Chickens at work

I recently have started a new job. The issue of chickens came up really fast. Farmer Boy doesn't feel comfortable telling people that we grow chickens in the city environment. Mostly, it's because of my work environment - lots and lots of professional folks, who are not into farming. My arguments that many people are into chickens nowadays don't convince him. He begs me not to talk about chickens at work. People do look down on him because he doesn't dress or appear certain way. I disagree. First, I am proud of his achievements in breeding! Second, there is nothing wrong about chickens. If we, professional folks, just talk about self-sufficiency and food security, but don't actually do anything (grow chickens, grow gardens), it's just blah-blah-blah and our words and degrees are worth nothing!

So at my previous job I slowly disclosed to people that I live on a chicken farm. Most people were extremely surprised. They would chuckle every time they ask how our chickens are doing. So I decided to change my approach. When our HR asked me to write my introduction at my new job, I gave them something like - " Undomesticated Wife and her award-winning chicken-breeding husband support the environmental movement by chickens within the urban environment...... " and on and on and on. Just 3 sentences. The technique worked - nobody chuckles, nobody snickered. Several days later I found out that our Director of Operations has 5 chickens, and our Office Manager is planning to get hens. Nobody thought it was weird that I live on a farm, married to a farmer, and believe in farming. I wonder if it's just a different crowd, or maybe nobody even read my intro.

Overall, it's been easier just to tell people right away about our chicken obsession than to ease co-workers into it.