Gripe!

[HChambers82]

Does anyone else get SUPER possessive of the birds? Even to the point of not wanting your husband and kids to "mess with them". I'll explain... Growing up I had a small flock of 3 chickens, 2 BR and 1 RIR. I had a call for them, that every time I went out back and called they came running! I loved my girls! Fast forward 20+ years and I'm able to have chickens again. *side note- my husband and eldest daughter (20yr) "click" (like most people do for horses) for ALL animals, to get their attention.* I have tried to introduce my flock to MY CALL, but because my husband works from home and goes out to check on our donkeys periodically throughout the day, and my daughter lives in our "mother-in-law suite" out by the barn, as they walk past the henhouse they "click". I work off site and don't get to see my birds as much as they do, so they don't recognize MY CALL. I have asked that my hubs and daughter stop "clicking" at the chickens, as they were my idea and supposed to be MINE. I recently acquired an adult Tom, for my T-hens and had him in quarantine, close but not too close to my flock. I had also separated my T-hens from my chickens to smooth the transition into their own coop, because they bully my chickens. I came home from work yesterday, and not only is Tom in with my T-hens (10 days early) but they're all back together! Turkeys and chickens!! "I felt bad for them" is all he says. *history my T-hens are a year old and have been with my chickens up until about 6 weeks ago.* Grrr! Now it's too late to go back to quarantine, and I had to wake up extra early to re-separate my flock! It's just irritating!
Sorry... Rereading that it's kinda scattered, but my brain doesn't work right when I'm frustrated!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Does anyone else....

I kinda get the turkey thing... but not the calling (clicking) to the chickens thing though?

You're on your own with that one .... maybe not ... others might "get it".. I might be the odd one out here, but.... why not just "click" call like everyone else?

btw, I'm in no way criticizing your "gripe" or suggesting you're too mentally rigid... I just don't quite understand the call issue.

Ultimately I think the only solution is to put a knot your husband's head for mixing the turkeys, and then start taking the chickens to work with you.

 

[HChambers82]

I kinda get the turkey thing... but not the calling (clicking) to the chickens thing though?

You're on your own with that one .... maybe not ... others might "get it".. I might be the odd one out here, but.... why not just "click" call like everyone else?

btw, I'm in no way criticizing your "gripe" or suggesting you're too mentally rigid... I just don't quite understand the call issue.

Ultimately I think the only solution is to put a knot your husband's head for mixing the turkeys, and then start taking the chickens to work with you.

LOL! If I could work from home or take my ladies with me I would!! My issue with the "clicking" is that because it's the default noise... If you click, the dog, cat, donkeys, goats etc ALL come running! I don't need 3 dogs whining at coop door thinking I want them. I know I'm being petty. But as a mom and wife, I just feel like I don't have anything that's Mine. The donkeys are his, the dogs are his, the cat is hers, the goats are my other daughter's 4H...

 

[happybooker1]

I get it totally! Don’t have the prob though — my adult daughter has her dog & my adult son has his 2 cats n they’re perfectly content to leave ALL the other animals to me. That’s 4 geese, flock of hens & rooster, 4 cats, and 3 dogs.

Animals WILL learn faster with food/treats. Maybe if you use your call & treat the hens with sunflower kernels, raisins, or small pieces of bread, etc. they will come for your call also. You would at least be their favorite person!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

... the dog, cat, donkeys, goats etc ALL come running! I don't need 3 dogs whining at coop door thinking I want them.

Ahhhhh... okay I get it now!

Stampede of critters... makes perfect sense to want to avoid all of that.

.... as a mom and wife, I just feel like I don't have anything that's MINE.

This is the one that 's more important, if you ask me....

But I bet you'll have to explain that to them... at our house my wife usually has to spell these kinds of things out for me before I can clue in, and then I say "well I wasn't doing that on purpose, I'm just a moron... you know that!"

Sometimes though she just comes right out and tells me what the problem is and threatens to do violence on me in my sleep if I don't knock it off... I'm quicker on the uptake when she takes that approach.

In any case I'm sure if you tell them how you feel and that you need your own thing, they'll get it and adjust... if not though, tell them a stranger on the internet said it was okay for you to pass out "knots to the head" to the both of them!

 

[HChambers82]

I get it totally! Don’t have the prob though — my adult daughter has her dog & my adult son has his 2 cats n they’re perfectly content to leave ALL the other animals to me. That’s 4 geese, flock of hens & rooster, 4 cats, and 3 dogs.

Animals WILL learn faster with food/treats. Maybe if you use your call & treat the hens with sunflower kernels, raisins, or small pieces of bread, etc. they will come for your call also. You would at least be their favorite person!

I'm going to have to try SOMETHING! You're lucky! The donkeys started out as mine, but I just kinda got pushed out. Our eldest is such a daddies girl and he's an enabler. She has NO plans on ever moving out and he has NO plans on making her. The other daughter can't wait to be gone! So... Hopefully treats will work, if not I have to wait until everyone moves out and I put a padlock on the coop!

 

[drumstick diva]

I kinda know what that feels like, many, many years ago I bought myself a Cocker puppy. He would be my best friend . He was, until my father came in from work. The pup took one look at him and that did it. He didn't want me around. Despite that I fed him, I walked him, I groomed him, I trained him.

My father? When the pup made a puddle inside the house. My father kicked him down the basement stairs. He hit the wall and you could hear breath coming out of him. I was hysterical thinking he killed my puppy.

The pup was still crazy about him. My mother never said a word, and neither did I or we would have been targets. Much later on, I ended up breeding Cockers, and my father was too addicted to television to ever visit them - thank heavens.

The Cockers loved everybody but, my soul mate Cocker always watched to see if I was coming and trusted I would take him.

 

[HChambers82]

I kinda know what that feels like, many, many years ago I bought myself a Cocker puppy. He would be my best friend . He was, until my father came in from work. The pup took one look at him and that did it. He didn't want me around. Despite that I fed him, I walked him, I groomed him, I trained him.

My father? When the pup made a puddle inside the house. My father kicked him down the basement stairs. He hit the wall and you could hear breath coming out of him. I was hysterical thinking he killed my puppy.

The pup was still crazy about him. My mother never said a word, and neither did I or we would have been targets. Much later on, I ended up breeding Cockers, and my father was too addicted to television to ever visit them - thank heavens.

The Cockers loved everybody but, my soul mate Cocker always watched to see if I was coming and trusted I would take him.

I'm so glad you overcame all that!

 

[HChambers82]

Ahhhhh... okay I get it now!

Stampede of critters... makes perfect sense to want to avoid all of that.



This is the one that 's more important, if you ask me....

But I bet you'll have to explain that to them... at our house my wife usually has to spell these kinds of things out for me before I can clue in, and then I say "well I wasn't doing that on purpose, I'm just a moron... you know that!"

Sometimes though she just comes right out and tells me what the problem is and threatens to do violence on me in my sleep if I don't knock it off... I'm quicker on the uptake when she takes that approach.

In any case I'm sure if you tell them how you feel and that you need your own thing, they'll get it and adjust... if not though, tell them a stranger on the internet said it was okay for you to pass out "knots to the head" to the both of them!

LOL! Thank you! I might just do that. *the knots to the head*