Tired of being treated like I am crazy!

[Kfults]

so in April I became chicken keeper of 12. We built a coup and run like Fort Knox with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The run was 12x12 which DH thought was too big..... as they have grown at 6 months I added a 40x40 free range fenced area because they needed more space..... again family acts like I am crazy. I only let them range when I was able to watch them, but they loved it so much and I soon found I couldn’t be out there enough to watch them. I read stories everyday of people loosing their flock to dogs or predators. So today we added a hot wire 4 inches from bottom and a wire near the top. Should keep ground predators from going under and dogs or coyotes from going over. My family still thinks I am over doing it. We live in the country but more and more subdivisions are being built and there is less hunting grounds out here. Neighbor 1/4 mile away lost 4 dogs to coyotes. Another neighbor same area lost his chickens to coyotes. We have stray or lost hunting dogs show up time to time. I found mites on my cockerel and I cleaned and treated the coup and all my birds. Will do again next week.
All I hear from DH is “ mom and dad had chickens and never did any of this”
So I am thankful for this group of chicken keepers who are responsible and care appropriately for their birds!

 

[staceyj]

Ahhhh yes. You and your chickens belong here, safe, with the rest of us.

 

[drumstick diva]

hate to say it but "Mom and Dad didn't know better."

 

[N F C]

so in April I became chicken keeper of 12. We built a coup and run like Fort Knox with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The run was 12x12 which DH thought was too big..... as they have grown at 6 months I added a 40x40 free range fenced area because they needed more space..... again family acts like I am crazy. I only let them range when I was able to watch them, but they loved it so much and I soon found I couldn’t be out there enough to watch them. I read stories everyday of people loosing their flock to dogs or predators. So today we added a hot wire 4 inches from bottom and a wire near the top. Should keep ground predators from going under and dogs or coyotes from going over. My family still thinks I am over doing it. We live in the country but more and more subdivisions are being built and there is less hunting grounds out here. Neighbor 1/4 mile away lost 4 dogs to coyotes. Another neighbor same area lost his chickens to coyotes. We have stray or lost hunting dogs show up time to time. I found mites on my cockerel and I cleaned and treated the coup and all my birds. Will do again next week.
All I hear from DH is “ mom and dad had chickens and never did any of this”
So I am thankful for this group of chicken keepers who are responsible and care appropriately for their birds!

And that's why BYC is so great...we can talk turkey (or chicken, or duck, or birds of any type) all day long and no one here will call us crazy!