Convincing Mom to Get Chickens: Part 2

[TM Chickens]

Wow! Great letter. Hope it works!

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Thanks and so do I! I told her I have an essay for her to read (basically it's a letter but more like an essay on the benefits of raising backyard chickens) and she said she would read it tonight!

 

[sianara]

77horses,

Excellent letter! If your Mom agrees I would be happy to give you a few bantam chicks for free if you're willing to drive to my house to get them that is.

I live in Central MA. Show your Mom this thread and if she agrees, let me know and we can PM or talk on the phone (but only with your Mom's involvement) to try to work something out!

One of my bantam hens is sitting on 7 eggs right now that will hatch on or around April 17th. I've got another flock of bantam hens with a rooster and they haven't gone broody yet but probably will sometime this spring or summer so there's always an option for more chicks then too if this April hatch is too soon for you.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Thanks and I'm not sure if she would drive all the way there, but I would.

My mom just read my letter (the whole thing...I told her I worked hard on it and she should read the whole thing, so she did). She didn't comment on it...she shook her head when she read a few parts for some reason (not sure what parts of it and why...maybe the part about them taking dust baths that she may think it's gross or something?

)

I'm gonna ask her what she thinks...I'm a little scared to hear her response, but lucky for me she's in a good mood tonight.

 

[77horses]

UPDATE: I asked her what she thought about the letter and she said it was "very thorough."

Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.






***Just asked her what she meant by that and she said it was very "wordy" and "lengthy".

lol***

 

[77horses]

UPDATE: So I had my stepfather read it and he also said it was very thorough. And guess what? He seems a little interested because he asked questions afterwords, such as "Since *my mother* doesn't like to eat the yolks of eggs, is it possible to separate them from the egg whites?" (I said, yes, of course, because that is possible!). He also said, "If we got chickens I would probably want big eggs to eat."

He likes eating eggs, especially hard boiled eggs, etc. I also told him we could give them away to neighbors. He also commented that getting a couple eggs a week would be nice, and said that we would have to find a way to keep the dogs away (I told him all about how we could build a caged-in run, of course!)

So it seems like he's warming up to the idea MUCH better than my mom has (well, at least what she has been acting like to the idea, anyway...she's the type of person to say one thing but think something else...for example, she may not seem to like chickens that much, but maybe she's just holding back and doesn't want to become a "crazy chicken lady"?

Who knows!)


So far, so good!

Updates to come later! Wish me luck!

 

[77horses]

UPDATE: My stepfather is obviously very interested in all that I have to say about chickens and must be considering it all after reading my letter.

He was just asking me about how many eggs (about) we could get a week, about how many hens would feed the size of our family with eggs, and how much feed would be. He seemed satisfied when I told him that it only costs about $10 per 50lb. bag of layer feed and that can be spread out for over a month with a small flock of hens, especially if they eat other things while free-ranging so they wouldn't eat s much and the feed would last longer. It costs way less than the dog feed we buy for our two labs, which costs about $20-$50 a bag.


Right when I doubted my persuasion and persistence would work, it seems to finally be paying off! I can only offer any answers I can to any questions they may have, hope for the best, and maybe do some extra chores. That's what I did to earn my cell phone and it worked.

lol

 

[95yj]

you might have better luck if you just stopped bothering them for a couple days... and this is coming from a kid whose conned his parents into dozens of breeds of birds.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Trust me, I'm not constantly bothering them. I've only mentioned the benefits of chickens once and a while, and just now I wrote the letter. I didn't bother them until they read it just so I didn't bother them anymore, either. I just asked them if they could read it and they agreed and read it on their own time. Of course, since I wrote "don't hesitate to ask me any questions/concerns" in my letter, so when my stepfather asked me some basic questions that any beginner chicken person who may be interested in chickens might ask after he read my leter (such as about how many eggs they lay, how long they live, the expenses of buying feed, how much do baby chicks cost, etc...), I answered them honestly and gave him all the knowledge I knew about whatever question he was asking about. I asked him if he had anymore questions and if he didn't, that's it. I leave it at that for him to think about. Same thing with my mom; except she's a little more easy to become irritated if I bother her too much.

Now that I've answered the questions that my stepfather has asked me (so far), I've left him alone for him to think about it (which he said he would) and maybe discuss it with my mom.

 

[cobrien]

Great letter!

I have limited experience with bantam hens and silkies, I've only had one of each and they are/were my only small egg producers. But with both of their eggs, the yolk made up much more of the egg volume than standard eggs. In other words, very little egg white in my small eggs. Not sure if that is the case with all banties but something to think about if your mom likes egg whites.