Hello there! My name is Layira and this is my BYC page!
Story time! I'm gonna let you in on the story of how I got to adore chickens and find this site!
I live on the east coast of the USA, in a small, rural town. Born and raised on a "farm", my interests always have lain in all things agricultural. My mom owned horses, goats, cats and dogs from a young age and shared her love of animals (and the outdoors) with me. Up until this year (2010), I only really dealt with larger livestock (mainly horses) and never thought, in a million years I would not only be raising chickens, but be a chicken enthusiast! Of course, I've seen chickens and even interacted with them at the high school I attended. Because I went to a vocational-agricultural school, we had animals of various species living on the premises to help us in hands-on learning. And at one point or another, there were chickens! Big adult chickens, especially the broiler type, kinda freaked me out, I won't lie.
So in the past, I'd never really gotten too friendly with them. It wasn't until a delivery of chicks came to the school that everything changed. Put together a bunch of rowdy teens, busy teachers, and not the greatest of conditions...and you have 30+, unhappy chicks that make A LOT of noise. Any chicken person knows, as I've discovered, that chickens make a lot of noise in general...but that doesn't as mean there's something wrong. Well, since I didn't know that, and the cute fluffiness of the chicks was pretty addicting, I made a point to check in on the babies. Concerned for the lil buggers, a friend and I decided that we needed to take care of the chicks for the first few fragile weeks (since it seemed unlikely vigilant attention would be given); including providing water and food, fixing their heat lamp and even cleaning a whole bunch of pasty butts.
Despite the hassle, I couldn't get over how adorable and funny they were. I decided I would buy chicks! So over the next few months, as I anxiously waited for the day when my fluffy babies would arrive, I began feverious research. I had to know everything there was to know about chickens! It was after many hours spent in the school library that my friend introduced me to BYC and it became my encyclopedia of chicken knowledge. I felt very confident that I would be a good momma to my chickies... and lemme tell ya, there's nothing better than getting your first chicks. Soooo...I began my downward spiral into chicken addiction. I quickly realized my original 6 weren't enough, even though I loved them dearly. And I went and ordered 9 more....and the rest is history!
Hope you enjoyed my little backstory, I think it's funny how a person can go from not liking chickens to them consuming your life. ha!
So now I would like to share some pictures.
The ones that started it all! I think my first chickens, the 6 red leghorns, will always hold a special place in my heart. Here they are as precious little chicks.
And here are my second flock... a trio of Exchequer leghorns and 5 black Australorps, as fluffy babies.
When I get the chance to take more pictures of the flocks I will add them here. It will be fun to compare now that they are getting to be big chickens.
Also to come, I will post pics of the coop, run, and how I built the nest boxes! Enjoy and check back often!
Story time! I'm gonna let you in on the story of how I got to adore chickens and find this site!
I live on the east coast of the USA, in a small, rural town. Born and raised on a "farm", my interests always have lain in all things agricultural. My mom owned horses, goats, cats and dogs from a young age and shared her love of animals (and the outdoors) with me. Up until this year (2010), I only really dealt with larger livestock (mainly horses) and never thought, in a million years I would not only be raising chickens, but be a chicken enthusiast! Of course, I've seen chickens and even interacted with them at the high school I attended. Because I went to a vocational-agricultural school, we had animals of various species living on the premises to help us in hands-on learning. And at one point or another, there were chickens! Big adult chickens, especially the broiler type, kinda freaked me out, I won't lie.
So in the past, I'd never really gotten too friendly with them. It wasn't until a delivery of chicks came to the school that everything changed. Put together a bunch of rowdy teens, busy teachers, and not the greatest of conditions...and you have 30+, unhappy chicks that make A LOT of noise. Any chicken person knows, as I've discovered, that chickens make a lot of noise in general...but that doesn't as mean there's something wrong. Well, since I didn't know that, and the cute fluffiness of the chicks was pretty addicting, I made a point to check in on the babies. Concerned for the lil buggers, a friend and I decided that we needed to take care of the chicks for the first few fragile weeks (since it seemed unlikely vigilant attention would be given); including providing water and food, fixing their heat lamp and even cleaning a whole bunch of pasty butts.
Despite the hassle, I couldn't get over how adorable and funny they were. I decided I would buy chicks! So over the next few months, as I anxiously waited for the day when my fluffy babies would arrive, I began feverious research. I had to know everything there was to know about chickens! It was after many hours spent in the school library that my friend introduced me to BYC and it became my encyclopedia of chicken knowledge. I felt very confident that I would be a good momma to my chickies... and lemme tell ya, there's nothing better than getting your first chicks. Soooo...I began my downward spiral into chicken addiction. I quickly realized my original 6 weren't enough, even though I loved them dearly. And I went and ordered 9 more....and the rest is history!
Hope you enjoyed my little backstory, I think it's funny how a person can go from not liking chickens to them consuming your life. ha!
So now I would like to share some pictures.
The ones that started it all! I think my first chickens, the 6 red leghorns, will always hold a special place in my heart. Here they are as precious little chicks.
And here are my second flock... a trio of Exchequer leghorns and 5 black Australorps, as fluffy babies.
When I get the chance to take more pictures of the flocks I will add them here. It will be fun to compare now that they are getting to be big chickens.
Also to come, I will post pics of the coop, run, and how I built the nest boxes! Enjoy and check back often!
