We Want Chickens! Parents Not Convinced.

[Tastes_Like_Chicken]

So my brother and I desire nothing more than to look out into our yard and see chickens pecking around and being happy. We want chickens for eggs and for companionship. Our parents think it's a little "white trash" and don't want chickens at all. We've raised several good points but they just won't give in!

here are their main concerns:
-they smell.
-they're too much work.
-neighbors won't be happy with us.
-we'll be going away to college in 4 years and they'll be stuck with the chickens.

HELP!

 

[arlee453]

Of all their arguments the one I can't find a good response for is the last one - if you are going to leave home, they have to be OK with taking care of the chickens for you, or you will have to be OK with getting rid of them when you go...

Other than that, they really aren't that expensive after the initital startup (and that's not a huge amount if you go with a small coop and only a couple of hens. Also, you would only want to buy hens.

Check out www.mypetchicken.com if you haven't already - they have some good info that counter the other arguements they have.

But, in the end, it is their house and their ultimate responsibility. So, you might just have to wait until you are out on your own to finall fulfil your chicken dreams.

-S

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

I have to say I agree with arlee...

 

[valduchi]

Your parents do have some great points.

They do smell, though "it" makes awesome fertilizer!
They do take some work, but it's my favorite hobby/work!
Our neighbors love our chickens and we even have a big mouth rooster.
I've bought my neighbors blessing with the promise of sharing the eggs.
The fact that you and your sister are college bound in 4 years is going to take either some creative hen placement or a lesson in chicken dressing, i.e. pluckin and choppin.

I say find a country neighbor who will be willing to take your hens after you fatten them up for 4 years, promise to keep your hen house super clean, ask all of your neighbors for permission and tell them that they can nix this chicken project if it infringes on their
enjoyment of their house and home. Finally, ask Mom and Dad to support this family bonding chicken project. Ask them for help in building a cool chicken coup. You can do it for basically nothing if you use scrap wood and pallets.

Our chicken experience has been awesome and we haven't even received one egg yet.
Simply building our coup was the my son's and my favorite project together.

I do wish you luck in talking to your parents.

Sincerely,

Mr. White Trash
aka Valduchi

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

Everyone has made great points for all of your parents concerns except the "white trash" part.. You can safely assure your parents chickens do not signal "white trash".

 

[V Chic Chick]

I was in this exact same position about three or four years ago, and yes I did suceed, although it took about a year to actually get any chickens.

1. They only smell if you don't clean them out often enough - and how often that is depends on the size of your coop and the number of chickens.

2. They're a lot less work than a dog, and on a par with a cat or rabbit.

3. My neighbours have never minded. Neighbours that could see my chickens if they peered through the shrubbery at the end of their garden don't even know they exist (or at least, they didn't, until I found some roaming chickens on my road (in suburbia) and had to go around asking if they knew where they came from, saying they were in my spare chicken ark).

What will make your neighbours annoyed is if you have a rooster - early morning crowing won't endear them to your cause. However, they will love it if you give them a few extra eggs every so often.

4. This is the only point to which I can find no easy solution. There are only three possibilities -
- Your parents have fallen so deeply in love with them (and their eggs!) that they decide to keep them anyway
- You rehome them, possibly selling them and their coop off as a starter kit to someone just getting into chickens, with the offer of telephone support etc.
- You kill them

 

[davecash]

Yeah I talked my parents into getting chickens and they were leery at first, but now they wanna get more of em!

 

[chickenfeathers]

Quote:

 

[arwmommy]

Ok, I for one get the "white trash" part! Some people's only experience with chickens is totally free ranging, digging up/eating landscaping of the front yard, with poop all over the porch. This combined with a scrap-wood, barely held together, coop can be a turn off to people and their neighbors!

However, if you look through some of the coop pages on this site, you will see beautiful coops that actually *enhance* the back yard, that are cute, and charming!

You can protect a landscaped yard by getting bantam chickens (which may be the way for you to go anyway, I will get back to this later) as they are smaller, about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of standard chickens, and do much less damage to landscaping. You can also protect your landscaping by letting them freerange for a limited amount of time (an hour to a couple hours a day). They will still be able to dig and get bugs, but will do less damage.

I think that bantams are the way to go in your situation because they are smaller and you can have, say 4 of them, in the same small space would only fit 2 standard hens. To order a small number like this you would have to go through mypetchicken.com

Your parents may also be leary about the cost to start up getting a new pet. You can help with this by saving your allowance, chore money, babysitting, birthday money to help. Christmas is also coming, so maybe you can ask for a coop for your present, and to get the chicks in the spring! The start up (especially if you are going with a well made coop) can be a bit in the beginning, but they are incredibly cheap to maintain-- just food and occasionally grit/oyster shell and bedding--- waaaaaaay less than my dog! You should also show some effort here, by reading up on chickens (Storey's guide to chickens is a good one.... http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-Facilities/dp/158017325X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-8294844-4909241?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188836072&sr=8-1
so your parents realize that this is something you are serious about and not just the "new thing you are into that you will forget about next week" like is so common among kids!

Good luck! And here is a photo of our coop. We think it is very cute and it adds a lot to the overall feel that they are well taken care of (and we have NO smell at all! Promise!)

 

[cookinmom]

I too, can see a little bit of where the folks get the white trash part. In our neck of the woods, the people who let trash pile up all over their yards/land (for decades, mind you, not just a few days or weeks), are usually the ones who also have a dozen half wild chickens pecking around in the mess. The more respectable looking ones don't usually have chickens. But there are exceptions, like us and a few others, who actually have a coop, and feed the chickens, mow the grass, etc.

But chickens, like any another animals, are what you make 'em. There area stinks if you don't clean it, just not as bad as say, a hamster cage, which will knock you on your butt after a couple days. They do require a little bit of work, but nothing like the proper care of a dog! And the stink is definitely lots less!

But, as others said, have to agree with the parents on the college thing, although 4 years is a long time and a lot can happen in that time. I don't want my daughter getting a dog and going off to college and sticking us with it either. We have that discussion a lot, but she's in her senior year. 3 years ago, it probably wouldn't have dawned on me

.

If you're serious, ask your folks to come on here and read some of the posts. They might become chicken-addicted like us!