How to Convince your Family to Let you Keep Chickens 🐔 Yay!
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Whether you’re trying to convince your partner, housemate or parents to let you keep chickens, fear not, we have all the tricks of the trade to help get them on your side. Most importantly you are going to want to house your chicken in an Eglu, therefore immediately some of their reservations about chickens will be eliminated by the unique and innovative design features.
PLUS some fail safe tricks you can try that should help nudge them in the right direction!
1 ) Don’t chickens need lots of space?
🐥 Answer: You may be surprised to hear that you can keep hens in a relatively small area. Chickens will appreciate as much space as you can give them so they can forage for food. If you are happy to give your chickens the whole garden then they will have more than enough space to be happy.
Ideally your garden should have a fence all the way round. This will prevent your chickens from wandering into the neighbour’s garden and, more importantly, ensure that all the eggs are laid on your side of the fence! The fence should be about 1.5m (5ft) high.
If you do not have grass, it is possible to keep a couple of chickens but you must provide them with a layer of wood chippings to rummage about in as this will give them the right type of surface underfoot.
2 ) Aren’t chickens a bit smelly?
🐥 Answer: Chickens smell lovely but maybe you mean isn’t their poo smelly? Well it’s not exactly perfume but chicken’s do 50% of their droppings at night and the Eglu is so easy to clean, in less than 5 minutes you can have it smelling like roses. The droppings are a great fertilizer too and will help produce amazing vegetables. We’ve even heard of one enterprising school child who started selling bags of chicken droppings turning muck into brass and starting her entrepreneurial career early!
3 ) Ok so they aren’t smelly, but won’t they make a lot of mess?
🐥 Answer: The key to keeping things nice and tidy is having the right number of chickens for your garden, if you have a small garden then 3 hens are ideal, maybe consider bantams which are miniature chickens and perfect for even the smallest spaces. An Eglu is also easy to move, all models are available with wheels from the largest Eglu Cube to the smaller
Eglu Go and by moving them regularly chickens actually improve the grass by raking out moss and fertilizing it.
4 ) But we have lots of predators where we live
🐥 Answer: Eglus are really secure chicken houses. Eglu runs are made from strong steel weld mesh, impossible for predators to break. A unique anti-tunnel skirt sits flat on the ground and prevents animals from digging in. The unique tunnel-proof panels have been proven in rigorous testing to be predator resistant. The run means that when you are out and about you can be sure that your chickens are safe.
We’ve even had bears try and fail to get in to an Eglu. In the UK foxes, badgers and birds of prey are all put off by the anti-tunnel skirt and tamper proof design. The strong mesh and anti-tunnel skirt also help keep the overexcited family dog out!
5 ) Don’t chickens need lots of space?
🐥 Answer: Chickens live outdoors and you can leave them for a weekend with enough food and water. For longer periods your friends or neighbours will be happy to come and check on them, especially if they can help themselves to the fresh eggs.
6 ) 🥚 Taste test – Get a farm fresh egg and also a store bought egg, do a taste test showing the difference in both colour and taste.
7 ) 🐛 They eat bugs – Chickens are great little workers, so long as you keep moving them about your garden they’ll eat all the nasty bugs and ticks that you can’t seem to get rid of. They do a great job of eating oxalis and other weeds too!
8 ) 😊 Friendly pets – People will be surprised to find out that chickens are actually very friendly pets, each with their own personalities. See if you can find a friend who already has chickens that you can introduce your loved one to so they can have the opportunity to ‘hug a hen’ and see for themselves how nice these animals are.
9 ) 🐓Start ‘hypothetically’ naming them – Start giving your soon-to-be chickens names. Try and get your loved ones involved in the brainstorm and then they’ll start to see how much fun you can have. Hen Solo, Princess Lay-a, Cluck Rogers… the list goes on!
10 ) 🐓Subtle hints – Start leaving cutouts from the Omlet brochure or pictures from our website around the house. Particularly successful spots include the fridge door, bathroom mirror and on top of their pillow.
11 ) ⛔Chicken Zone Only – Suggest making a special area in your garden the chicken area. A small area that will be the perfect place to keep a few chickens. Out of the way until they grow on who you are trying to convince! In this way yo might not feel they are going to take over his or her prize garden or vegetable patch!
12 ) Another great reason to invest in chooks is that they are Perfect Stress Relievers
Talking to your chooks makes a lot of sense.