Trouble convincing parents

[mattc102]

Sounds like you have a plan, and you can try to convince your parents but they may still say no if they really don't want them. As for your coop, that sounds pretty good, but I would use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. Chicken wire does not really do a good job of protecting chickens and most predators can tear right through it if they are determined. Raccoons just reach right through, and weasels fit through the holes.

Yes sorry that's what I ll use I just call it that , I looked at prices already and kinds at my local shop so and it's not that my parents just don't want me to get them cause both of them grew up in the sticks it's just that they have their doubts

 

[Ms Perkins]

Hey Matt, one way to convince your parents is to do extra chores. Help them out and casually mention chickens when they least expect it. It worked for me- Good Luck!

 

[drumstick diva]

You have been given some great advice by the previous posters. My only concern is your other activities , baseball, football, wrestling - seasons and practice sessions melt into each other. You're probably always working on one or another sport plus, school work has to fit in somewhere. Just like too many sports can leave you too tired for homework - it can leave you too tired for chickens. Sports are fun if you are good at them and have friends around you. Caring for chickens, and cleaning coops etc. will just be you. After awhile it doesn't seem so great, especially if one bird bullies the others, a rooster overbreeds and damages the hens, predators snatch your favorite, or the flock comes down with one of the many respiratory illnesses going round. I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm - it's just that these are all part and parcel of being a keeper of chickens.

I was eleven when I got my first purebred puppy,(I paid for), the next year I started showing him, Then learned how to trim dogs etc. etc. This was probably much easier for me than what you want to undertake. I was very shy and horrible at sports so apart from school ,dogs where my only activity and basically my only friends. I eventually opened a grooming shop, raised many Champion dogs, wrote for breed dog magazines, and once even judged a puppy sweepstakes several states from home. But, then I wasn't giving up much - dogs were everything to me. Certainly there are people who feel the same about their chickens, or ducks, or goats. etc. My parents would not have taken over for me, if I had decided I'd rather do something else.

 

[CrazyChookz]

Hello

and Welcome to BYC! I hope you find answers for all your poultry questions here. Parents can be tough to convince, but good luck. (you'll need it)

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

 

[mattc102]

Matt, I am new myself. Welcome!

It sounds as if you have taken a lot of the responsibility into account, planned your coop well, and you have a good work ethic.

The only other issue that I see is what will happen when you turn 18? Will you go off to work elsewhere or to college? Would your mom be ready to take over?
Then of course, there is the issue of what to do with a chicken when it stops laying and 'goes into retirement'. Will your parents still want her around.

Thanks glad to be reassured and I would probaley give them to my aunt because she has a farm and only some chickens ( a lot of them were killed for meat) and if the hens stop laying I will probaley give them away or use them for meat .

 

[mattc102]

You have been given some great advice by the previous posters.   My only concern is your other activities ,  baseball, football, wrestling   - seasons and practice sessions melt into each other. You're probably always working on one or another sport  plus,  school work has to fit in somewhere.    Just like too  many sports  can leave you too tired for homework  - it can leave you too tired for chickens. Sports are fun if you are good at them and have friends around you. Caring for chickens,  and cleaning coops  etc. will just be you.  After awhile it doesn't seem so great, especially if  one bird bullies the others,  a rooster overbreeds and damages the hens,   predators snatch your favorite, or the flock comes down with one of the many respiratory illnesses going round.  I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm - it's just that these are all part and parcel of being a keeper of chickens.

I was eleven when I got my first purebred puppy,(I paid for), the next year  I started showing him, Then learned how to trim dogs etc. etc.  This was probably much easier for me than what you want to undertake.  I was very shy and horrible at sports so apart from school ,dogs where my only activity and basically my only friends.  I eventually opened a grooming shop, raised many Champion dogs, wrote for  breed dog magazines,  and once even judged a puppy sweepstakes  several states from home. But, then I wasn't giving  up much  - dogs were  everything to me.  Certainly there  are people who feel the same about their chickens, or ducks, or goats. etc. My parents would not have taken over for me, if I had decided  I'd rather do something else.

I always have time after sports are over usually like an hour or two before dark . Also , I get As in school and can do that while I ride dirtbikes, play paintball , play all three sports that I do and play xbox . To solve some of the problems u listed well for starters I do not want a rooster heard too many bad stories about them and also have experienced it myself cause my friend had one . As for illness , medicated feed and medicines , my aunt can hook me up with them she lives on a farm with some chickens . As for a predator getting my "favorite" I think I can live that down I do not think I will get attached and if I do then that's ok I already got over the best dog named spot that died 5 years ago I am used to loss, my Papap almost died three times and was life delighted two

 

[Book Em Danno25]

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! One other possibility, do any of your neighbors you get along with have or want chickens that you know of, could you own some with somebody else for awhile and split chores etc (especially since you are willing to place or cull unwanted birds)?