I Lost the Battle

My wife has wanted a pet for herself and our 2 little girls for a long time. I have not. The one thing we’ve always agreed to was we’d never have any sort of pet step foot in the house. I admitted we could “consider” a pet of some sort of outside pet once the new place was built. Nothing had been said recently and I thought I was in the clear.

That all changed this morning when I walked out to my garage and saw a makeshift brooder with a dozen chicks in it. Once I swallowed my anger and brainstormed a plan to dump them outside on the hill for one of the many area predators to eat, my daughter came running around the boat with one in her hands smiling like Christmas morning. It was at that moment I knew, I had lost.

If anyone has some good coop ideas shoot them my way. My wife pledged to pick up the tab for whatever supplies I need and enough beer to get it done. The thing will have to be a fortress with the happiness of a 1 year old and 3 year old depending on my ability to keep them from being eaten out here though.

We’re gonna fence ours in this year, not because of predators but because of the damage they can do to the yard. We’ve got coyotes and coons everywhere, to the point where if you make a mistake (and we’ve done this a few times over the years) and miss one when you’re locking them up for the night, they’re eaten. Guaranteed, every time. But during the day I don’t worry about it at all.

The problem is they love to dig and take dust baths in dirt. So if you try and put seed down anywhere it won’t work because they always dig it up. And they poop everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. So for that reason we’re gonna do fencing this year. We’ll probably still let them roam plenty but when we have something we don’t want dug in, or when the wife brings some new flowers home, or we have company coming and don’t want chicken excrement everywhere, we’ll keep them in the fenced area.

These will only have access to the coop and the run during the day unless there’s a rare occasion where I’m outside doing something right by them for an hour or two. I’m not having them crapping everywhere or digging up our hydroseeding. I know whose fault it will be if/when one gets eaten if they’re roaming around…regardless if I was involved or not

I told the Mrs. she needed to find some pictures of what she wants for a coop by the end of the day, and I’d send her with a shopping list of supplies tomorrow morning to the local lumberyard. At the top of the shopping list is a bottle of Makers Mark Cask Strength and a case of Spotted Cow for starters.

I’m thinking something 6×8′ with an attached 8×20′ run or so?

I don’t know anything about them other than a few videos I’ve stumbled across, but one of them was a coop on wheels so you can move them around and minimize the damage to one moving area. Seemed smart to me, but again the only thing I know about chickens is how to cook them.

My buddy upgraded to a coop with wheels and said it was the best thing he did.

Kids are only young once but I think them having pets is extremely beneficial to them.

We have a dog, cat, and two fish tanks. We’ve had turtles before. My son really wants a puppy of his own and I plan to make it happen somehow even though I really don’t want two dogs.

Point is, it takes a lot of money and energy but probably priceless for the children.

I built these coops a few years ago, 4×6 with nesting boxes on them with the entrance on one end and a bigger door on the other end to clean it out. Built the first one with scraps so that’s why built it 4×6 you get the most out of a 4×8 sheet of plywood.

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lindyrig79 wrote:

Kids are only young once but I think them having pets is extremely beneficial to them.

We have a dog, cat, and two fish tanks. We’ve had turtles before. My son really wants a puppy of his own and I plan to make it happen somehow even though I really don’t want two dogs.

Point is, it takes a lot of money and energy but probably priceless for the children.

I’m coming around to the idea…as long as no animals are in the house I can be persuaded.

My 3 year old wants nothing more than to spend time building things and “working” outside. At preschool she lists her favorite hobby as “working.” Hopefully we can keep her roped in with a few simple tasks/chores and teach responsibility in a different way.

Might want to have your wife start thinking of how to deal with the kids once the water is boiling for chicken soup.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer and since I don’t have anything positive to add, I’ll keep my trap shut for the rest of this thread.

On a more positive note, at least they won’t be sleeping in bed with you and your wife.

Lol, you certainly did loose that battle. A couple things, are any of them roosters? Those things are mean sob’s. At least ours didn’t like me. Soon as I turned my back on him, he was after me. And, if there comes a time you want them gone, just put them in a coop like this outside and wait. Ours were devoured one night by a couple stray dogs.

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Years ago when my kids were in high school my wife was tired of driving them to school and wanted to buy them a car. I objected. High school kids don’t need their own car. Well guess what happened? I learned then that the family is going to do what the family is going to do. Accept it and hang loose. Your happiness and blood pressure will thank you.

Joe Jarl wrote:

A couple things, are any of them roosters? Those things are mean sob’s. At least ours didn’t like me. Soon as I turned my back on him, he was after me.

LOL run and hide! Like a miniature velociraptor coming!

this is an entertaining thread.

when my brother and I were kids, somehow we talked mom and dad into getting chickens. so off the the hatchery we had in town and got 4. they were free range and always stuck around. with a rasberry patch and garden they ate well…

best tasting chicken i ever had!!!!!!!

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Might want to have your wife start thinking of how to deal with the kids once the water is boiling for chicken soup.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer and since I don’t have anything positive to add, I’ll keep my trap shut for the rest of this thread.

On a more positive note, at least they won’t be sleeping in bed with you and your wife.

Life and Death is something she’s experienced living in the country. That part is the least of my worries.

At 2 years old this Fall, she sat in a goose blind with muffs and snacks in the field below our house. Mom was at work and nearly fell over dead when I sent her a few videos. Here’s a screenshot of a video on my phone (sorry for crappy quality) of her retrieving a goose for me. My buddy’s dog was so confused that he had to take turns with a 2 year old going out to bring back geese in the field.

She has to have the world record for youngest to ever harvest a banded goose…at 2 years, 6 months old.

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^^^^^^^ thats great!!!!!! hope you didnt break any child labor laws!!!!!

Cool Shot Bucky!

Still laughing Bucky!!

Luckily I was prepared for the wrath of Mrs. when she found out our 2 year old was in the goose blind behind the house while she was at work.

It’s crazy what a case of her favorite wine waiting for her on the island at home will do to alleviate anger. For those new to marriage, shoot me a PM and I’ve got a whole laundry list of husband hacks that are fool-proof.

If you let them run outside the eagles and hawks will have them gone in a couple days. Neighbors had some and they would mysteriously disappear and then one day they saw the bald eagle flying away with them.

They had to put mesh over an area for them to walk. Of course, I don’t think your wife can blame you if the eagles get them…

^Great point. The run will be covered with 1/4″ hardwire for sure. I tried baiting coyotes with deer remains on our land but gave up after all we did was feed the eagles.

buckybadger wrote:

^Great point. The run will be covered with 1/4″ hardwire for sure. I tried baiting coyotes with deer remains on our land but gave up after all we did was feed the eagles.

nuttin wrong with that bucky!!

Eagles get our fish guts at the cabin all winter!;

lindyrig79 wrote:

Kids are only young once but I think them having pets is extremely beneficial to them.

Heck yeah. I grew up on a farm and have always felt raising animals is great for kids, they get exposed to responsibilities so young. There’s no calling in sick or pushing work off. Feed and take care of your animals or they die-so it needs to be done

I can only speak from my experiences but we’ve got plenty of red-tails in the area and owls as well and haven’t had a problem with that at all.

They’ll all die at some point and you’re right bucky, the country life exposes them to the life and death cycle at an earlier age, and that’s good learning too.

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buckybadger wrote:

I’ve got a whole laundry list of husband hacks that are fool-proof.

Likely worth another thread!

An excellent way to get rid of fish guts after cleaning. They eat EVERYTHING. Pretty cool actually

ajw wrote:

An excellent way to get rid of fish guts after cleaning. They eat EVERYTHING. Pretty cool actually

You mean I don’t have to run them all the way to the woods? I’m gonna try that now

Joe Jarl wrote:

Soon as I turned my back on him, he was after me.

If I had a rooster like that, it would only happen 2 times!!

I don’t think i can call chickens pets.

you could’ve avoided this madness by being a reasonable human being and getting your family one nice dog, which you also could’ve used hunting. Instead you’re the proud owner of a flock of hens and you also have a building project on your hands when you could be on the river. Congrats!

Chickens are the absolute worst. Been there, done that, never again. The only good thing that came of ours was the fact that I over-built the coop and now it’s a great garden shed.

dirtywater wrote:

you could’ve avoided this madness by being a reasonable human being and getting your family one nice dog, which you also could’ve used hunting. Instead you’re the proud owner of a flock of hens and you also have a building project on your hands when you could be on the river. Congrats!

Chickens are the absolute worst. Been there, done that, never again. The only good thing that came of ours was the fact that I over-built the coop and now it’s a great garden shed.

I agreed. Lol I hated having chickens

Netguy been trying to quote and reply but site won’t post.

My answer was:

1st and last!