- Jun 28, 2011
- 39,160
- 27,399
- 1,302
Amy, known to BYC members as AmyLynn2374, has been a member of our community since December 2014. Another of our wonderful all-rounders, she will often be found in the Incubating & Hatching Eggs forum section, where she is known for her excellent advice.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I am a single homeschooling mom and the caretaker of my elderly (going to be 85 years old this summer) father. I am the youngest of 4 children, but was raised more or less as an only child because my siblings are 16, 14 and 10 years older than me, so I had the best of being the baby of the family, yet having the life of an only child growing up since my sibs were all grown and out of the house. If you ask my siblings they'll say I was spoiled, but what do they know??
I had my son at 34 years old, he is my one and only. My mini me and such an awesome kid!! We are finishing up 2nd grade here in the begining of June. He has been my biggest blessing in life. I love reading, love movies and I am a major NCIS fan. Love true crime programs and books.
I recieved an associates degree after highschool and moved away from my hometown for about 12 years. (Only 2 hours away though.) But moved back in '06 when we lost my mom so that I would be here for my dad. Would love to get out of NY and right now, my ideal spot is Texas. (Well, Australia really, but Texas is more doable at some point...lol)
I love helping people in hatching, I think the biggest reason is my first hatch was terrible!!! It was a great learning experience, but terrible and if I can help to keep someone from having that dissapointment or help them to not keep having it, I want to.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
I blame my sister...lol My sister and her husband had been raising chickens for around 6 years at the time. I used to block her out every time I got on the phone with her because all she ever talked about was chickens!!! Who talks about chickens??? Boring!!! And then for first grade I had mentioned that I had an Oviparous animal unit planned for my son's first science unit and my sister suggested I "borrow" her incubator, (I say borrow, but two years later I still have it and am still using it...lol) and take a couple dozen of her eggs and see if we could hatch anything and she promised to take any chicks back, (after all I had absolutely no interest in chickens.) Out of that hatch I had one survior (I told you it was a terrible hatch), and we fell in love. He (though I thought he was a she forever,) become a member of the household. Of course we named him Peep, (doesn't everyone have a chicken named "Peep"?) and we were hooked. Here's a couple pics when he was little:
As Peep grew though we noticead he had a leg problem and as he got heavier his "knee" turned in more and more toward his body making him a special needs roo. Here he is grown last summer:
Over the winter his leg has become worse and worse as well as his spirits, so we may be putting him down this summer, but he is the gate to our chicken addiction.
Thankfully we've never had another terrible hatch and turned over more than a hundred chicks last year building our flock, 2/3 of which we sold. At the moment we have 33 chickens. Now I'm that crazy lady that can't stop talking chicken and bores all my non chicken friends with the latest news and facts of the chicken world!!!
My Flock consists of mostly mixes, with a pair of Spitzhaubens, Japanese bantams, a couple barred rock, some silkies, lots of nns and a polish. Hopefully soon I will have more quality silkies and Spitzes coming out of the bator.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
I LOVE hatching and seeing the babies enter the world and I love sitting in the yard watching all of them just being chickens and especially when I have treats.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
I have a black hen we believe is an Australorp mix that is my baby. Her name is Raven and she loves to get up on my shoulders/back/head where ever she can perch. (Just don't let her peck your eyes!) She is a sweetheart. I also have a Silver Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben pair (Elvis and Priscilla) and Priscilla or "Prissy" as she is called is probably my second most friendly and favorite chicken. Besides the fact she's beautiful, she's so inquisitive and mouthy. If she has it in her head she's broody and you walk into the coop, she'll just look at you and screetch like you're killing her. She's so dramatic...lol My NNs are also my stand out birds, especially my 2 nn/ee's that lay these huge green eggs.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
The funniest thing to my ahem "friends" was when Raven got up on my shoulder and decided my eye was fair game and I couldn't see for over 24 hours....lol (And that was the second time I had gotten pecked in the eye!!) They are so entertaining in general, I just can't think of any one big thing.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
We have a Lhasa apso-poma-poo that is 8 years old that we've had since she was 8 weeks. She ended up becoming "Grandpa's" dog...lol Her name is Lilly. We have a cat that will be 3 next month that I rescued as a week old kitten. A neighbor found her and her two deceased siblings under her porch deck, we believe a neighbor dog killed the momma cat as a body was found, so I took her and bottle fed her and nursed her back to health. Her name is "Peanut". This was her as a cute little kitten:
She stayed tiny forever- until we got her fixed and now she's a fat lazy cat...lol
And last fall we adopted a corgi mix from the pound that is 8 years old and soon after bringing him home realized that he had been abused to what seems like a great extent, so we've been handling that and he has come a long way, though I don't think he should have been adopted to a family with a child or children that come around, we are working with him. We adopted during an open house day, which was a bad bad idea and we didn't get enough time to know what we needed to with him, so another lesson learned.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I think I've rambled enough....lol But I would like to thank BYC for the opportunity to be a part of the community, for the members that are so friendly and pleasant to help and socialize with, not to mention the ones that have helped me along the way, and for those that have nominated me for both my badges and the interview. I'm glad I've had the chance to "get to know" many of you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/312169/amylynn2374
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I am a single homeschooling mom and the caretaker of my elderly (going to be 85 years old this summer) father. I am the youngest of 4 children, but was raised more or less as an only child because my siblings are 16, 14 and 10 years older than me, so I had the best of being the baby of the family, yet having the life of an only child growing up since my sibs were all grown and out of the house. If you ask my siblings they'll say I was spoiled, but what do they know??
I had my son at 34 years old, he is my one and only. My mini me and such an awesome kid!! We are finishing up 2nd grade here in the begining of June. He has been my biggest blessing in life. I love reading, love movies and I am a major NCIS fan. Love true crime programs and books.
I recieved an associates degree after highschool and moved away from my hometown for about 12 years. (Only 2 hours away though.) But moved back in '06 when we lost my mom so that I would be here for my dad. Would love to get out of NY and right now, my ideal spot is Texas. (Well, Australia really, but Texas is more doable at some point...lol)
I love helping people in hatching, I think the biggest reason is my first hatch was terrible!!! It was a great learning experience, but terrible and if I can help to keep someone from having that dissapointment or help them to not keep having it, I want to.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
I blame my sister...lol My sister and her husband had been raising chickens for around 6 years at the time. I used to block her out every time I got on the phone with her because all she ever talked about was chickens!!! Who talks about chickens??? Boring!!! And then for first grade I had mentioned that I had an Oviparous animal unit planned for my son's first science unit and my sister suggested I "borrow" her incubator, (I say borrow, but two years later I still have it and am still using it...lol) and take a couple dozen of her eggs and see if we could hatch anything and she promised to take any chicks back, (after all I had absolutely no interest in chickens.) Out of that hatch I had one survior (I told you it was a terrible hatch), and we fell in love. He (though I thought he was a she forever,) become a member of the household. Of course we named him Peep, (doesn't everyone have a chicken named "Peep"?) and we were hooked. Here's a couple pics when he was little:
As Peep grew though we noticead he had a leg problem and as he got heavier his "knee" turned in more and more toward his body making him a special needs roo. Here he is grown last summer:
Over the winter his leg has become worse and worse as well as his spirits, so we may be putting him down this summer, but he is the gate to our chicken addiction.
Thankfully we've never had another terrible hatch and turned over more than a hundred chicks last year building our flock, 2/3 of which we sold. At the moment we have 33 chickens. Now I'm that crazy lady that can't stop talking chicken and bores all my non chicken friends with the latest news and facts of the chicken world!!!
My Flock consists of mostly mixes, with a pair of Spitzhaubens, Japanese bantams, a couple barred rock, some silkies, lots of nns and a polish. Hopefully soon I will have more quality silkies and Spitzes coming out of the bator.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
I LOVE hatching and seeing the babies enter the world and I love sitting in the yard watching all of them just being chickens and especially when I have treats.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
I have a black hen we believe is an Australorp mix that is my baby. Her name is Raven and she loves to get up on my shoulders/back/head where ever she can perch. (Just don't let her peck your eyes!) She is a sweetheart. I also have a Silver Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben pair (Elvis and Priscilla) and Priscilla or "Prissy" as she is called is probably my second most friendly and favorite chicken. Besides the fact she's beautiful, she's so inquisitive and mouthy. If she has it in her head she's broody and you walk into the coop, she'll just look at you and screetch like you're killing her. She's so dramatic...lol My NNs are also my stand out birds, especially my 2 nn/ee's that lay these huge green eggs.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
The funniest thing to my ahem "friends" was when Raven got up on my shoulder and decided my eye was fair game and I couldn't see for over 24 hours....lol (And that was the second time I had gotten pecked in the eye!!) They are so entertaining in general, I just can't think of any one big thing.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
We have a Lhasa apso-poma-poo that is 8 years old that we've had since she was 8 weeks. She ended up becoming "Grandpa's" dog...lol Her name is Lilly. We have a cat that will be 3 next month that I rescued as a week old kitten. A neighbor found her and her two deceased siblings under her porch deck, we believe a neighbor dog killed the momma cat as a body was found, so I took her and bottle fed her and nursed her back to health. Her name is "Peanut". This was her as a cute little kitten:
She stayed tiny forever- until we got her fixed and now she's a fat lazy cat...lol
And last fall we adopted a corgi mix from the pound that is 8 years old and soon after bringing him home realized that he had been abused to what seems like a great extent, so we've been handling that and he has come a long way, though I don't think he should have been adopted to a family with a child or children that come around, we are working with him. We adopted during an open house day, which was a bad bad idea and we didn't get enough time to know what we needed to with him, so another lesson learned.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I think I've rambled enough....lol But I would like to thank BYC for the opportunity to be a part of the community, for the members that are so friendly and pleasant to help and socialize with, not to mention the ones that have helped me along the way, and for those that have nominated me for both my badges and the interview. I'm glad I've had the chance to "get to know" many of you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/312169/amylynn2374
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
Last edited:
. I hope you have that pic blown up and hanging on the wall. I also love the fact that you rescued the cat and adopted the dog. Hoping the dog does turn around for you though. Like you said, lesson learned and thanks for sharing your experience of not getting to know enough about him, so others don't make the same mistake.
