Hi! I am new to BackYardChickens.com but not to raising chickens...haha
My granddad had a couple of hundred of miscellaneous chicken that he primarily used for their eggs and meat. I guess I guess the passion I have for my chickens got started at that young age. Around 5 years ago, I started with just picking up a few chickens at my local feed store and then I was hooked. I started small and now my small flock of black/red sex link chickens has evolved to close to 100 birds of various breeds. Although my first set of girls didn't make it through the second winter for some reason (I put my outside dog inside and lost most of my birds that winter), I replenished my flocks and now have Speckled Sussex, Black Copper Maran, Lavender Orpingtons, English black Orpingtons, Black/Gray/Buff/Blue Splash Silkies, Americana's, Welsummers, Black/Red Sex links, Gold Laced Cochin and a few Black Copper Maran Black/Red Sex Links mixed. I just ordered some Silver Phoenix hatching eggs and can't wait to start hatching those!....I also just purchased four assorted bantams and more red sex links from the local Tractor Supply. I am planning on getting some more Americana babies from the local feed store later this week. I have learned that joe blow off the street love the Americana breed because they lay different color eggs. I ran out of hens and had to take care of my roosters. I only have two hens left and one rooster....so I'm trying to replenish my stock of these. Once they get laying age....they start to sale...:)
I also have two turkeys (a male and female combo) and two Lavender Muscovy Ducks....I have several duck eggs in my incubator as well as others. I love hatching and raising babies. We also have a black angus, white jersey heifer but she keeps breaking loose to go with my dad's herd so we decided just to leave her with that herd. We instead turned her pen into a large garden for us and my dad! One day we will have all we need to be self sufficient. We love working with our hands and getting down and dirty with everything. But my chickens are where my passion truly lies.
I got a lot of my flock from an awesome lady that lives nearby. She owns and runs Moss Farm. She has taught me so much. Sadly she just got diagnosed with terminal cancer and I am heart broken. My friend talked to me about getting NPIP certified and in July 2011 we got our flock NPIP certified and we named our farm Circle K Farm.
I hope to get to know you guys better and learn about raising these guys as we go! I can say that after a stressful day at work, I return home and watch my chickens interact in their various pens and it is very relaxing to say the least. My husband and I are police officers and having the farm has done wonders for our stress levels!!!!
We have learned everything we know by trial and error and keeping our raising chickens for dummy's book close at hand...hahaha
from Oregon! 
