BYC Member Interview - welasharon

sumi said:

Sharon, known to BYC members as welasharon, has been a member of our community since June 2010. Another of our wonderful all rounders, she can be found all over the forum where she is known for her good advice and her beautiful flock of chickens. [COLOR=222222]1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [COLOR=333333]I am a Spanish instructor in a very rural high school. I have two children and four grandchildren. My husband and I have been married for forty years....he's a very tolerant man. He suffered through my crazy cat lady phase and now for the last five years the crazy chicken lady phase. I really enjoy chickens although it took many years to get around to having them.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]I love to ride my motorcycle and that, along with watching my chickens scratch in the yard, are what keep me sane. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222][COLOR=333333]When I was about seven my mom ordered five hundred chicks in the mail and they were so crowded that they began to eat each other. My mom would throw meat in to them. Finally my brothers would go out and hunt rabbits and feed the carcasses to them. My mom decided to process them all at once. All the family gathered and everyone was doled out a job. Mine was to pluck the singed pin feathers. My mom and grandmother killed them. One would wring the necks and the other would chop the heads off. There were dying chickens running all over the place. Us children had to run them down. I am still unable to process a chicken of my own! It was horrifying! I can still smell those singed feathers to this day.[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222][COLOR=333333]I talk to my chickens of course and I do believe they listen! LOL[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]My favourite chicken was Bogart. I've lost him now. He was an o shamo. He would come to me when I called and let me pick him up. The craziest chicken I have is Claude--eee-ah a Golden Laced Polish. She is one of my first four chickens. I thought it was a she so I named her Claudia. Then as she got older is got more manly looking and didn't lay eggs and the topper was when I saw her mount a hen..so I thought okay I'll call him Claude. But then one day he went missing and I went all over the property calling and calling. I even went through the trailer park that buts up against our land. I asked a lady I saw if she had seen a fluffy headed brown chicken any where...nope but she did ask me if I was the crazy chicken lady that lived in that big white house over the fence! After a day or two I finally found Claude sitting on a clutch of 19 eggs in my husband's shop! She then she went to being Claude-eee-ah. She only lays an egg about once every five or six months. She also started spinning around in circles sometimes....not sure what that is. Last time she did it she ripped the tip of her toe off in between the porch boards....She's a bit special.[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]5. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [COLOR=333333]I have only four cats now although I just rescued a kitten. I hope to send it to my mom's. She's 90 and has outlived all her animals. She said no more but I think I'm going to hide it in her garage and then "find" it. I had a cocker spaniel that lived to be 22 and a cat that outlived her by six months. I now ;have two dogs. A lab that actually belongs to my daughter. They moved to North Dakota and it's just too cold for a Florida dog up there! I also have a strange looking dog that is Chihuahua looking but has long wiry hair running down its back.[/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]6. Anything you'd like to add?[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [COLOR=333333]I am on BYC in fits and starts. I teach full time and am a photographer on the side so I stay pretty busy. I have learned so very much from this forum and think that it should be required reading for anyone wanting to keep chickens.[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/61761/welasharon[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [COLOR=222222][COLOR=333333]See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: [/COLOR]https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR] [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222] [/COLOR]

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