our kids demand chickens!

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Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Chickens are a nice family project, you'll be glad you got talked into them!
 
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I get that totally, some days my daughter won't let me feed, water or pick up the eggs (she's 4) but other days she wants nothing to do with them. And lol at the redneck reputation :) I'm sure it will be fine, just start off slow with a few chickens which believe it or not is HARD!! Especially with chicks. I'm currently trying to downsize after some fun hatching with my incubator lol. Best of luck to you!
 
Hey, 'Redneck' is OK in my opinion
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. Welcome to BYC.
 
I was pleasantly surprised at my grandkids, cousins Katie, 8 and Evan,9. Katie lives across the street and Evan lives two blocks down the street. When the subject of chickens first came up, they got all excited, started studying, and made a list of what "our" chickens had to be - good with kids, beautiful, good layers, no roosters, not good flyers so they couldn't escape, and above all they had to be good in cold weather. We bought the breeds they suggested, even though we kinda pointed them that direction. They did get their Easter Eggers because they were "darling" (Katie's word of the week, I think) and they lay blue and/or green eggs. Then each of them drew and colored coops on graph paper to help us design the perfect coop. Katie's was Princess Pink with turrets and Evan painted his red, green, yellow and blue rectangles with thin black strips between each color so it would look like it was made out of Legos. (I humbly admit that I actually considered that!)
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We used just enough of their ideas when we built so that they could each point proudly and say, "That was MY idea!" and they even were able to drive in some nails, and hand us tools if it was warm enough for them to be over helping.

I got the usual, "We'll help feed them, and water them, and clean up the coop, and get the eggs Gramma, we promise!" Well, we had to leave town on a family emergency and doggone if they didn't step right up to the plate and handle everything beautifully. They put their baggies on their feet to go into the coop (Mom's confirmed), they locked every lock, they fed and watered them faithfully and we had no problems. Then they tossed their little "footies", came in and washed their hands with warm water and soap, and finished with hand sanitizer. (again, Mom confirmed) I was so proud of them. We were gone a full week, and they were incredible. It's even more remarkable because I have 22 chickens, and all their moms did was look on. They remembered every step on their own. I have no doubt that when the hens start laying they'll add the egg gathering with no issues at all.

I think a lot of that had to do with them being in on the decision process, the selection process, the design, and the build of the coop, and helping care for the chicks when they were still in the brooder. I am so proud of them. Katie still runs over with kitchen scraps and checks her chickens, and Evan tries to be so manly when he talks about them. It sounds like your kids are a lot like mine - liking to be "in on everything" from the start. I sometimes think we sell our kids short - not expecting too much out of them, and then accepting when we get less than they can do. So go for the big chicken adventure! We haven't regretted it for one minute and I wouldn't trade the time we just sit on the grass outside of the run and watch and giggle together at those silly birds.
 
Hey guys! New to the thread!

My 6 year old wants to start 4H as soon as he is able, which isnt for another 2 years!
For now I asked him what kind of chicken he wants. At first it was just A bantam breed. Now, he has discovered Nankins!
Super hard to find and even harder to get a hold of. Although, I do love the idea of the breed since they are on the critical list and they are so pretty.

EDIT: My 4 year old just plain demands more chickens! (we have about 45 at the moment, 18 of those are still for sale for funds for other breeds)
 
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