Recovering chicken hater

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SDuBose

SDuBose

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 27, 2014
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As an 8 year old my older brother sold me on the idea of taking care of chickens as a great idea. We built a (terrible) chicken coop, bought 24 chickens (way more than we could care for or feed), and then proceeded to get completely overwhelmed with chicken poop, egg eaters, predators killing our chickens, etc. To top it all off, one day a couple years after fighting furiously to keep those chickens alive, I walked out to find my dad and brother chopping the chickens head's off!!! I yelled "Don't kill that one! His name is Lucky!!!" To which they replied "not anymore it's not."

It was all just too much for a pre-teen to handle, and I became very anti-chickens for a long time.

My wife recently met several people who are all urban chicken owners, and somehow she's convinced me that it doesn't have to be that terrible experience. My kids are allergic to the store-bought eggs, but can eat free-range eggs for some reason. So here I am, researching chicken coop designs and prepping to give this one more try.

Look forward to all the advice on BYC :)

-Sam
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Sorry about your horrible experiences the first time around. Definitely spend some time in our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center learning all you can learn to make things go smoother this time around. If you free range your chickens, do be prepared for some losses due to predators. It's going to happen at some point. To help reduce these losses, make sure your chickens are all locked back into a predator proof coop before dark. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. I hope things go better for you this time around. Good luck.
 
Welcome! We are all addicts here - and it's infectious
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Sorry you were so traumatized by your family - it's sounds like something from Halloween 2!
Anyhoo......if you haven't looked under the 'learning center' tab, you should. Many coop designs there, some simple others more elaborate. I'm sure you'll find something to fit your needs. Also under the learning center - types of breeds, best for etc. Hendersons' chicken chart can help you decide what breeds are best suited to your family too.
Read, ask questions - everyone here loves to 'talk chicken', talk to local people who have chickens.
Good luck with your venture,
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Sorry for your bad experiences as a child. It's sad that some parents and other adults treat kids as though they were nothing, and their pets or possessions even less.

I didn't have chickens but, had a new puppy. It made the mistake of pooing on the kitchen floor in front of my father. He kicked it down the basement stairs, That was 55 years ago and I can still hear the horrible sound when the puppy hit the wall at the bottom. He had the wind knocked out of him and I thought he was dead. Didn't make me hate dogs but, sure started that feeling towards my father.

You don't have to eat any of your chickens. If you don't get overwhelmed by sheer numbers, they can just quietly retire on your farm. Many chicken folks do that and feel they deserve it. Some even have special coops for older ones, adjusted to meet their needs, lower roosts, etc.

Welcome to Backyard chickens. Feel free to exhibit kind behaviors in front of your children. You don't have to be a tyrant to get kids to love and respect you. Tyrants just get fear and loathing.
 
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Ah, Ha! Welcome back to the fold of chicken owners. Get a few Buff Orpingtons and you'll fall in love again.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.
I'm terribly sorry about your horrible experiences!!
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boskelli1571 is right, it does sound like something from halloween!
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I hope you have better times ahead of you.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Oh, that sounds awful!!! But I am glad you have finally come to your senses and realized that chickens are fun to keep! With proper care, chickens are very easy to keep and an enjoyable hobby. Michael has given you the link to our learning center. Definitely do some reading there for all kinds of tips and hints on getting started and caring for your new flock.

Stop by our coops pages as well for lots of good ideas from our members...https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

Good luck on this new journey! If you have any questions along the way, feel free to ask. Welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC!

You will find a lot of good information here. Keep on asking questions and you will get many good answers.

You may also want to read the FAQ below.
 

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