blackacres
Wrangler of the Tiny Raptors
Part One
I’ve been hesitant to start my flock story for a few reasons.
1) I am a novice chicken tender and just began my flock 4 months ago.
2) There are so many wonderful stories from other members that I am trying to read about and most of my time on BYC is spent doing that.
3) I’m not sure how much I have to say yet.
Alas, I decided to start anyway with plans to keep up so that I will have a diary of sorts to look back at over the years and see where it all began.
So here goes nothing. I’ve loved chickens my whole life. My grandparents raised them and as children, we would help catch them for Grandpa when they needed inspection, medical treatment or it was time to butcher. We also collected eggs several times a day. I honestly do not remember what breeds there were. I only know they were dual purpose and that Grandpa would incubate in a tall shelf incubator that held 100’s of eggs a a time.
Fast forward to my adult life. I married and settled down in a small, rural town with a population of under 1,000. I wanted to get a few chickens for eggs. I didn’t know of anyone in town that had them so I phoned the water department/police department/city hall (all the same thing in this tiny town,) and was given a firm “NO.” I was honestly shocked. But followed the rules and did not get chickens.
Over the years I did start to notice a few homes with small coops in the back and began to get excited. Apparently, the rules had changed! As quickly as I got excited, my hopes were crushed again as an announcement was sent out to all town residents to have their chickens off the property within 30 days or face fines. The rules hadn’t changed after all.
I lived there for 19 years. In April of 2020, we bought a new home about 10 minutes South of the town on 2.5 acres. Before we even moved in I was telling my husband how excited I was because I could finally have chickens! He was not as excited. He kept saying we had other things to concentrate on with our new property before we began adding animals to it. 8 months after moving, we then purchased the empty land beside us; another 2.5 acres. Surely with 5 acres he won’t deny me chickens now! Wrong! He would remind me we didn’t have anywhere to house them and he didn’t have time to build something as he had his own projects to concentrate on.
Then my friend got chickens and I lived vicariously through hers and that was enough to keep me satisfied. That satisfaction was short-lived when she over hatched and had far more chicks than she had space for and, alas, I hatched the plan of how I would finally get my chickens!
I’ve been hesitant to start my flock story for a few reasons.
1) I am a novice chicken tender and just began my flock 4 months ago.
2) There are so many wonderful stories from other members that I am trying to read about and most of my time on BYC is spent doing that.
3) I’m not sure how much I have to say yet.
Alas, I decided to start anyway with plans to keep up so that I will have a diary of sorts to look back at over the years and see where it all began.
So here goes nothing. I’ve loved chickens my whole life. My grandparents raised them and as children, we would help catch them for Grandpa when they needed inspection, medical treatment or it was time to butcher. We also collected eggs several times a day. I honestly do not remember what breeds there were. I only know they were dual purpose and that Grandpa would incubate in a tall shelf incubator that held 100’s of eggs a a time.
Fast forward to my adult life. I married and settled down in a small, rural town with a population of under 1,000. I wanted to get a few chickens for eggs. I didn’t know of anyone in town that had them so I phoned the water department/police department/city hall (all the same thing in this tiny town,) and was given a firm “NO.” I was honestly shocked. But followed the rules and did not get chickens.
Over the years I did start to notice a few homes with small coops in the back and began to get excited. Apparently, the rules had changed! As quickly as I got excited, my hopes were crushed again as an announcement was sent out to all town residents to have their chickens off the property within 30 days or face fines. The rules hadn’t changed after all.
I lived there for 19 years. In April of 2020, we bought a new home about 10 minutes South of the town on 2.5 acres. Before we even moved in I was telling my husband how excited I was because I could finally have chickens! He was not as excited. He kept saying we had other things to concentrate on with our new property before we began adding animals to it. 8 months after moving, we then purchased the empty land beside us; another 2.5 acres. Surely with 5 acres he won’t deny me chickens now! Wrong! He would remind me we didn’t have anywhere to house them and he didn’t have time to build something as he had his own projects to concentrate on.
Then my friend got chickens and I lived vicariously through hers and that was enough to keep me satisfied. That satisfaction was short-lived when she over hatched and had far more chicks than she had space for and, alas, I hatched the plan of how I would finally get my chickens!
