For those who's spouses don't play along....

[luvarabhorses]

My florange, (come on people, help me with this, we need it in the dictionary!

), has never been around chickens. He helped me move about 40 chickens from Maryland to Arkansas last year. It was then an immediate crisis in getting the chicken house built. He has been a GREAT sport!!! He helps me build everything and is really wonderful. Still I sneak poultry in all the time. It's more of a protection thing rather than deception thing, I don't think it would be good for his psyche to understand the full strangeness of the person he has decided to spend his life with. I got 25 chicks from Ideal last week while he was in Myrtle Beach and hid all the evidence, burned the box.

 

[Laskaland]

Quote:

YEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWW

 

[enola]

My boyfriend and I don't live together, so it is a little easier for me

I bought the incubator, set it up on the kitchen counter, calibrated it and put 2 eggs in it. He visited me 3 times and never even noticed it

(and Little Giants are not small incubators)

So, my daughter came to visit, she mentions the fact that in less than 2 weeks I will have peeps. Mike says "How do you know the hen will be setting by then?" Megan says, "Oh, Mom doesn't need a broody any more, she has the eggs in an incubator!" Mike says, "So now you are going to hatch them in an incubator? What in the world will you do with all those chickens?" I said, "Keep the hens for layers." He says, "What about the roosters?" The answer, "Eat them of course!"

He still thinks I am crazy !

 

[boxermom]

Quote:
My DH told me NO too. My friend's DH also told her No. We decided that I would give her one and she would give me one. Do you think that will work?

My DH said I would have to raise it in AZ w/ my friend.

We'll keep trying..

 

[AnKa]

If he wants to divorce me, I am not giving him eggimony.

 

[yfchoice]

I'm lucky. My wife doesn't care if I have chickens....I only have 6 (6 weeks old and still in the house). She didn't mind when I took out half the backyard last year for expansion of the garden. She loves fresh veggies and fresh eggs. To take it one step further, she approved when I took out the grass in the front yard to xeriscape. I have free rein to do what I want in the yard.

To be fair, my wife is a scrapbooker. She works in a scrapbook store. She teaches classes. She travels to teach at scrapbook conventions. She's designed a line of papers. She's also taken over 2.5 rooms of our house for scrapbooking. I have never said a negative word.

Karma has a way of rewarding those of us who know when to keep our mouth shut.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Absolutely don't trim their beaks. That is unnecessary and cruel and only done in factory-raised chickens because they are raised highly over crowded, unhealthy conditions, and is not morally right to do in those conditions either.
You would have a terrible time having a chick survive with its' beak trimmed. A chicken's beak is important to its normal life, and all chickens need full beaks for many things like:
preening, foraging for grass, pecking at worms and grubs, eating, protection (cats, other chickens), drinking from a container (factory chickens drink from hanging water droplets coming out of a pipe), rolling eggs during brooding. They need to peck at each other to establish a pecking order -- this is normal behavior. If pecking each other ever became a problem, it would not be because they have a beak, it would be because there is something wrong with their surroundings or conditions.

 

[Their Other Mother]

Quote:

YEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWW

I feel the OCD commin' on... get 2 more to make it 25. Can anyone say Mr.Monk???

 

[Laura78]

I started off with just wanting 12 hens. I'm now at eleven 4 wk old chicks, four 10 day old ducklings, one (have 1 die today) 3 day old duckling, and two 3 day old geese. Getting more hens too. Have yet to build the coop, but that should only take a week, till then everyone is in the house. My boyfriend wants the other chickens to look totally different than the rest (he ties flies). I forgot to mention I've also got one buck rabbit and 2 does for breeding. The rabbits are inside until their hutches are built, lol.

 

[Dr.Doorlock]

Quote:
My wife came home from a trip with her girl cuzins and took one of them out to see the coop, run and the girls. SURPRIZE!

The really funny part is she thought I had a rooster and she knew it was a absolute no-no because we live in the city. All was well when I brought in our first egg and she found I had paid only $15 for HER and saved her from a 2'x2' cage she shared with a roo.