New Keeper of the Chickens from Scotland

Hello folks,

Not sure anyone will read these but hey ho.

I've a friend who got me into poultry keeping as he incubates and raises all manner of birds. From Turkeys and geese (for festive reasons) to chickens (table birds and layers) and peacocks (pure accidental that one).

We (my wife and I) had a couple rabbits ,who have since passed away, that lived in a purpose built shed at the bottom of the garden. I've given it a few tweeks here and there, glossed over the wood to prevent mites and built a few nesting boxes for them to lay. Drift wood for a perch of sorts and made a run under our weeping cherry willow tree for them to run.

They'll get out to roam the garden when were in and about and be confined to the run (its about 5ft x 10ft) when were not around. They will be joining the family of two cats (Eva and Pixie) and our lovable grump of a dog (oakley)

They are gold laced barnevelders and we should be getting them in the coming weeks.
Pretty excited.

My wife is aprehensive as theyre chickens and not your avrage household ept, but i know that once they start folloing her around the garden and talking to her when shes in the garden she'll love them.

Anyways.

Im me, this is mine and il post photos as and when they are taken.

Medlgr

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with your soon to be new flock! Barnevelders are a nice breed, I am sure your wife will enjoy them, especially the fresh eggs!

I read it, medlgr!

Welcome, and thanks for sharing. It sounds like your chickens will have a fantastic place to live.

And, to share a bit of my own experience with having chickens as "household" pets...I had never had chickens before when I bought mine three years ago, so I raised them like I did my cats and dogs. I held and cuddled them, fed them by hand, took them with me into the garden when they were little and gave them worms and bugs and things. Now that they're grown, they follow me everywhere, crawl into my lap when I'm sitting nearby, come when they're called, try to get into the house to visit, hang out with the cats, try to steal food from the dogs (successfully on occasion, you name it. They even have a couple of "tricks" in their repertoire. Extremely fun.

I hope you enjoy your flock immensely!

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

So glad you could join our community! Chickens are not the AVERAGE house hold pets, but wow, they can still show you the emotions! My girls are huge on lap sitting. I can't sit anywhere without a chicken on my lap! One hen defends HER lap and won't tolerate any other while she is getting her love tank full. Some of them know their names and come when called. They really do show and need affection. I think your wife will come around soon once they all come running when they see her with that bag of goodies in tow!

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and we do welcome you to our flock!

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Chickens are great pets!!!

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. We always enjoy reading new members posts. It's part of the reason we frequent this section of BYC. My wife and I visited your beautiful country for our 37th wedding anniversary and loved it there. Good luck in getting your Barnevelders. You'll love their chocolate eggs. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.

You might tell your wife chickens can even make great house pets. If she doesn't believe it let her read the "people with house chickens," thread. They may not be dogs but, they can be lovable and intelligent in their own way.

Welcome to BYC! We're glad to have you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Glad you joined us!

Feel free to ask lots of questions! We're all here to help.