My Wife is Finally Getting with the Program!

[Homesteader at Heart]

Chickens do smell bad if they are not housed properly. If their coop and/or run has deep litter, there is hardly any smell. I have used leaves in the past, and now use wood shavings, because they are available for free. Makes great compost too, after the chickens are through with it.

 

[Portia]

If I received a comment at when I started researching chickens, it was usually "Why?" or just a look of placating the insane. My husband went along with it even though he was initially pessimistic about the smell, the noise, the mess, training the dogs, what of many things would kill them, etc. He thought they were cute as chicks in the basement brooder, but we both quickly tired of the immense dust level that produced; still I forged onward. Then came the building of the coop, my DH had a ball. The first few nights of having to catch them and put them in the coop was not overly fun, but they adjusted quickly & now all I do is change their water every other day, fill the food when necessary, open & close the pop door, feed them treats, love on them and clean out their coop once every other month. We have a separate droppings pit that I scrape the roost droppings off into every other day & sprinkle on a little DE...whala, virtually zero smell (unless I miss a day of cleaning off the screen, then it can get a little gamey). Even with the massive amounts of rain, no smell. And my DH, he absolutely loves the chickens roaming around the yard foraging and what not. He also enjoys when they surround him when he's working in the yard. I suppose he would enjoy it less if they weren't free range, but we'll never know!
Keep plugging forward, before you know it you'll both be so hooked you won't even notice the reactions of the lay public when you start waxing nostalgic about your chickens

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
I agree wholeheartedly. Why else are "chicken" phrases embedded in our English language:

"henpecked"
"ruffled feathers"
"pecking order"
"don't be chicken" (afraid)
"don't count your chickens before they're hatched"
and there's many more...

 

[BowChickaBowMow]

Quote:
This made me LOL... as my husband and I IM each other from different rooms. I just wish he'd start getting "into" the chickens like the rest of us! Sadly, he can't stand them. He's the biggest egg eater of the family too... but could care less if he has fresh eggs vs store bought.

I have included every step of the chicks into our homeschool curriculum. From studying the different breed types they wanted (they chose what we got) and they had to learn about specific traits and care, and how much everything would cost from food/shavings/materials to build a coop/run. All the info they've learned was was made into a "lapbook " type report. They also made the plans for the coop/run..and built a small scale model. Though my husband did step in at that point to change their plans. (which made us have to spend more $$ than anticipated) Even the 4 yo has helped w/ the run.

He (husband) is showing growth though.. he helped w/ the coop for half the day yesterday! (between the two of us, we have 0 carpentry skills)

But he said it's only because he can't stand the chickens in the house anymore!

Well, I suppose if I get my butt off the computer we could actually finish the coop today and chicks can sleep in there tonight!

 

[GranHabano]

BCBM, it's nice to know that my wife and I aren't the only people who communicate within the same house by IM...now I don't feel so bad.

What you've done with the homeschooling is great. I hadn't thought about getting my kids involved this early in the process, but you've convinced me I need to get them involved right away. Although my soon to be 6 yo little girl is our only child that will be homeschooled this coming year, we have a 12 yo son who will benefit from the whole experience as well.

My wife asked me today how many of the chickens we are going to eat. I told her that I had planned on getting only laying hens. She now wants some meat birds as well. We'll see. I imagine we will all get way too attached to them for that.

 

[lengel]

I had exactly the opposite experience. MIL has dementia and is in a nursing home but she remembered that her family's ambition was to start a chicken farm. She was just so excited that we were getting chickens. Our neighbors watch us like hawks to see what we'll do next with our coop and enclosure. Last winter, we found human footprints in the snow from everyone else's yards to the coop. Presumably, they were coming by to say hi to the girls. DH picks out the most expensive equipment for their needs, most recently a huge shed that we could convert into a new coop, and I have to hold him back.

It's great stuff. We're having a fantastic time and everyone, I mean EVERYONE, loves the eggs.

Go for it. You'll have a great time. If takes fifteen minutes at most for us to change out their pine shavings. Not a big deal and I would be surprised if our coop started to smell.

 

[BowChickaBowMow]

Quote:
one fun thing we started w/ was after deciding how many we'd be getting... we did a craft project and made that many little chicks w/ construction paper and glued on craft feathers, beaks, and feet. Then they chose their names. The 12 isn't "into" that kinda stuff.. but if you put him as the supervisor... to help out the younger ones, then he forgets that he's too cool... and dives right in and has fun too!

That got everyone excited to dig into learning about them b/c that was the requirements b4 we could get them.

Quote:
I think my husband may be leaning in that direction.. he mentioned this a.m. about something he saw on t.v. recently where more families are becoming self independant b/c of the economy... he even mentioned possibly getting goats for milk? I was surprised!

I'm hoping for some more chickies.... esp. since I think half (or more)of mine are cockerel's even though we ordered sexed pullets. (click on link and guess the sex for me)

LENGEL: sounds like fun at your house!!!! Funny that the neighbors are sneaking over to take a peak!