More and more people are keeping chickens as pets, only to discover they don’t know how to care for them.
Kelly Rutkowski, managing director of Adopt a Bird Network, is hosting a free seminar on chicken behavior Sunday in Lorton, Virginia, in conjunction with the Fairfax County Animal Shelter.
Topics that will be covered include chicken health, pecking order drama, feeding tips and more.
Rutkowski said sometimes people don’t realize the cute chicks they got will grow into male roosters who need special attention: “They are just like people — some people get along and some don’t, so there’s ways you can handle it.”
For example, she said, you can add enrichment items.
“Instead of pecking at each other, they peck at the games and the puzzles,” Rutkowski said. “They can play with puzzle toys just like dogs.”
When people have problems with chickens, especially roosters, Rutkowski said they sometimes handle it poorly by fighting with the animals — even kicking them.
That often leads to people turning the chickens into the animal shelter. Since 2020, she said more than 250 chickens have been turned into the Fairfax County Animal Shelter.
It’s estimated 85 million chickens are kept as pets in the United States, according to Fortune. Rutkowski has been hosting these chicken care workshops with animal shelters across the U.S. since 2018 to help promote adoption and for educational purposes.
“Flock Talk: An Introduction to Chicken Behavior” will take place Sunday from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the shelter’s Lorton Campus. Registration is required and can be done online.
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