What is SO WRONG with Chickens? Does YOUR family complain?

[artsyrobin]

yep! i really hate computer games.... hubby was in the navy for 23 years, the rest the time he is on the puter- BUT- it was his idea to get chickens so he'd be forced to go outside- so i can say the flock is his idea...

daughter thinks we are nuts.... and how to tell non-chicken folk the pure contentment and satisfaction? no real way- just accept they are clueless...

 

[dntd]

My family just insists I get a farm... I have to explain our issues surrounding getting a farm right now, 5 years it's possible we will have one we have 6 hens and 6 meat rabbits.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

The kids think we are crazy but doesn't bother us one bit. They are all off on their own now and complaining about the high cost of food and traffic in the city and and and. I think about them as I munch on a fresh tomato from the garden and sit out back and watch the "poultry channel" in real high def.

Steve

 

[matthewschickens]

I am SO FRUSTRATED with the people who are suppose to love me right now that I am in tears and shaking! There have literally been several arguments over this in my household but no one seems to understand! They all keep asking each other when I'll be out of this "Chicken Phase". I am NOT a teenager, I'm not old enough for a mid life crisis, Im a young woman who owns her car and pays her bills and has every right to my choice of hobbies and I don't think I should be chastised for that! I know you're probably thinking "They're just teasing you", No they're not. They keep insisting that this is a phase that will pass, I'd like to know how many hobby phases I've had because last I checked I didn't start doing something and keep doing it if I didn't enjoy it! These are CHICKENS! They are living creatures who need my everyday love and care! This is not like some painting I started and never finished (though I confess to having a couple of those).


Please, TELL me I'm not alone on this. I could REALLY use some advice right now. My pets are quite literally the only things keeping me from going crazy in such stressful times and I refuse to get rid of them because my family thinks I'm wasting my time/money on them. I do this all by myself, none of them have ever helped me take care of them or build anything for them, I do ALL the work for them EVERYDAY so they have NO REASON to complain!

You aren't..

 

[BlackBart]

My family doesn't complain but allot of my friend's husbands do.
They complain about the cost (all my friends work and two are soul owners of their property and don't smoke) they complain about the time spent, (while they have a nap) they complain about chickens in general.
They think it is stupid to watch the little chicks play. (Two hours of watching your Hockey team lose is a good use of time?

)They just don't get the pleasure their partners enjoy from chickens.

We can't figure it out, maybe it is jealousy? Chickens provide hours of pleasure with the added bonus of food.
So we have come to the conclusion that they should be happy, it is better a interest in chickens than something else that is more expensive (clothes/jewelery shopping.......boring) or a less innocent hobby that doesn't keep a partner at home.
At least they know where their partner is, out with the chickens. How much trouble can you get in ?

 

[DragonEggs]

Thanks everyone! That was a lot of really great output!

Just this morning my dad was complaining about the smell of my chickens and I was like "Really? You can smell them through your wall?" The pen is in the back yard which is directly on the other side of his wall, but he never opens the windows or anything and he never goes into the backyard, but then he changed his story "The flies are attracted to the smell. I never had flies before your chickens", trying very hard not to get frustrated I told him the flies eat the poop and keep the waste and the smell down and in turn the chickens eat the flies and other bugs and get added protein. Guess he didn't notice that there was a decrease in the other pests since my chickens arrived. The bugs never come in the house anyway so I'm still confused about this argument.

My BF wanted to complain because I asked him to go buy me a $10 bag of feed. He asked me for some money and I said use your own, he said "Why should I?" and I responded with "Because I gave up warcraft and gave you my last $30 2 month subscription card for warcraft. STORE." He shut up after that.

Yes, I gave up the World of Warcraft for chickens. AND smoking.

 

[manderzpants]

Quote:
good for you! but i i think you should ask your dad point blank, "what bothers you so much about the chickens?" maybe he will tell you, if not you're just gonna have to learn to ignore his comments altogether.

i feel so lucky, my fiance tries to give me a lil crap about my wanting chickens (i'm still planning the coop and learning so i actually don't have mine yet) but i know that he seriously doesn't have a problem with it and he always supports me in things that make me happy! don't think i take that for granted for ONE MINUTE!

 

[sfw2]

Quote:
So, in addition to everything else, your chickens have probably saved your life. What more could your family ask??

 

[schellie69]

My DH supports my 2 hobbies my chickens and my garden which both provide food for our family plus hours of enjoyment. There really is not that much time in caring for the chickens cleaning their coop/pen every couple of days feed/watering not that much time. Now the rest of my family says you need a farm why raise chickens in town the stores 5 minutes away and on and on. Kind of drives me crazy but I just shake my head and don't worry about it. my life my hobbies and I love it.

 

[anbhean]

Thing is, people are always quick to judge and be snarfy about stuff they think is "weird" and despite the fact that people have been raising chickens for thousands of years and it's a perfectly normal thing to do... our out of touch, increasingly technical and un-eco friendly, or non-self-sufficient society has deemed those of us who want to do things like raise chickens, organic garden, can, sew, knit, etc. etc. etc. as being weird. Honestly, I think they feel this way because we buck the "norm" and that scares them.

Personally, my DH thought I was nuts at first too. Now we call the hens his "girls" and he's always sneaking them extra scraps or scratch. My parent's think I'm nuts but I trained them years ago that if they don't like it, tough... they don't live here. My In- laws, well they hate me anyway so who cares.

My advice to you? Stop caring what they think. They either accept you or they don't. Changing who you are and what you do so they don't think you are weird is only selling yourself out. You are not weird, you are not wrong and if they think you are then they can go swing. Life is too short to live it by the nay-sayers rules.