Annoying

Indeed it is! Especially because it's like I don't want to do stuff but then I also really want to and/or know I have to do stuff lol

Trying to force myself to do more though especially since the dog at the least deserves it. He sleeps on the couch or lays outside which isn't really fair even if he doesn't require much exercise because of his mix. It's boring for us both.

Anyways, I'm sorry about you too :(
 
Well that's good!! I was always nervous to go on it cause I heard you can't get off them (like it's really hard) and plus never thought I was so bad aha

I might at least see someone though or force myself to do stuff. I've been a lot better lately though, since maybe August or September? This last few days or week or two though I've been worse but overall I'm pretty good i think but ya.

I feel like maybe this could be off topic even tho its my own post lmao
 
Here is an "annoying mom" speaking about raising chickens.

The day after my son's high school graduation last June, he brought home four day-old chicks in a paper bag from Meyer hatchery. He said, "Mom, I remembered you mentioned that your grandma got you yellow chicks raised in the bath tub when you were little, so here they are for YOU. Don't worry, I will take care of them".

Well, I never liked pets so we didn't have any officially at home (except for the fish, the frogs, the snake and some unknown insects that were in my son's room over the years), We have a very busy schedule so it was just not feasible to have live animals (or live plants for that matter) waiting to be fed when I don't even have time to cook for the humans. Besides, there was a reason why I don't remember my childhood chicks ever grown up or have real feathers, because they probably all died under my "care".

So, with the $10 my son paid for the chicks, it cost us at least $2,000 in the last 11 months to raise these 4 chickens. No joke. We put our bathroom renovation project on hold (which by the way, is still only have Sheetrock), scrambled to build a coop and a run because the chicks were growing fast, starting to fly indoor after 4 weeks. The house was covered with chicken dander and the earthy smell of chicken poop. The chicks were always crying, too hot, too cold, too hungry, too dark, too lonely. My son built a automatic heat lamp that can turn on and off based on the temperature of the brooder, otherwise we could have had some BBQ chicks. It was a full time baby sitting duty. Unfortunately, my son promptly went away to college in last July by taking summer courses and internship during last summer. My teenage daughter was like, heck, ain't my pets, i have tons to do already. My husband is supportive but perpetually busy working long hours, The chicks/chicken became Mom's/my pets.

I spent 3 weeks sketching, researching, designing, and pricing out a coop. All hands on deck for another 3 weeks to build a coop. Mostly I was the Home Depot guru working on the coop nights and on the weekends. I had to learn all about chicken behaviors, feeds, habits, training, predator proofing, worming, illness, egg laying, environment control in a short notice. And so.....

Who was the one driving miles/hours to lug home the 50 lb bags of feeds, sand, shaving, grits, treats every months?
Who was the one waking up in the morning to clean the coop, the run, the dust bath?
Who was the one feeding the chickens, making hot oatmeal mash in the winter, chopping up veggies daily, and give them clean (warm/cool) water everyday?
Who was the one braving the bitter cold blizzard and the two feet of snow outside in the minus degree to check on the chickens' feed, temperature, humidity, worry about frozen water?
Who was the one ran outside in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night to lower the chicken coop windows so the girls wouldn't get wet?
Who was the one putting chickens to bed at night, or taking them out one by one to feed the de-worming medicine?
Who was the one shoveling chicken litter to various compost bins, turning the compost and keeping the area fly/mosquito/mites free?
Who was the one barely miss the bus to work in the morning in order to feed the chickens?
Who was the one worry about the chickens when going away for a couple of days?
Who was the neighborhood ambassador to give out eggs on the weekends so we remain in good grace with the neighbors?

This list could go on and on. Your mom probably have similar questions going on in her head whenever a kid is asking for a pet. Especially now you are in the college age, there are so much changes and uncertainties. After the novelty wears off, or when the young people got something else to take on their interests, the poor Mom got stuck with more chores and responsibilities, plus the financial support.

Don't get me wrong, I really like these chickens. They are quite entertaining and their most expensive free eggs are definitely a bonus. I also really love my son who loves these little animals. Unfortunately, he is not home to take care of them. He is always busy working on some kind of projects, volunteering, mentoring during any free time. Whenever he is home, he does help out around the house taking care of the chickens and the yard. This summer, he is in Hawaii designing and building space exploration rovers. Between college and work, chickens are very far on his mind now and in the future. So I understand that perhaps, he really meant it that these chickens were for me, so it won't seem to be so empty-nested when he is away. Nevertheless, it is a lot more work than anticipated.

When you think that your mom is not being supportive of your hobby, think about if you can handle everything in the next 10 chicken life span years without adding more stress to her busy life.

If you are really determine, then build the coop and the run first yourself, save up enough money to pay for the chicken feed, have a plan to care for them through sick or thin because they are living beings. Don't make everything an afterthought. If you can set up everything by the end of June, there are still plenty of chicks available to purchase this year. With the new responsibility, there is now a new exciting goal in life. Find ways to achieve them to support your long term passion. Make this a sustainable experience to either add pleasure to your life and/or food on the table. You can also perhaps volunteer in the shelters, get experience to be a dog trainer by volunteering first, go back to school to learn a marketable skill and a degree.

I always tell my kids that there are three basic goals when choosing what you want to do in life:
  • Do something you love.
  • Do something so that you can support yourself and your family (and your pets and hobbies).
  • Do something that has a positive contribution to the society.

I love that you said that your mother enable you. She does, even when you complained about her.

Buying chickens is the easy part; caring for them is the real responsibility. We look forward for you to have a successful experience.
 
This is a great post so thank you so much, yellowchicks!

Still reading it but scanned it and it looks great so wanted to say thanks in advance hah
 
Here is an "annoying mom" speaking about raising chickens.

The day after my son's high school graduation last June, he brought home four day-old chicks in a paper bag from Meyer hatchery. He said, "Mom, I remembered you mentioned that your grandma got you yellow chicks raised in the bath tub when you were little, so here they are for YOU. Don't worry, I will take care of them".

Well, I never liked pets so we didn't have any officially at home (except for the fish, the frogs, the snake and some unknown insects that were in my son's room over the years), We have a very busy schedule so it was just not feasible to have live animals (or live plants for that matter) waiting to be fed when I don't even have time to cook for the humans. Besides, there was a reason why I don't remember my childhood chicks ever grown up or have real feathers, because they probably all died under my "care".

So, with the $10 my son paid for the chicks, it cost us at least $2,000 in the last 11 months to raise these 4 chickens. No joke. We put our bathroom renovation project on hold (which by the way, is still only have Sheetrock), scrambled to build a coop and a run because the chicks were growing fast, starting to fly indoor after 4 weeks. The house was covered with chicken dander and the earthy smell of chicken poop. The chicks were always crying, too hot, too cold, too hungry, too dark, too lonely. My son built a automatic heat lamp that can turn on and off based on the temperature of the brooder, otherwise we could have had some BBQ chicks. It was a full time baby sitting duty. Unfortunately, my son promptly went away to college in last July by taking summer courses and internship during last summer. My teenage daughter was like, heck, ain't my pets, i have tons to do already. My husband is supportive but perpetually busy working long hours, The chicks/chicken became Mom's/my pets.

I spent 3 weeks sketching, researching, designing, and pricing out a coop. All hands on deck for another 3 weeks to build a coop. Mostly I was the Home Depot guru working on the coop nights and on the weekends. I had to learn all about chicken behaviors, feeds, habits, training, predator proofing, worming, illness, egg laying, environment control in a short notice. And so.....

Who was the one driving miles/hours to lug home the 50 lb bags of feeds, sand, shaving, grits, treats every months?
Who was the one waking up in the morning to clean the coop, the run, the dust bath?
Who was the one feeding the chickens, making hot oatmeal mash in the winter, chopping up veggies daily, and give them clean (warm/cool) water everyday?
Who was the one braving the bitter cold blizzard and the two feet of snow outside in the minus degree to check on the chickens' feed, temperature, humidity, worry about frozen water?
Who was the one ran outside in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night to lower the chicken coop windows so the girls wouldn't get wet?
Who was the one putting chickens to bed at night, or taking them out one by one to feed the de-worming medicine?
Who was the one shoveling chicken litter to various compost bins, turning the compost and keeping the area fly/mosquito/mites free?
Who was the one barely miss the bus to work in the morning in order to feed the chickens?
Who was the one worry about the chickens when going away for a couple of days?
Who was the neighborhood ambassador to give out eggs on the weekends so we remain in good grace with the neighbors?

This list could go on and on. Your mom probably have similar questions going on in her head whenever a kid is asking for a pet. Especially now you are in the college age, there are so much changes and uncertainties. After the novelty wears off, or when the young people got something else to take on their interests, the poor Mom got stuck with more chores and responsibilities, plus the financial support.

Don't get me wrong, I really like these chickens. They are quite entertaining and their most expensive free eggs are definitely a bonus. I also really love my son who loves these little animals. Unfortunately, he is not home to take care of them. He is always busy working on some kind of projects, volunteering, mentoring during any free time. Whenever he is home, he does help out around the house taking care of the chickens and the yard. This summer, he is in Hawaii designing and building space exploration rovers. Between college and work, chickens are very far on his mind now and in the future. So I understand that perhaps, he really meant it that these chickens were for me, so it won't seem to be so empty-nested when he is away. Nevertheless, it is a lot more work than anticipated.

When you think that your mom is not being supportive of your hobby, think about if you can handle everything in the next 10 chicken life span years without adding more stress to her busy life.

If you are really determine, then build the coop and the run first yourself, save up enough money to pay for the chicken feed, have a plan to care for them through sick or thin because they are living beings. Don't make everything an afterthought. If you can set up everything by the end of June, there are still plenty of chicks available to purchase this year. With the new responsibility, there is now a new exciting goal in life. Find ways to achieve them to support your long term passion. Make this a sustainable experience to either add pleasure to your life and/or food on the table. You can also perhaps volunteer in the shelters, get experience to be a dog trainer by volunteering first, go back to school to learn a marketable skill and a degree.

I always tell my kids that there are three basic goals when choosing what you want to do in life:
  • Do something you love.
  • Do something so that you can support yourself and your family (and your pets and hobbies).
  • Do something that has a positive contribution to the society.

I love that you said that your mother enable you. She does, even when you complained about her. 

Buying chickens is the easy part; caring for them is the real responsibility. We look forward for you to have a successful experience.


Okay, finally read it all, and I wanted to say thanks again so much. :)

When you mentioned all those questions, those are good points and stuff I hadn't really fully thought of. Especially the part about going out there in winter and the lugging the 50 pound bags hahah

And it is true that I will probably go back to school soon or at least move out so that wouldn't really be fair to anyone.

Plus, although I do love her, she really doesn't know how to take care of animals and is pretty ADD so sometimes does things a completely obscure way or half butted/not finished and my dad and brothers will probably claim they're not theirs or too busy and want no involvement and even if everything got done right (which I suppose really isn't that hard), they still don't really know about illnesses and predators (and neither do I) so I do fear they will become neglected or sick orat the very least, just not given much attention, which isn't fair to anyone, especially if I did get them and started with a lot of interaction.

Perhaps I really SHOULD just wait. Or at least do a lot more research and preparation.

I don't know, it's hard to decide or truly know what to do.

And on that note, thanks for the great advice! Those are three great points :)
 
x 2. Who is going to pay for the initial cost of those chicks? Who will pay the electric bill? The feed bill? The supply bill (feeders, waterers, shavings) and coop building? There's a lot more to chickens than just collecting eggs. You may not agree with your mom's rules, but you do have to follow them.

We've had chickens for several years and they've been laying for that long minus 6 months. With the cost of their housing, food, straw, litter, feeders and waterers, food, brooder, coops (yes, there is an s on the back of coop), fencing, tin roofing, incubator, electricity (which I'm not counting) several heat lamps, my husband says half jokingly that we're now producing a dozen eggs for only $72.00 a dozen. My answer, get more chickens and the average will come down.
D.gif
 
Okay, finally read it all, and I wanted to say thanks again so much.
smile.png


When you mentioned all those questions, those are good points and stuff I hadn't really fully thought of. Especially the part about going out there in winter and the lugging the 50 pound bags hahah

And it is true that I will probably go back to school soon or at least move out so that wouldn't really be fair to anyone.

Plus, although I do love her, she really doesn't know how to take care of animals and is pretty ADD so sometimes does things a completely obscure way or half butted/not finished and my dad and brothers will probably claim they're not theirs or too busy and want no involvement and even if everything got done right (which I suppose really isn't that hard), they still don't really know about illnesses and predators (and neither do I) so I do fear they will become neglected or sick orat the very least, just not given much attention, which isn't fair to anyone, especially if I did get them and started with a lot of interaction.

Perhaps I really SHOULD just wait. Or at least do a lot more research and preparation.

I don't know, it's hard to decide or truly know what to do.

And on that note, thanks for the great advice! Those are three great points
smile.png

On a side note - is it possible that the reason why you want all of these pets (cats, dogs, goats, chickens, etc...) - is that they in some way are psychologically helping you? Maybe they make you feel needed? Maybe they make you feel more important? Maybe they make you feel loved?

Make sure that when you are ready to have your own pets - that you are doing it for the right reasons. Don't use pets or men to fill a "void" in your life. That will usually result in trouble and stress and aggravation - and the pets usually end up getting hurt/neglected/abandoned in the end.
 

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