[upthetump]

Hi all, nice to be in touch again, me and my cockerel have reached an uneasy truce. I throw all the cauli/cabbage leaves to him and he feeds the girls. Seems to be working at the mo.

My question concerns my mate who is not pulling his weight in sharing duties with the chickens. In the last 4 weeks he has been up to the plot to let the birds out only once. I am up  there before 7am in the week, and I am putting them in at 8-30pm evey night. It is his duty to be up there in the morning sat/sun but last week he missed the saturday and then came over at 11.30 am sunday to see if i had let them out. He picks nearly all the eggs and sells them, I have to argue like hell if I  want some for brekkie in a sat morning. He keeps the money in a kitty and it pays for the pellets etc but it doesnt seem to be increasing. He is a bit slow academically but faster than me on the uptake and I only got him involved to give him a purpose in life but he is just lazy. I even had to clean the house out on my weekend off, it had been left for 3 weeks and was buzziing. he owns half the birds but does 10% work. I didn't have time yesterday to change the water and he was up there 3 hrs behind me. I went up last night at 8 and the water was filthy. he didn't put fresh, but he took all the eggs.  :evil:  What would you all do?

[agapanthus]

I think I would explain that as things are not working out then perhaps you should both take your quota of hens and look after them individually. It's a hard decision to make but it's obviously not on that you should have to take on the brunt of the work with hardly any reward. It probably won't go down very well but I can't see any other option. Maybe someone else could come up with a better solution? Hope it goes okay in the end.

[Porffor]

I would be tempted to buy him out.. as I wouldn't want to leave the hens in his care if he can't be bothered. It's the animals that would suffer.

Such a shame you are faced with such a decision but is very common, I have watched people share horses etc and it often doesn't work out.

Hope you manage to reach a resolve/agreement.

[compostqueen]

Yup buy him out as he won't care for his half then you'd be doing them too as you'd be too concerned for their wellbeing and worrying about him not checking them often enough

Buy them and end of your worry.  If you can't manage them all I'd rehome some to be honest.  

He has to agree or you can report him to the council lotty officer (if you have one) or RSPCA for not looking after his flock properly.  

Sad situation and I feel very sorry about it for you, it must be really upsetting  

[nettynoodles1]

i have been in a similar position with my old mare :? i had a 'friend' help me  out twice a week in return for riding those 2 days. i had to tell her to leave in the end. it just doesnt work :cry:
i would talk to him first about responsibilties then offet to buy him out failing those i would be sneaky and change the locks!!!! :oops:
good luck lets us know how  you get on

[Butterfly]

What an awful situation to be in. I agree with what the others have said. Talk to your mate, explain how you feel and offer to buy him out. Let us know how you get on.

[upthetump]

thanks for the advice. My instinct is to give him this weekend to see if he goes up under his own steam. If he comes knocking at 11:30 in the morning and the girls are still in then I fear a parting of the ways. Incidentally, what time do you all let your birds out?

[dawnsmith]

I feel for your situation.
He might be be glad to be off the hook if you offer to buy him out  :roll:

I let mine out at 6 in the morning, then they go back to bed at about 8 or 9 in the evening - depending how dark it is.

[nettynoodles1]

mine go out at varing times as they are not at home always out by 10 am and back into bed by dusk sometimes earlier.

but their house is large and  has food a nd water in at all times.....

[upthetump]

our bird house is more than adequate for the number of birds to roost and shelter in, but is not big enough for food/water. Now the days are long I like to be up there well before 7am to get them outside and enjoying the light. That's where i get annoyed when my mate saunters over at 11:30 am when it is his turn  :evil:

[Porffor]

Mine are new to us, but were in a feed store before us, so their routine was out at around 9am and in by 7pm.

With us, they are out between 7 and 8.00 am usually 7.30am.
Then in by 9.20pm as they go to bed themselves around that time, I'm trying not to put them to bed, but am on the watch for a Mr or Mrs Fox as it's later than i'd like.