Hi, I need help. My mom is willing to let me get chickens, but my dad doesn't want to. He says that they'll stink up the whole yard and will get obnoxious and loud. So basically, can you (preferably a parent/adult) post saying why he should let me? I told him to call my aunt who has chickens but he didn't.
Well, one of the best ways to get him to allow you a few chickens (I advise to start with a small, easily manageable number. You can let chicken math take over later after he's totally warmed up to them) is to get fresh-laid eggs from a farm stand or a friend with hens. Cook him up some fresh-laid scrambled eggs, and, assuming he likes eggs, and he's never had this experience, he'll be amazed at the difference. So you'll be selling him on a promise of good eating, first. Next, you might demonstrate that you know how to design & build a coop for these few chickens and can contain them in a simply made run. Tell him how you would go about frequently cleaning the coop & run, and how you could composed the manure to use around vegetable or flower beds later. Educate yourself well about chicken-keepuing, and then educate him. I used this technique on my husband, and it worked well. I hope this helps.
thanks, I'm also going to try to take him to our friends house, they have chickens, so he can see that the smell isn't too bad.
Very good advice here. Try also to find some research about how much more nutritious home-grown eggs are and that the chickens will also keep bugs down, rodents down and snakes down in addition to happily eating leftovers like watermelon rinds, bread ends, stale cake, bruised fruit and all kinds of other things that we fastidious people don't touch. chicken manure also decomposes very quickly compared to horse or dog droppings. Maybe after he sees your friend's chickens he'll realize how friendly and entertaining they can be. But, yes, start will a small number.
It's not at all about letting you have chickens. It's alot of work, commitment, and money (even if you use mostly recycled items to build the coop and run) to get started. It is a really big project that he may not want to spend the time, labor and money it costs to have even just a couple of chickens. The only real suggestion that I can give is that you do chores and odd jobs and save at least $200 no matter how long it takes to do so as it will show him you are willing and able to commit to the responsibility. Then approach him and tell him how long it took to save the money and the effort it took to earn it and ask him if he would reconsider discussing the possibility of raising chickens. While saving the money really research the coop and run pages to get a realistic idea of the hours after work and on the weekends it will take him to build and get started so he knows that you understand what he would be putting into "letting" you have chickens. Trust me when I say that the yard stinking or some chickens bocking is the easy part.
Since you have a friend and an aunt who have chickens, ask him if you can have them on a trial basis. Set the time period (say 3 or 6 months) with very specific plans and goals in mind. I do not know how well you keep up with other chores, but that should definitely be a part of the agreement. If you don't keep up as well as he prefers, you may need to prove yourself BEFORE getting the trial period with your birds. Make a detailed list of everything you will need to do to care for your birds and the frequency. Get advice here and from your friend and aunt. A well maintained coop should have NO odor except possibly during a prolonged period of warm, wet weather. Even then, there are things that you can do to keep odor minimized. Do not beg and plead, and certainly do not pout or get angry; talk to him responsibly and respectfully. Make sure you completely understand his objections, and let him know that you will research ways to prevent those issues from becoming a problem with your birds.
I cant really help since the only time my dad has gotten me chickens was cause i had surgery and he wanted to make me happy heres how we get chickens, our dad deploys, my mom gets chickens cause she likes them, and she gets turkeys and stuff, then my dad comes back after we sold all our chickens, but this year he'll just come back to chickens LOL!!! bribe him with eggs, and get extra chickens so that if you get any mean ones bribe him with fresh chicken meat
x2 on the previous posters. Chickens shouldn't smell. A coop that is cleaned on a regular basis should have no bad smell. As far as their noise, they really aren't too bad if you stick to hens. Roosters are loud and will crow a lot (not just in the morning). If you stick to a small flock of laying hens they really shouldn't be too loud or smelly.
Did your husband warm up to the chickens. Mine FINALLY said yes grudgingly, i hope he ends up loving them! He still thinks Im joking about finding a miniature milking cow, lol! Rachel
