Unsecure chicken perches

[ScottishMike]

what can I say?

 

I've made the economic argument that the eglu holds it's price so well that if we tried and decided it was not for us at the very least we would not be out of pocket. She acepts that, but doesn't think it's relevant.

 

She thinks hens are a hassle to look after. I've said they do not, and I do NOT expect her to do anything with them - I'll do it all. She says our lives are too hectic already and she needs me to spend all my time on the family and the house. I say that looking after the hens will be minimal time, but also it is something our older two kids can help with, and so that is family time, but she does not accept that I will only need a very minimal amount of time devoted to caring for the hens - only actually looking after them could ever prove or disprove that.

 

She doesn't like hens - she doesn't like the look, or the smell, or the noise.

 

I've asked her to give that a go - properly cared for they won't smell, they won't be noisy as I understand it, and if we had some and the kids were loving them, maybe that would sway her feelings towrds them, but she steadfastly refuses to give it a go...

 

I've fallen back to the positives of the eggs - her response is that SHE doesn't particularly like eggs, and one of our 3 kids doesn't like eggs, and we don't use them much as it stands, so we certainly don't need any more...

 

I've argued that since the hens will reside in the garden, not in the house, there will be no extra mess indoors, and since we live in Scotland where it is hardly EVER warm enough for her to be in the garden, it will have minimal impact on her - she just says she doesn't even want to look out and see them

 

All I can do is keep plugging away on the idea that :

I will care for them 100%

The kids will be involved as much or as little as they want - it will be family friendly

There will be no extra mess in the house

I will not need to spend loads of time at all on them

An eglu would sell easily if we ever decided to pack it in

Properly cared for they will not smell, will not make much noise, and their eggs will be lovely!

She will barely notice they are there 95% of the time anyway

She MIGHT like it, if only she'd try it!

I'd agree that the first time around would be a trial period.

 

After that I'm a bit stumped

[ScottishMike]

I should point out that she can be VERY stubborn, and right now she's on the offensive about it all, so I'm going to go quiet on the issue for a while, before it blows up into a massive argument

[Seagazer]

My OH helps cleaning when I do a big clean. Last week I held Ginger whilst he washed her bottom! I do everything else for the chickens though. He works hard and does try with the recycling but the amount of times I have found tea bags in the bin - tsk tsk

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Oh dear, Mike, you've got a feisty woman there . I agree, keeping quiet for a bit might work .

 

Has she asked what you want for Christmas yet ? Or do you have some generous parents/relatives who could "as a surprise" buy you an eglu ?

[Tessa the Duchess]

Oh dear, poor you Mike. She does sound very negative about it I am sure that everyone on the forum who keeps a few chickens in the garden will tell you that amount of time you spend looking after them is minimal, maybe 5 minutes a day and then three quarters of an hour once a week to do a proper clean out. Of course what does take up more time is the fact that you will want to watch their antics all the time They are great fun to observe and I find they have a very calming effect when the day is not going well. I would have thought your children would be fascinated and very willing to help. If you have no need for all the eggs you can give them to family and friends and become very popular indeed Good luck with changing her mind.

 

Tessa

[Valkyrie]

My OH was like that with any pet. Definitely time to back off a bit. But bear this in mind:

Does she bake cakes with eggs?

I am the only one in the household that was an egg lover, but since having the girls OH and DD have eaten omlettes and fried eggs. Although DD did feel rather weird eating them at first. Of course into cakes they go - if we haven't already scoffed them all.

I spent yesterday cleaning out the cube - took about an hour although sometimes a bit longer if I jet clean it and that is only the drying process. Once a week for a quick clean and once a month with the heavy duty squirter. I have to judge when the weather is right though, so might be 5 days or 8 - sun's out, go for it!

First thing in the morning the girls get let out and fed. Takes about 10 minutes max, then in the evening before bed they go into their run with some bed time snacks - which is usually mixed corn with mealworms, or grated cheese, or cooked potato, pasta (if we have any left they have the Quorn mince home made bolognese that is left on the plates with the pasta) and an hour later they have gone to bed I go and close the cube door and collect all the food bowls, feeders and drinkers and wash up, no more than 10 minutes again. Of course during the day I do chat, give them a treat and stroke them - or watch them when I should be doing something else.

For brekkers I do a bit of Jordans organic porridge with pellets, bokashi, garlic powder and sometimes poultry spice, marmite, cod liver oil, diatom and lime powder. The bokashi helps their digestive system and reduces smells as does the garlic powder. My girls don't smell (although the mustard "curry" purges do whiff a bit, but they don't do them all the time. They also have dry pellets to hand in a feeder all the time and they range the whole garden now - sometimes can be a pain - they've dug up another beetroot in the veggie patch today.

Noise, well yes, sometimes, but usually if something is around that frightens them - in our case the hedgehog or sparrowhawk (even if the sparrowhawk would get a hernia if she tried to make off with our giants). They also tried to allert us to the fact that a softie was laid in the cube and "you forgot to top up our oyster shells". When they first started laying they whinged a lot, but now settled and only whinge when I haven't taken the cover off the dust bath quick enough for them (and if it rains they have to wait until it is dry again).

OH doesn't like being the focus for the charge of the Light Brigade for treats, so he rarely feeds them. He does go down the garden with his hands up - which looks as if they are holding him at gunpoint sometimes, but usually they know to leave him alone.

Assuming you would keep them in a permanent run you could always screen the area off with some shrubs.

With all the costs - and our girls are rather spoilt a bit - we are down to just over £9 per egg!

OH is into costing and has separated out long term fixed costs (10 years) for things like the housing and run (and of course the Omlet products hold value big plus for him). Medium term (5 years) such as birds, fencing, feeders etc, and annual costs such as bedding and food, tonics and medicals. Although the porridge isn't on that list because I eat that too!

 

In the meantime just do lots of research. I often brought library books home about chickens for years, then upped it when dream looked like becoming reality. This forum has been very good because there are so many people to help you. Also you can go and arrange a visit with a cube/eglu owner - most are pleased to show you how and what. We did that and Caz did this so well and her birds so friendly, OH was sold!

[ScottishMike]

My wife isn't really into cooking at all - I do most of it, and what she does, she does out of necessity. If we are cooking for guests I always do the cooking - she hates it, I love it, so it makes sense

 

So, the idea of having our own personal supply of high quality eggs does not impress my non-cook wife in the least bit