I am an animal lover, who by a fluke ended up raising chickens. It began with my daughter's ex-husband sending me his extras as I have a lot of land for them to roam. My first chicken house was an outhouse that was given to my husband. He modified it for that use. Of course as my flock grew that no longer worked, so we took an old storage building left on the land and modified, enforced and moved it up closer to our house. I now use the outhouse to store my feed. I found having animals to tend to kept me active. I am disabled and very limited as to what I can do, so raising chickens has turned out to be very therapeutic. I will soon raise guineas as I have had several people to ask me if I would raise some for them. I've been hesitant because most places where you can order them you have to order them in a quantity that would leave me with more than I care to have. I don't want too many as they are noisy and tend to bully the chickens. I think I have found another outlet for them so I may be getting into guineas soon.
Since starting my little farm I have become more active with my tribal family. I have worked many years for the Cherokee tribe from my home as a typist. For the last year I have been volunteering at the tribal center and found a good outlet for my excess eggs. Since it is just myself and my husband at home I produce more eggs than we can use. I give them to any who want them, and discovered taking them into the tribal center was a winning idea. There are many families who are on limited or no income and have been grateful for my eggs. It sure makes the heart feel good. Now I am being approached for other poultry as well (guineas) and have several members who have asked me to do a hatch for them. I like doing hatches. It is a wonderful experience. Our Chief's husband planted a garden on our land last year and commented to his wife how when I go for my walks every day I am followed by my Turkeys and chickens. Since then she has started calling me Ellie Mae and it has caught on. I guess it fits. I do love critters.
My dream is to get my Turkey population up. They are such wonderful birds. Curious to a fault, but wonderful to watch. I am now down to three hens, since my Tom laid down, but thanks to you sweet people I may have a Tom soon. I feel there is hope again.
She may have fur instead of feathers, but make no mistake - she is their mother. She will let you know in a hurry if you are not caring for her babies properly too! Her name is Snuggles.