. In fact there are many breeds of chickens that are like pets!
Whether you have a full-time indoor chicken or the occasional one, we can’t expect them to control the urge to relieve themselves. Here’s where chicken diapers come into the picture.
You may read online excerpts or comments about toilet training chickens, and you may be wondering to yourself, “Can a chicken be toilet trained” or not. Regardless of what some may claim as possible, chickens cannot be toilet-trained.
It’s not natural for livestock animals to be expected to live within an environment where it is to relieve itself in a designated area such as a litter box. However, there are numerous pigs, miniature donkeys and horses, and many other animals who do enjoy the lap of luxury in their owner’s home rather than a coop, pen, or barn stall.
Sometimes we have no choice but to bring an injured or sick chicken indoors while nursing it back to health. In a case such as this, a chicken diaper comes in handy.
So, how on earth did someone come up with chicken diapers, much less, why are people using them on the chickens? An innovative chicken owner somewhere out there was perhaps in search of a solution to be able to allow their chicken indoors while preventing chicken droppings from getting on the floor or furniture. So, they devised a chicken diaper which caught on with more and more chicken owners who too had the same conundrum.
Poultry fashion is up and coming not only with chicken diapers but chicken dresses, saddles, hats, and seasonal outfits. Rural farmers have probably figured urban chicken owners have absolutely lost their minds. Chicken diapers and such are most likely not used on farms.
How To Use Chicken Diapers
Many chicken owners have pressing questions that surround this subject. Getting a diaper on a chicken can be just as challenging as giving a cat a bath. Just how do you get a chicken to use a diaper? You can’t because they are at your mercy to get that diaper on them and to ensure it’s changed.
What Does A Chicken Diaper Look Like?
Chicken diapers look similar to a u-shaped cup with straps attached. The cup is placed over the chicken’s vent area and is held in place by elastic straps which go up the chicken’s back and under their abdomen.
Finding these odd-looking diapers may prove challenging, especially if you are looking for them at your local pet store. Chicken diapers haven’t quite made it into the pet retail industry, so you’ll either need to purchase one online or make it yourself.
Things To Consider Before Using A Chicken Diaper
Before you subject your chicken to wearing something unnatural and potentially uncomfortable, carefully think about if this is best for them. Although we want to keep our beloved pets near us, sometimes it can cause more harm than good for them.
Because wearing a diaper is foreign to a chicken, there are a few things that can happen when trying to diaper them.
- Their balance can be thrown off from the weight of the diaper.
- They can overheat if the diaper is made from heavy fabric.
- Unless the diaper is monitored and changed regularly, they can develop health problems as a result of keeping a messy diaper on for prolonged periods.
- A diapered chicken must be supervised at all times because the chicken may become entangled in the diaper strapping, which can be fatal if around the neck. Additionally, the chicken is highly vulnerable to predatory attack due to their balance being off or the diaper hindering their ability to move.
- When handling excrement-filled diapers, you subject yourself to salmonella, coccidia, e-coli, and more, so good hand washing is a must. When laundering diapers, they should never be combined with other laundry.
How often do you have to change a chicken diaper? That is completely dependent upon the amount of excrement a chicken produces. Some may produce more than others which requires the diaper to be changed hourly if not more.
Chicken Diapers DIY
You can make your own with a chicken diaper pattern. A little ingenuity, creativity, and basic sewing skills may be required. There are numerous online resources with various patterns and ways to repurpose other items to create chicken diapers.
Buying Chicken Diapers
There aren’t disposable chicken diapers on the market just yet. However, you can purchase chicken diapers online, which are pre-made from places such as Etsy.com, Pamperedpoultry.com, and Amazon.com. Diapers range in choices of materials, colors, simple to frilly, seasonal, and more.
To create the element of convenience disposability, you can easily insert a liner into the diaper cup to catch the excrement. Some find that placing a disposable face mask into the cup works perfectly because it can be easily thrown away.
The Last “Cluck”
Chicken diapers provide a solution to protect ourselves, and the inside of our house from unexpected accidents. If you find that your chicken isn’t adapting well to a diaper, it’s probably best to enjoy its company outdoors in its natural environment.
Have you used a chicken diaper on your feathered friend? If so, we would love to hear your story with chicken diapers!
