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I’ve had a booking since June for four people, three nights Sun-Thurs, as rare an hen’s teeth in October. At the time we’d just booked to stay in Spain, and cancelled four nights to accommodate them. We hadn’t booked flights by then, and the Air host in Spain was gracious. She started getting on my nerves from the start, with constant requests for this, that and the other but she did alter her booking early on to include an extra night. For the past two weeks I’ve had incessant messages about ferries/channel tunnel to France, shall we do this/that or the other, right down to which ferry should they catch. Grrrh; I am not the Tourist Information Bureau or your mother!
This morning she wants an alteration, from three nights to one. WTF? After much thought, I declined and suggested she cancel. I knew if they kept the 3 nights, she’d be angry; if I accepted, I’d be angry, and I had enough red flags already to get me into the Labour Party Conference. Par example, ten messages on how to cancel…
Anyway, Malagachica gave me a polished punch on the nose for not staying with them, and now I find we have three or four extra nights if we can change our flights (BA) to Sat/Sun 29th/30th Sept., but I can’t find her listing to see if she is available to put up with us! Can anyone post it, or if your listening to my rant, my friend, I’m half way though a very nice bottle of Pinot Noir, Mr Joan is very late home from London, I have some lovely American guests who are in the pub and I might just join them.
Oh poor you … I was on granny duty in Sheffield so didn’t have time to look at the forum! We’re in Cape Town (setting up our SA Airbnb!) until 5 October, but you’re welcome to try our new, all-improved Self check-in system (i.e. key under flowerpot!).
@Joan I truly feel for you having this needy guest and the ripple effect of her behavior. You provided a service to help me make a decision. I want to take a nice trip next year and was pondering if I would let guest rentals affect when I go.
Bottom line is I now plan & take my trip and not make changes and may miss a few (snoozing or blocking calendar) if needed because there are no guarantees. You helped me to stop overthinking and make a decision. Thank you
I took a week off recently but got some previous great guests to stay for free. Not only did they look after the animals (okay Bandit the duck killed my favourite rescue chicken Miss Red but not their fault) but they cleaned the place from top to toe including my part and one of them did some repairs I had left as she asked me for some tasks to fill the time. The other lady liked cooking and left me some scrummy leftovers. I came home a day early and we stayed up until 3am chatting and drinking the wine I had bought them as a thank you (and a couple more bottles besides).
Lucky you! I remember you saying that your house was cleaner than when you went away, but repairs as well? Stunning. Do they want to come to the UK by any chance?
It is truly heartwarming when you have lovely people staying; they make up for the bad times, and it’s all worth while again. The cracking couple here at the moment came home last night bearing gifts. Three plants for my garden.
But so sorry to learn of the demise of Miss Red. Bandit living up to his name, after a fashion?
Miss Red stopped walking after the attack so I put her in a box inside in a home made “chicken sling” and had to hand feed her. Sadly after a week she was making no signs of progress so I got the guy next door to end it. She was an ex battery chicken so at least had a few good years scratching around in the dirt and sunshine.
I love people who rescue battery chickens. We have a friend up the lane who has eight, and they are so happy, compared to when the arrived; featherless, mange ridden, eye infections; you name it.
Battery hens are kept in disgusting conditions, en masse, by commercial egg producers. Crowded, filthy sheds, never see daylight or get to run around and be proper chickens. Only the number of eggs laid matter to the producers, who can barely be called farmers.
@murphysranch. So you had me wondering what a Red Sex Link chicken is. I’m fairly chicken breed familiar and never heard of them. What an interesting bird.
I had two ex-batts that lived for almost 4 years. Two others just expired and two drowned in the duck pond, possibly due to the previous duck Bob who was himself taken by a fox. I got 2 “store bought” chickens because they are able to run faster and are a bit tougher. They don’t roost in the hen house but on a fence outside the airbnb bedroom window, very cute.
This is like a whole new world for me. The things you can learn at the Airbnb Hosts Forum! I never knew there were such things as rescue chickens. Just don’t anyone tell me they’ve got an emotional support chicken…
Chicken farmers fill an empty battery shed with chicks that have all been born at the same time. They start laying together. After about 12-18 months the farmer notices a drop off in egg production (some will keep laying to 4 or 5) so he sends them all together to the pet food factory and fills up the shed with new baby chicks and the cycle continues. Krystal who seems to supply most of Melbourne’s rescue chicken (red Isas) buys them off the farmer for slightly more than they would get from the pet food factory and then sells them to buyers who are alerted via her FB page byo cardboard box.
Such is the reality of commercial farm life. I live next to a dairy farm and it being Spring I see a field of half a dozen bobby calves playing in the sun. Cute? They’ll be in cans of pet food in 2 or 3 days. I yell out to them: “enjoy yourselves boys this is the best day of your lives!”.
I hear you . Our chickens, goats, cows, pigs etc destined to provide protein for humans should be treated with basic respect. I grew up on a farm. You don’t name the ones destined for livestock processing. Dad let our cows wander the field, and pigs root in the dirt until processing or auction day came…it was as it was.
We didn’t have chickens. Mom did growing up. Chickens wandered the yard and laid eggs until they didn’t, then chicken stew was for Sunday dinner.
When I eat I give a prayer of thanks for the animals and plants that provided for me.
Yes, I don’t have a problem with people eating meat, as do I, but I think they should be fully aware of how it gets from paddocks to plate. I think it is funny city folks think buying organic and free range chicken absolves them of all guilt but those chickens also get culled at 3 months (for meat) or 18 months (if egg layers). Daisy the dairy cow is off to the local pet food factory when she stops giving plentiful milk. Very few animals get to die of old age on a farm.
@JamJerrupSunset. Squirrel moment—- dad had a cow die of old age. Her name was half-tail. We think a snapping turtle found her tail alluring while she was wading in the pond.
Rabies was high among raccoons, foxes, bob cats etc one summer. Dad was in the pasture and startled a raccoon. It doubled back. Dad saw it and was too far from the four-wheeler to outrun it. Half tail ran to the rescue and trampled it. Half-tail lived to be a ripe old age. Moooooooooo!
