Hi all! I've been lurking for a *long* time. Posted once in the coop discussions earlier this spring, but am rather really silent.
I got chickens several years ago on a whim with my then-husband. That particular venture didn't go so well. While I was attending a newborn child, and he was slated with farm duty, he neglected to water the chickens unbeknownst to me, and 100+ degrees that day offed over half. The rest dwindled for various reasons, our last one having met an unfortunate end when we lugged home a roo to keep her company, who then taught her to fly the coop, and I found a pile of feathers.
A few years passed without chickens, and then about two years ago, my children and I decided we wanted fresh eggs. We started out that year with about eight layers. Chicken math took hold, and somehow we ended up with 17 hens. A mad dash promptly ensued to create them a coop that could hold all of them and we ended up deconstructing a shed I had that was falling down, and rehabbing it so it was functional, sturdy, and safe. Those 17 hens are now 16, and we added a Rooster (who I still can't quite figure out what breed he is.) One of those little chickies ended up a habitual egg-pecker, and she's now a house pet. Henny Penny.
This spring we decided to increase our large coop to twenty hens and indulge in our banty obsession. So we picked up one of those pre-fab cute little coops, picked out an adorable bunch of chicks, and somewhere along the line I rather lost my mind about chickens. I'm in the process of building / rehabilitating four new coops, plus our original layer coop and the banty coop. I'm rearing my first meat birds, working on a meat-bird breeding project (that was initiated by a member here but dropped), getting into some breed conservancy, and upping my egg-producing. While I shudder every time I count, I think at the moment I have 78 birds. But per chicken math rules, the 40 meat birds will soon be negative counts. Right?
I am the proud owner of The Fifty Dollar Chicken, otherwise known as Jackie O. who I was desperate to pull through weak chick syndrome as she was my eldest's replacement for the one he lost. Jackie O. spent two days in intensive care at the vets being hand-fed every two hours around the clock. And then Jackie O turned out to be Jack. HE is a gorgeous Crele roo, who owns a large portion of my heart. The other half of my heart is controlled by a sweet little Red Bourbon Turkey poult, Persimmon, who's currently ill
. I have never fallen for a bird as hard as I fell for her/him when we picked her up three and a half weeks ago.
Anyway... I'm a single mom of two boys, an author and professional editor, and I sometimes do web design as well. I've raised horses for years, have a household that's made for critters not entertaining guests, and love living in the country where it's pretty much just us and the people we want to see
Claire
I got chickens several years ago on a whim with my then-husband. That particular venture didn't go so well. While I was attending a newborn child, and he was slated with farm duty, he neglected to water the chickens unbeknownst to me, and 100+ degrees that day offed over half. The rest dwindled for various reasons, our last one having met an unfortunate end when we lugged home a roo to keep her company, who then taught her to fly the coop, and I found a pile of feathers.
A few years passed without chickens, and then about two years ago, my children and I decided we wanted fresh eggs. We started out that year with about eight layers. Chicken math took hold, and somehow we ended up with 17 hens. A mad dash promptly ensued to create them a coop that could hold all of them and we ended up deconstructing a shed I had that was falling down, and rehabbing it so it was functional, sturdy, and safe. Those 17 hens are now 16, and we added a Rooster (who I still can't quite figure out what breed he is.) One of those little chickies ended up a habitual egg-pecker, and she's now a house pet. Henny Penny.
This spring we decided to increase our large coop to twenty hens and indulge in our banty obsession. So we picked up one of those pre-fab cute little coops, picked out an adorable bunch of chicks, and somewhere along the line I rather lost my mind about chickens. I'm in the process of building / rehabilitating four new coops, plus our original layer coop and the banty coop. I'm rearing my first meat birds, working on a meat-bird breeding project (that was initiated by a member here but dropped), getting into some breed conservancy, and upping my egg-producing. While I shudder every time I count, I think at the moment I have 78 birds. But per chicken math rules, the 40 meat birds will soon be negative counts. Right?
I am the proud owner of The Fifty Dollar Chicken, otherwise known as Jackie O. who I was desperate to pull through weak chick syndrome as she was my eldest's replacement for the one he lost. Jackie O. spent two days in intensive care at the vets being hand-fed every two hours around the clock. And then Jackie O turned out to be Jack. HE is a gorgeous Crele roo, who owns a large portion of my heart. The other half of my heart is controlled by a sweet little Red Bourbon Turkey poult, Persimmon, who's currently ill
. I have never fallen for a bird as hard as I fell for her/him when we picked her up three and a half weeks ago.Anyway... I'm a single mom of two boys, an author and professional editor, and I sometimes do web design as well. I've raised horses for years, have a household that's made for critters not entertaining guests, and love living in the country where it's pretty much just us and the people we want to see
Claire
and Welcome To BYC! Nice introduction! Hope Persimmon recovers.
