Single hen

[Janty]

I met a man in B&Q today who used to be a neighbour but I haven't seen him in years. He asked me if we were still living in Lowestoft and asked how we were getting on. I told him that we now had chickens and he asked how many. I said 17 and he replied, 'Wow, must be getting loads of eggs'. I started explaining that we didn't get that many as most of our girls were pure breeds so they didn't lay that many and the look on his face was amazing. Even hubby laughed afterwards. He asked why we had them if it wasn't for the eggs. I told him that they were great pets and that they looked pretty. The look got worse.

 

Hubby and I were talking on the way home about the reactions that we get from people regarding the chickens. Most people do not understand why you would have hens that didn't lay every day.

 

Anybody else had similar reactions?

[fluffyknickers]

YES!

 

Everyone that knows we have chickens thinks we are mad.

 

In fact when we first tell our friends they go "yeah, ha ha chickens" as they actually think we are joking.

 

No one we know has them or has ever had them and its not like we have lots of land - which is what I think people expect when you have chickens.

 

We told my husbands best friend and he laughed and laughed and then told his wife and then text people! When we first tell people they often repeat it as if they didnt hear right.

 

We also now have people come up to us and say "is it true you have chickens"!!!

 

Its a good talking point!

[Redwing]

People just don't see chickens as a possible pet do they? I get looks like that at work when I talk about the chickens

 

I can understand people having chickens and not seeing them as pets thats ok but the fact that chickens CAN be treated as pets passes people by!

 

I have just been to my local garden centre where they sell chickens (and do a good job of it too) and overheard a lady say to her child "chickens or tortoise?" How I managed not to grab her and tell her how great chickens are I do not know!

[little chickadee]

I'm sure if we were still living in Birmingham we would get those looks too, but loads of people in our village have Chickens so people just think we're weird for other reasons!

[Cooks]

I'm sure if we were still living in Birmingham we would get those looks too, but loads of people in our village have Chickens so people just think we're weird for other reasons!

 

 

Just sprayed monitor with coffee.. LOL same here really though.

[Chickvic]

I live in Birmingham and get those weird looks When I went to fetch some more bedding for the girls, I was talking to the woman in the shop and she said "People don't get having chickens until they've got some!" I agree entirely!

[craftyhunnypie]

Yes - people link chickens to you being a bit 'rough' or 'scruffy' - Why?

They think that chickens are only suitable on farms & when I say I have 20 in my garden - they go in a high pitched sarcastic voice...."twenty"? & look like this ...

They don't realise that they are the stupid ones who haven't discovered Omlet & what calm & relaxation, joy & entertainment chickens bring. Plus a whole bunch of great friends on the forum.

Anyway, we like being the whacky wierdos!

I don't know what they think of me letting them out in my Pj's & crocs wellies? The neighbours seem to accept my chook fasion!

 

E mma.x

[Ana's flock]

...mmm well... I was the eccentric one amongst my friends well before chickens came into the picture. I think the chickens, rats, and other creatures just confirmed what everyone thought of me... Do I mind? Not at all, I rather like it! and so do they, specially when they get a free box of multicoloured eggs from the girlies.

 

[The Dogmother]

I get that look and the questions anyway, not just for chickens

 

I know better than to mention any of my animals at work - I work with all men and they can be so puerile sometimes

[Valkyrie]

Most people know I'm a fruitbat anyway. At work to be let in through the security door you had to press a bell - I thought it sounded impatient, so I meowed to be let in - they called me Moggy after that!

Bit like Ana's flock, we had rats too. However for weirdness, my daughter beats me into oblivion! Her clothes, her hair, the new lump of scaffolding that has appeared in her ear! The noises she makes - out loud and in public! I pity her college teachers who get an ear bashing for not using eggs from proper chickens!

Some of our neighbours found out about the chickens at Christmas - their jaws dropped! They hadn't heard them anyway, but I think their first thought was the cockle doodle doo in the morning followed by rats. I assured them that if they hadn't heard them before then they still wouldn't as they are hens and that the food was taken in - and in any case the rats were here long before the girls came. Actually no sign of rats at all since we had them. "Ooops, word censored!"ody mentioned eggs though. Perhaps it was too much to take in at once!

[UkButton]

I get that look and the questions anyway, not just for chickens

 

I know better than to mention any of my animals at work - I work with all men and they can be so puerile sometimes

 

 

 

Ouch!

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

I think the tide is turning on the London borders. There's been a fair whack of pro-chicken press lately (see my other post today about the Guardian money supplement) and most urbanites are so sick of the stress that the Good Life is looking quite appealing! Most people I talk to, you can see their brains whirring with the 'what if...' possibility of getting chickens. YAY!

[dancing cloud]

I get the whole "you're mad" thing right up to the time they taste the eggs - then they just want to be included on the waiting list!

 

People don't realise what lovely little pets they are too, they just think they're egg-laying objects until they meet them. Several of my regular egg-buyers at work have now met my little monsters and all have been surprised and delighted by how interactive they are (polite way of saying how nosey, greedy and downright cheeky they are!). They still think I'm mad, especially for wanting ex-batts rather than 'proper' chickens with feathers, but they are starting to understand

 

(And anyone who's met Janty's lovely girls would be mad not to want to take them home! )

[mags]

yes I get that look

 

then I get asked if I will eat them after they stop laying

 

 

Oh well

 

 

Mags

[Avalon Fantasy]

You know its a funny thing, most of my friends don`t realise that your chickens can be pets!

And that they are a laugh when left to go riot, ours always come running whenever we have been out, they run up to the fence when we walk by wanting to *talk & and be petted,

If you do anything in the garden and they are out they dash over to see whats the big deal and *help*!

Even my farming friends have said that they didnt realise that they could be so friendly..

Mind you they have hundreds so of course only see them as creatures that lay eggs..also many of their chickens run away from them because this not so much tactile day to day interraction, unless theres food..

 

So its no wonder we are get these weirdo looks or comments..

[mags]

I was having a chat to my nieghbour ( we moved in a bout 4 months ago ) she has been admiring my hens and fancys some herself

 

I give her , she did not realise they came in that colour

 

Mags