Cannot. keep up. with brooder cleaning. ANYMORE!!!!!

[soldieratheart]

My lil' chickies are almost 8 weeks old now and look like mini-chickens.... I need their coop DONE!!!!!! My darling DH has helped me every step of the way in building the coop, and keeps promising to finish it... but WHEN???? I feel so bad since he has done a terrific job and I *suck* at building anything, but now I can't finish the durn thing myself (the crucial finishing touches involve using tools that I don't know how to use) and my brooder is getting filthy and stinky faster than I can clean it! We've had so much rain lately, that I can't put the birds out in their pen to hose down their brooder. Yuck!

Of course I have been "hinting" to DH for the past week that I really, really, really need to move my birds.... but somehow other things keep coming up... and now my in-laws are moving today and of course DH will be tied up helping out all weekend. I am very glad to help his parents but I NEED MY COOP! This thing was supposed to only take a few days and it's been dragging on since late August thanks to pure procrastination...

I suppose I will have to cram my birdies into the little "add-on" brooder that attaches to their main one, clean the main one, move them back, clean the attached smaller one, and give them clean quarters. But oh, I am so sick of cleaning those durn things - and it's raining today - and I was hoping that I could hold off until the birds moved into their coop so it would be the last brooder cleaning until spring. And to add to my pity party over here, after I checked on my chickies this morning and picked up the roo I want to keep, to hand-feed him on my lap (do it every day to help keep him tame and gentle), THEN a stench alerted me to the caked-on brown poop under his foot. Which was now smeared over my last pair of clean jeans.


Sigh... I need to look into subtle bribes for getting projects FINISHED... I wonder if baking a nice carrot cake (DH's favorite) for "celebrating the finished coop" would work?

 

[Wildsky]

Sometimes, you just need to pick up the tools and figure it out yourself. Sometimes thats all that is needed to get the DH motivated, and other times you learn something new.

The chickens are not going to be annoyed if you mess up a little detail, and you'll be a lot happier and proud!

 

[Whispering Winds]

Carrot cake and a silk nightie might do the trick. I am so peeve at my DH for helping everyone else and not getting my alpaca barn finished, HE can wear the silk nightie.

 

[wegotchickens]

When I wanted DH to help finish the coop I asked him where certain tools were stored. He was up and building in a FLASH!
And I do know how to use the tools, but he doesn't want me touching them. They're 'his' toys LOL.

 

[soldieratheart]

Yes, I've done that before, but things like ripping a board on a temperamental table saw are a little too intimidating for me. Plus, I am nursing our baby so if I do go out to to the garage, then I need someone to watch the baby (DH doesn't want him around all the dust and stuff while we use the bigger power tools). This means that if *I* go out to work, I must ask DH to watch the baby, and then he will ask why, and get ticked at me for going out to attempt to do it myself when "he said he would get to it".

The other solution is to refuse his offers of assistance so that I do not depend on his help, but then he does not understand why and gets angry at a) my not wanting his help or b) if I explain why, at my "deadlines" when I should simply be grateful for his efforts.

It's kind of a lose-lose scenario, so my best bet is just to find ways to motivate him I guess.



Edited to add: But I am 90% sure he will get it done this weekend, after I enticed him to go out to the garage and he saw the issue for himself, and I must say that the work he has done to make my coop has made it absolutely awesome! So I am VERY grateful to him... just frustrated at the procrastination monster!

 

[newchickmom09]

Whispering Winds:
Carrot cake and a silk nightie might do the trick.

Always a great bribe tool. LOL

Wildsky:Sometimes, you just need to pick up the tools and figure it out yourself.

That is what I do, Usualy it gets him right up other times I really think he likes watching me try to figure out how to work everything or change a blade.

Now I know how to use all of his "big boy toys".

 

[Wildsky]

Pick one of his best friends/a cute single one - then ask DH if he thinks this friend can come over and help YOU finish the coop.

 

[shaggy]

ok ...


stop ..... breathe .... relax


i don't know about your hubby ... but when my wife try's to take over a project that i am doing and doesn't do as good of a job as i would have ... it drives me nuts

give the hubby a big fat hug and a sloppy wet kiss and tell him how awesome of a job he is doing and that you can't wait to see what it will look like when he is finished .....

hubbies like to be the hero --- makes us feel appreciated .... simple things like that go a long way for us ... all we want to do is be your heroes

----- coming from a husbands perspective ... 9 years and my wife still hasn't learned this

 

[mandelyn]

It's also totally ok to throw the fowl outside for a little bit while you clean. You can use baby wipes on their feet if they get too muddy, but usually it all dries and falls off anyways.

Just be thankful they're chicks and not ducklings! Ducklings enjoy taking a mouthfull of food to the water, mixing it, and then shaking their heads so that it slings everywhere. I found out after looking at the wall behind the brooder... that they really require a plexiglass brooder.

 

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
That's all I have to do too................... He doesn't want anyone touching his tools either

And, he also says that if I learn to use all of the tools, then I will not need him anymore