How Quickly Does Albendazole Work?

[ScottishMike]

Come in then folks, they say two heads are better than one, so I'd like some suggestions, real life stories, that might help me persuade my good lady wife that getting some hens would be a good idea

 

So far the obvious negatives that she has raised are :

1. cost (mainly set up costs)

2. daily, weekly hassle of caring for them

3. she "doesn't really like eggs anyway"

4. they will smell

 

The positives that I can see :

1. the set up cost can be largely recovered if we decide hens are not for us - the eglus hold their value very well so we would recover a large percentage of the costs

2. The kids (oldest is can do many of the daily tasks, in fact they would love to, and that will help teach them some responsibility and they can learn a bit about 'animal husbandry'

3. The eggs wll be better than supermarket eggs, they will be popular with friends, and my oldest kid just LOVES eggs

4. If we keep on top of the cleaning, not only will they not smell, their compost could HELP the garden

 

So far I'm not winning the argument

 

I guess the fact that we both work, have 3 kids (8,6 &1), two dogs, and a fair size of house to look after, is all combining to make her say that we can't possibly have time to ALSO care for hens....

 

Anybody got any fabby ideas?

 

I'm going to try and get her chatting with her aunt and uncle who live near us and have an eglu and two rescued hens, and see if they can turn it around??

[chelsea]

we both work and have a dog also, and lead busy lives.

 

Chickens are easy to look after and very entertaining pets. They make a lovely addition to the garden and once you've got them they are very addictive.

 

Clean out day for us is Saturday, an hour or so and the cube is stripped down and effortlessly blasted with the power washer - the cube/eglu is so easy to clean and dry (not like a wooden house).

 

During the week we empty the poo tray once (takes a couple of minutes), and top up the food. The poo/litter goes straight into our green recycle bin or you could put it on your compost heap.

 

We give the hens a quick health checkover once a week (just check for lice or mites) but you would soon spot an unwell hen if you got some.

 

They would eat your kitchen leftovers (veggies) and reward you with the freshest eggs you could ever get!

 

They dont smell! as long as you keep the eglu/cube and run clean the chickens themselves dont smell its their poo's that do! The only thing I would point out is to protect any precious parts of your garden as they do like to dig and scratch.

 

I would definitely go and visit an eglu and hens first.

[theherd123]

Cake!

Does your wife like cake? - Daft question! Of course she does!

Nothing like baking a delish homemade cake with your own eggs

 

Food miles - your eggs will have zero food miles and thats great for the environment

 

The compost created by the chooks can be eventually put on your vegy patch and be great for all the other home grown produce.

 

If all the above fails there is wine, chocolate and a great meal out you can treat her to in the good cause of convincing her that chook keeping will be fab.

(Heavy on the wine is my tip)

[tweecy]

I'm not very good at debating - I just did it!

Give it 24hours for the roof to settle back on the house and the crockery to be replaced, you'll be fine.

[Busybird]

Only one of my three children (aged 11, 10 and liked eggs before we had chickens. We got three chickens so that the children could have one each, named by them. No child could let anyone else eat 'their' chickens first egg and, having enjoyed that first delicious taste, all three now eat loads of eggs. We get 3 a day and are rarely able to give any away (although I do seem to do a lot more baking!).

 

The daily 'chicken chores' are minimal. You can even leave them for a few days so long as enough food and water are put out (we have an extra grub and glug for weekends away). They can largely be ignored (although once you have them you actually find reasons to go out to 'check they are okay' ).

 

The weekly eglu and run clean takes me about an hour but I rarely rush it. I end up standing around watching chicken antics

 

You will get chicken poo where they free range but feed them bokashi bran and the poo becomes easy to pick up. How often you poo pick may depend on how much your children play in your garden. It is not as bad a job as it may sound. If you have changed a baby's nappy or mopped up after a sick toddler then dealing with a bit of chicken poo is a walk in the park . You say you have dogs - if you can cope with dog poo you can cope with chickens.

 

Like most pets you can choose to indulge them or not. We are quite frugal with ours. Treats are kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s or a handful of corn. Their run is on mud and, apart from food, we have spent little on them since set up.

 

My children complain if they are not the ones to take the 'treats' to the chickens late in the afternoon (when we shut them in the run after a few hours free ranging). They also like to 'help' with cleaning the eglu (particularly when I get the power washer out ) As pets chickens are friendly, funny and so easy to look after. My kids love being able to say that they have chickens as pets.

 

With 3 kids, a house, garden and job to cope with (as I do) it may seem unnecessary to take on more work but the work is minimal, the kids are provided with extra entertainment and responsibility (oh and food!) and chickens are amazingly lovely and addictive. She will love them. My OH still moans about the scratched lawn but I've seen him hug a chicken and can't seem to stop him giving them indulgent treats ('but they like it so much!')

[pinkytinsel]

Hens are fab but a word of warning. They will wreck your garden if you let them and some hens can also be quite noisy first thing in the morning. I would suggest checking with your neighbours as the last thing you want is complaints once you've got attached to them.

 

On the plus side you will have fabulous eggs every day and will be constantly entertained as hens are fun to watch. You will also spend much more time in your garden and will waste hours spying on the hens to see what they are up too. There's nothing like getting up early at the weekend and going to check on the girls to see if you have enough eggs for breakfast.

 

Good luck.

[jomaxsmith]

My husband persuaded me hens would be a better pet than guinea pigs and that was pretty much the last input he had in the matter.

 

I'm the one who does all the daily care and routine cleaning!

 

it's only on the rare occasions I'm out overnight that he has to do anything for them.

 

Mind you, he did build the enclosed chicken garden for me so I suppose he does have some inputi!

 

Jo

[Mutrix Farmers]

So far the obvious negatives that she has raised are :

1. cost (mainly set up costs)

 

inital capital outlay may be high but running costs are negligible, especially if you sell some of the eggs

2. daily, weekly hassle of caring for them

 

Excellent pocket money job for the children, and a good opportunity for Dad to spend some quality time with the kids thereby allowing Mum free time

 

3. she "doesn't really like eggs anyway"

 

Sell some and use the others in baking

 

4. they will smell

 

Only if you never clean them out

 

Other plus points

- wonderfully relaxing after a hard day looking after 3 children, 2 dogs, a husband and a house

- introduces children at an early age to thinking responsibly about their food and how it is produced (ie educational)

- don't require walking like dogs do and produce something useful (eggs and poo!!)

 

Go for it, she'll get over it (eventually!!)

[dancing cloud]

If logic works best, use all the financial and ethical arguments in previous posts and add how important it is for the children to have responsibilities for looking after pets (and how popular your house will be with their friends - that all-important social kudos).

 

If logic is failing and she's the soft-hearted type, show her the Battery Hen Welfare Trust website, with its pictures of newly-rescued oven-readies and then take her over to the aunt/uncle to see what a difference a bit of tlc can make. Warn them beforehand, so that they can sing the praises of hen-keeping - allies are very important. OK, so emotional blackmail is mean , but it's for her own good really. Once the hens are there, she'll wonder how she ever lived without them

 

PS please don't ever show her this post

[Katy]

My OH told me that if I really wanted chickens then I would have to 'force the issue' so I did!

 

The point at which I really knew I was safe to order without him actually saying yes was when he asked tons more questions than me when we were at the Omlet stand at the Grand Designs Show.

 

He did put up some pretense of annoyance with lots of when they first arrived but by the end of the day he was raiding the kitchen for treats for them and is now their biggest fan!

 

To be honest I never really liked eggs, at least not just cooked on their own - and even now I would never eat a boiled egg but do now eat lots of omelette's and poached eggs which really do taste better, and spend a lot more time baking yummy things - Caramel Baileys Creme Brulee last night! The satisfaction of collecting your own eggs from just outside your back door is incredible - especially the first one.

 

We both work pretty long hours and have always struggled to keep up with housework etc and the same is still true but we now spend much more time outside in the garden, and rather than wasting time on rubbish TV we now 'productively' chicken watch which is much more entertaining. Housework still doesn't get done but the eglu is sparkling!

[Lydia]

You could do what I did and just not tell her. Then when she comes home one day an eglu/cube will have miraculously appeared.....

 

I don't like eggs either but have never found this a problem as there is always a steady stream of friends and colleagues willing to take them off my hands

[mojojojo]

I managed to talk my OH into getting hens by just mentioning it ocassionally over about 6 months. I think he started to realise that i did really want them and it wasn't just some phase I was going through!!

Requesting the Omlet info leaflet also helped by the way

 

I suppose if you tell her that you will be the one cleaning them out and looking after them etc that will help!. You must stick your promise tho.....

 

Also....it will be great for the kids! - they will love it. How educational and fun

 

It would def help if she liked eggs but like someone else mentioned earlier, eggs are used in all sorts of things! Homemade cakes, puddings, mayonaise... she must love something that eggs are in!

 

Keep working on it!

[HENthusiastic]

You can lower your initial set up costs more by going for a wooden house, rather than an eglu or cube. Lots of people on this forum have wooden houses and are very happy with them. They are a fraction of the cost. I paid approx £110 for mine from the internet (including p&p). With the money I had available, I was able to then spend the rest on wood and weldmesh to build a walk in run.

Good luck. Bet you she will grow to love them. Everybody who knows chickens, seems to love them. My mother-in-law has spent the 8 years I have known her being rude and complaining about all our pets (and everybody elses). She totally fell in love with the chickens the first time she met them and now calls to say 'I must come over and see the chickens'! Not me you notice, or my partner! No, the chickens are her priority!

[alih]

I echo everything everyone else has said. We have 4 kids and a dog and both work full-time. I am rubbish at housework and our garden is rather overgrown but I would spend relaxation time watching chickens any day.

 

all your arguments are soudn ones. I have just used similar on my husband for upgrading to a cube and in the end he agreed that the joy of chicken-keeping must override any misgivings.

 

How great that she can go and visit - I really think that's the best you can do - let us know??

[piptiddlepip]

Can't help you there, I'm afraid. I live on my own at the moment but my fiancee is moving in soon. I said to her "I'm thinking of getting some chickens."

"What a fantastic idea!" she said, and that was it - job done. I did all the work and she reaps all the benefits, but when she moves in she will be introduced to the delights of s"Ooops, word censored!"ing up chicken poo and depositing it in the compost bin for next year's veggies

[jools+6]

i'm rubbish at persuading so i just ordered a hen house and he was told we were getting hens and that was that it worked !!! he now loves them more than me they are 'his' hens when we have people round and it's him who lets them out in the morning and closes the pop hole at night for me but he has yet to clean them out they cost less to keep than our lab and we get 5 eggs a day (dipper's a layabout ) the rabbit keeps them in check and our garden is weed free !!!! mind there was the geraniums incident but if you keep your bedding plants up high they'll be safe ... the plants that is . we have four kids and both work , admittedly i'm part time but i have to go in fulltime sometimes . they don't smell if you keep them clean and they don't attract rats etc . we have horrible neighbours on one side but even they can't complain because there is no noise . they gulls and magpies round here make more racket . the kids lift in all the eggs every day , date them and put them in the fridge and never have to be asked and the youngest two are only 6 and 7. at night the older two help tidy the garden ( a good sweep and perhaps a hosing but this is scotland so the hose isn't out that often ) if all else fails ply her with copious amounts of wine that works for hubby when he wants a day out 'golfing' ( swigging alcohol after 18 holes is a day out golfing ). and tell her only hard hearted people don't love chooks but don't say i told you to say that good luck !!! think tesco still has that wine fair on !!!!!!

[BeckyBoo]

Buy them for her as a present! I did! They were last years Fathers day present from the kids! I still do all the work but he loves them and has "his hens" too!

 

Mrs B

[Jules.]

I know someone who bought his hens & hen house for his wife as a wedding anniversary present

[Willow]

I think I must clean my eglu less than anyone else on this forum I empty the poo tray no more than once a week, sometimes every two weeks and I only take it all apart to power wash when I have time (although that job is fun). You do need to check food and water every couple of days but a few mins and you're done - need to let them out, round them up but the kids usually do that and it's easy anyways. They are less work than a dog and a little more than a cat.

 

I asked for mine as a birthday present

 

Good luck

[Mrs Kettle]

Not sure I'm adding anything new, but probably quantity is as good as quality for wife-persuading purposes? We have two small-ish children (6 and 2) and we both work pretty much full time (tho' partly from home). We have a cat and four chickens. I'm a bit of a slacker where housework is concerned and doubt I could cope with a high-maintenance pet. Chickens fit into our lives seamlessly. Unless it's the day when I give the eglu a full clean (once every 10 days on average - more than our house gets!), our daily chicken routine consists of no more than letting them out, checking they have food and water, replacing straw in eglu, checking for eggs, letting them out to free-range and then tempting them back in with late-afternoon treats, poo-picking, then shutting them up for bed. Fifteen minutes per day, tops. In return we get eggs, compost, and a smug sense of self-sufficiency. Plus they're utterly ridiculous and charming!

[Redwing]

How about going on one of Omlets chicken courses? I have managed to persuade my OH to go on Christian's course on Sunday in order to give him more of an idea about what to expect.

 

Once your OH sees a set up for herself and talks to someone who actually keeps chickens she may see things differently (remember she will just think you are working on her and wont believe a word you say! us ladies are naturally suspicious - we cant help it)

[ScottishMike]

not sure if I could persuade her on a course when she's adamantly set against chooks in the first place....hmmmmm

 

I'm trying the 'softly softly' approach at the moment - just quietly discussing the pros and cons. I'll keep at it - I can be aright persistant sod when I want to be!

[Kit]

Hi

 

book yourselves on a hen keeping course......that is what I did. and I promised that I would be the one doing all the work.

 

our hens have been with us for 5 days now, waiting for Saturday to do the big clean...this is where I will play dumb with the power wash!

 

Kit

[dancing cloud]

You could try booking yourself on the course and "finding there was a spare place" booking for her too "as you thought she might like to come along" .

 

Just make sure she never gets to see this thread, or she'll think chook-owners are the most cunning, conniving, devious peole on the planet, and far away may not be far enough

[eggypeggy]

Does she like to cook/bake.. Because if she does.. you seriously cannot beat fresh home eggs.. I had to buy some shop bought waitrose free range eggs (was expecting them to be pretty good) the other day to top up.. The difference was so big.. we went out and bought two new chickens to avoid buying shop bought again.. I have to say at first I couldn't really tell the difference, but 18mths of ours egg only later and the difference is huge.

 

I'm not the type to relish cleaning out animals.. not my bag! but I have never resented looking after or cleaning out the chooks.. My 3yr old lets my chooks out and collects eggs.. He won't let me do it! 'No mummy I can do it on my own' which is true.. So daily I don't do alot but check they have food and water.

 

Then we clean them as and when we have time, sometimes a propper clean i.e. with water. Alot of the time we just give it a spruce up, clean poo tray and change straw. Just bought plastic roosting bars.. even less to do.. poo slides off!

 

My children love them.. as do there friends, There just have been no negatives for us.. Just don't forget to consider, chicken minders. If you away for more than a few days, you'll need someone to check food and ideally collect eggs. Do you have friendly neighbours? I mind my friends cat when she is away and she does our chooks for us.

 

Good luck.

p.s. My hubby bought ours in secret, the omlet van turned up one day with 2 pepperpots! and an orange eglu... he doesn't even eat eggs.