- Jun 28, 2011
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Sharon, known to BYC members as campingshaws, has been a member of our community since August 2014. Another of our wonderful all rounders, she is known for her friendliness and beautiful flock of birds.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I'm Sharon, but most folks around here just call me camping. It's actually weird seeing my real name sometimes! I've been married 11 years and have two kids, 8-year-old DD and 5-year-old Bubba.
That's all of us at my grandma's 85th birthday. My grandma's mom was the last one of my family to have chickens. I never met my great grandma, and the farm was long gone by the time I was old enough to ask about it. I asked what kind of chickens she had and the only answer I've gotten was "white banties," so who knows what sorts of chickens were in rural Louisiana in the 1930s.
Doesn't look like a banty to me!
I have two full-time jobs: first is being a stay-at-home wife/mom and second is working year round at a summer camp! We're a really small camp, with DH and I making up 2/3 of the full-time employees. I'm responsible for food, farm, facebook, and fundraising.
I also love all things crafting: I crochet, quilt, sew, scrapbook, build, paint, and dabble in anything else that looks like fun. I was good with houseplants before I had kids.
and I'm terrible at gardening. I've killed day lilies and daisies. I'm well on my way to killing mint.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
Getting started in chickens was a quirky little comedy of errors that began with a misunderstanding. Every year around Easter I'd nudge DH and say "Let's get a few chicks!" I was always outdoorsy and loved camping, riding horses, things like that, but I'd never been around a farm or chickens. DH grew up in Iowa and wanted nothing to do with it. So once a year I would suggest grabbing a few impulse chickens, and he'd say no, and that was that.
In August of 2014 DH said he was working on a surprise. In a plot that had been a garden he laid a floor and put up a few walls. I assumed it was a play house for the kids.
"It's a chicken coop! You've always wanted chickens! You ask for them and talk about them all the time!"
So I scrambled to learn everything I could about chickens and keeping them, because I don't like to do anything unprepared. DH set up this account on BYC, but I quickly took it over.
Here's the original coop:
No one had chicks in the fall, and we were adamant about hens only. I was getting a little worked up about the constant disappointment of having an empty coop. We ended up driving 45 minutes to a feed store that had a mixed flock of all ages. We picked a few out with no idea what we were looking for.
Herkey is the first chicken I ever held! I opened the brooder and picked her out all by myself. The feed store people got a big kick out of my panic and excitement. They flat out laughed at my selfie. We got five mixed birds altogether.
And then we got a few more!
(chicken math
)
Well I was smitten. I spent all my time out with the flock. I said I was going to call my memoirs "Mama's out with the darn chickens" because I overheard DH say that once. But my chicken fever quickly affected the kids, too.
In October of 2014 we picked up four exbat hens at an auction and got our first egg!
And that December I hatched for the first time! DH gave me the bator for Christmas, and I got 6 eating eggs from the lady up the road.
And it snowballed from there! Full-blown addiction. I got a new fancy coop last spring and added guineas, muscovies, and goats to our little farm. We even put them to our staff picture this year!
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
I love all the aspects of this hobby. I particularly enjoy breeding and hatching!
It's so neat to pick two chickens, and hatch their eggs, and have whole new chickens!
Eggs aren't hard on the eyes, either.
I love seeing them scratching around in the yard.
I love the crazy noises they make. I love their soft feathers and intelligent eyes. And I love taking pictures!
I really love what it's done for my kids in this age of screens and inside time. More pics!
They LOVE shopping at TSC and always go there when they have money.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
I have had so many special flock members. I've never enjoyed birds more than I did my speckled sussex. I was so heartbroken when the roo was killed that I immediately sold the entire sussex flock. I've been breed searching since then.
Mae West is another sweet bird that everyone loves.
Twilight was a very good chicken. She died suddenly last fall, and everyone was sad. She and Herkey were the only two left from our original flock of five mixed feed store chicks. She was DD's favorite.
I've tried heritage Rhode Island reds:
And now I'm breeding honas. They're pretty spunky and do great in a mixed flock. Definitely my most self-sufficient birds.
And just various mixed pics.
I recently met a BYC member in Texas and got some birds from her. They're my new faves and I can't wait until they're out of quarantine and in with all the others.
5. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
Besides the chickens we have two goats, two guineas, six muscovies, two dogs, and one old, cranky cat.
Beaux was a bottle baby and is such a huge pest.
Scovies:
Jasper and Jewel:
Old Chuck Taylor:
6. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
Chicken keeping is basically a never-ending parade of mess-ups and mistakes that can be tragic or hilarious, depending on your take. The first time we ever bought birds at an auction we paid $9 a piece for speckled sussex pullets. I thought they were jubilee orpingtons and that we were about to be rich!
It's funny enough that I believed chickens could make me rich (
) but we only had cat carriers with us to carry our birds home. DH was embarrassed because most of the folks had fancy custom cages, and he sent me to get the birds. Right before I got to our cage of pullets a couple of cowboy types started loading their birds into purple mesh crawfish sacks. I turned around and stared at DH with my mouth open. Needless to say our cat carriers suddenly weren't so bad.
I'm also pretty notorious for shooting predators from the bathroom window. My big metal feeder is full of holes from the year that the baby possums would scale the chicken wire and slip through the welded wire and sit in the feeder eating. I'm a pretty good shot, but sometimes you just miss. For about three months my family expected shots from the bathroom window in the middle of the night.
Just the other day I shot a snake in the coop while it had a chick in its mouth. The chick survived! I had been within striking distance of the snake for 5 minutes or more, when it grabbed the chick. I never saw it.
It's not really funny if I leave out the part where I ran in and asked for a shovel, and DH shrugged, and I got mad and stomped out, then stomped back and calmly informed him at the top of my lungs of this situation, then slammed the door, then opened the door in time for us to both say "the .22!" at the same time. One shot later and it was all done. DH applauded me when I passed him the rifle through the bathroom window.
I use my flock for education in the summer, and INEVITABLY a rooster will mount a hen in front of a group of 6-year-olds. I will tell them that's how the chicks are made, and their curious little minds want ALL THE ANSWERS on the creation of life. I can't always deflect them, and usually end up saying "Ask your grownups!" before fleeing through a door or gate where they can't follow me. I'll answer a few more questions for high schoolers (because I'm not chicken!) but I don't want a lesson in farm life to spiral into full-blown sex ed. Those sweet teens are so naive, and a few will always pick a fresh, warm egg and hold it to their ear to listen for baby sounds.
DH said his favorite moment was when an annoying camper picked up Twilight and she dropped a yolk on him; it was on his shirt and ran down his leg and into his shoe. It's bittersweet for me because that was the beginning of the end for her. She only lived another month or so, even though I never found anything wrong. RIP, sweet girl.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I've loved this journey in getting back to my roots, one generation removed. I suffer with depression and there have been days that chickens were the only reason to get out of bed. The kids are old enough to feed themselves, and someone will let the dogs out if they cry, but I'm the only one who tends the farm. It's been a good motivator.
I could not be where I am without the information, friendships, and support from the BYC community. The members are so helpful with not only teaching, but also following up with the results. I've started threads on treating fowl pox and dog attack injuries where experienced members helped me with treatments, then continued to track progress with me and ask for periodic updates. Not many people in my real life are as kind and caring as the community here.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/302630/campingshaws
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I'm Sharon, but most folks around here just call me camping. It's actually weird seeing my real name sometimes! I've been married 11 years and have two kids, 8-year-old DD and 5-year-old Bubba.
That's all of us at my grandma's 85th birthday. My grandma's mom was the last one of my family to have chickens. I never met my great grandma, and the farm was long gone by the time I was old enough to ask about it. I asked what kind of chickens she had and the only answer I've gotten was "white banties," so who knows what sorts of chickens were in rural Louisiana in the 1930s.
Doesn't look like a banty to me!
I have two full-time jobs: first is being a stay-at-home wife/mom and second is working year round at a summer camp! We're a really small camp, with DH and I making up 2/3 of the full-time employees. I'm responsible for food, farm, facebook, and fundraising.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
Getting started in chickens was a quirky little comedy of errors that began with a misunderstanding. Every year around Easter I'd nudge DH and say "Let's get a few chicks!" I was always outdoorsy and loved camping, riding horses, things like that, but I'd never been around a farm or chickens. DH grew up in Iowa and wanted nothing to do with it. So once a year I would suggest grabbing a few impulse chickens, and he'd say no, and that was that.
In August of 2014 DH said he was working on a surprise. In a plot that had been a garden he laid a floor and put up a few walls. I assumed it was a play house for the kids.
"It's a chicken coop! You've always wanted chickens! You ask for them and talk about them all the time!"
Here's the original coop:
No one had chicks in the fall, and we were adamant about hens only. I was getting a little worked up about the constant disappointment of having an empty coop. We ended up driving 45 minutes to a feed store that had a mixed flock of all ages. We picked a few out with no idea what we were looking for.
Herkey is the first chicken I ever held! I opened the brooder and picked her out all by myself. The feed store people got a big kick out of my panic and excitement. They flat out laughed at my selfie. We got five mixed birds altogether.
And then we got a few more!
(chicken math
Well I was smitten. I spent all my time out with the flock. I said I was going to call my memoirs "Mama's out with the darn chickens" because I overheard DH say that once. But my chicken fever quickly affected the kids, too.
In October of 2014 we picked up four exbat hens at an auction and got our first egg!
And that December I hatched for the first time! DH gave me the bator for Christmas, and I got 6 eating eggs from the lady up the road.
And it snowballed from there! Full-blown addiction. I got a new fancy coop last spring and added guineas, muscovies, and goats to our little farm. We even put them to our staff picture this year!
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
I love all the aspects of this hobby. I particularly enjoy breeding and hatching!
Eggs aren't hard on the eyes, either.
I love seeing them scratching around in the yard.
I love the crazy noises they make. I love their soft feathers and intelligent eyes. And I love taking pictures!
I really love what it's done for my kids in this age of screens and inside time. More pics!
They LOVE shopping at TSC and always go there when they have money.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
I have had so many special flock members. I've never enjoyed birds more than I did my speckled sussex. I was so heartbroken when the roo was killed that I immediately sold the entire sussex flock. I've been breed searching since then.
Mae West is another sweet bird that everyone loves.
Twilight was a very good chicken. She died suddenly last fall, and everyone was sad. She and Herkey were the only two left from our original flock of five mixed feed store chicks. She was DD's favorite.
I've tried heritage Rhode Island reds:
And now I'm breeding honas. They're pretty spunky and do great in a mixed flock. Definitely my most self-sufficient birds.
And just various mixed pics.
I recently met a BYC member in Texas and got some birds from her. They're my new faves and I can't wait until they're out of quarantine and in with all the others.
5. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
Besides the chickens we have two goats, two guineas, six muscovies, two dogs, and one old, cranky cat.
Beaux was a bottle baby and is such a huge pest.
Scovies:
Jasper and Jewel:
Old Chuck Taylor:
6. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
Chicken keeping is basically a never-ending parade of mess-ups and mistakes that can be tragic or hilarious, depending on your take. The first time we ever bought birds at an auction we paid $9 a piece for speckled sussex pullets. I thought they were jubilee orpingtons and that we were about to be rich!
I'm also pretty notorious for shooting predators from the bathroom window. My big metal feeder is full of holes from the year that the baby possums would scale the chicken wire and slip through the welded wire and sit in the feeder eating. I'm a pretty good shot, but sometimes you just miss. For about three months my family expected shots from the bathroom window in the middle of the night.
Just the other day I shot a snake in the coop while it had a chick in its mouth. The chick survived! I had been within striking distance of the snake for 5 minutes or more, when it grabbed the chick. I never saw it.
It's not really funny if I leave out the part where I ran in and asked for a shovel, and DH shrugged, and I got mad and stomped out, then stomped back and calmly informed him at the top of my lungs of this situation, then slammed the door, then opened the door in time for us to both say "the .22!" at the same time. One shot later and it was all done. DH applauded me when I passed him the rifle through the bathroom window.
I use my flock for education in the summer, and INEVITABLY a rooster will mount a hen in front of a group of 6-year-olds. I will tell them that's how the chicks are made, and their curious little minds want ALL THE ANSWERS on the creation of life. I can't always deflect them, and usually end up saying "Ask your grownups!" before fleeing through a door or gate where they can't follow me. I'll answer a few more questions for high schoolers (because I'm not chicken!) but I don't want a lesson in farm life to spiral into full-blown sex ed. Those sweet teens are so naive, and a few will always pick a fresh, warm egg and hold it to their ear to listen for baby sounds.
DH said his favorite moment was when an annoying camper picked up Twilight and she dropped a yolk on him; it was on his shirt and ran down his leg and into his shoe. It's bittersweet for me because that was the beginning of the end for her. She only lived another month or so, even though I never found anything wrong. RIP, sweet girl.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I've loved this journey in getting back to my roots, one generation removed. I suffer with depression and there have been days that chickens were the only reason to get out of bed. The kids are old enough to feed themselves, and someone will let the dogs out if they cry, but I'm the only one who tends the farm. It's been a good motivator.
I could not be where I am without the information, friendships, and support from the BYC community. The members are so helpful with not only teaching, but also following up with the results. I've started threads on treating fowl pox and dog attack injuries where experienced members helped me with treatments, then continued to track progress with me and ask for periodic updates. Not many people in my real life are as kind and caring as the community here.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/302630/campingshaws
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
Very nice!
