I want to say thanks to all on BYC for all the great info over the years. Finally decided to join so maybe I can help someone the way the community has helped me.
I admittedly have a love/hate relationship with chickens. I grew up on a small farm with chickens and guineas in appalachia (I hated checking them every freezing cold morning before school). So I swore them off for 20 years. However after buying a home on a quiet 5 acres in the CO mountains, with a wife that loves animals, I found myself building a coop and run last spring (I'll get some photos up). Everything seems second nature and easier than I remember. I am actually enjoying it. I think I missed these darned things. They actually make me laugh some days when it's just me and them.
My only problem so far is that folks up here don't really have the same mentality on wildlife as I do. They feed the squirrels, foxes and coons by hand at their doors. The elk, deer, and bears are as tame as the family dog. I have trapped 9 foxes since June, The dogs actually alerted me to another fox standing on the roof of our coop at 4am last Sunday, our coop is 10ft from the house, when I yelled, he looked at me like "yes, what do you want". I can't remove them from my property and my wife would shoot me if I shoot them. So I have to call the authorities, wait around, they take the foxes somewhere and release them, and then we repeat. So again, love/hate. But I am back in it seems. And they are fun.
best,
Caleb
I admittedly have a love/hate relationship with chickens. I grew up on a small farm with chickens and guineas in appalachia (I hated checking them every freezing cold morning before school). So I swore them off for 20 years. However after buying a home on a quiet 5 acres in the CO mountains, with a wife that loves animals, I found myself building a coop and run last spring (I'll get some photos up). Everything seems second nature and easier than I remember. I am actually enjoying it. I think I missed these darned things. They actually make me laugh some days when it's just me and them.
My only problem so far is that folks up here don't really have the same mentality on wildlife as I do. They feed the squirrels, foxes and coons by hand at their doors. The elk, deer, and bears are as tame as the family dog. I have trapped 9 foxes since June, The dogs actually alerted me to another fox standing on the roof of our coop at 4am last Sunday, our coop is 10ft from the house, when I yelled, he looked at me like "yes, what do you want". I can't remove them from my property and my wife would shoot me if I shoot them. So I have to call the authorities, wait around, they take the foxes somewhere and release them, and then we repeat. So again, love/hate. But I am back in it seems. And they are fun.
best,
Caleb
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