Bessemer Acres Homestead

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Aletheia

In the Brooder
Dec 6, 2024
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We are a family of 6, our eldest married now, and have been raising chickens (mostly hens) since 2020ish. This started in South Dakota and now continues where we live in Wyoming. We currently have 11 hens and 2 roosters, and will be expanding our hens to around 20 by springtime. We currently have Red Stars and Rhode Island Reds, but will be changing our flock to Australorps. We wanted Australorps initially but the wait time from breeders was longer than we could wait for at the time. Yes, we raise our chickens for our own family primarily, but we have also been selling our eggs to members of our church family since the cost is otherwise high for them to get quality eggs. This was one reason we bought our acreage, so we could have animals for food, and then in turn provide for our church family as well. We let our chickens free range inside of a 100 x 120 foot fenced in area with their coop inside this area as well. We used to let them roam our 10 acres, but we quickly learned how bad the fox were where we moved to after they killed all of our Black Stars. Raising chickens is just one of the many things that keeps are family busy, but I believe this is good experience for our children to learn not only how to raise animals but the importance of hard work. We want to expand our interests into raising goats next year as we have been contemplating this for quite some time now. The benefits for us far out-way the cost of raising them, and our chickens. We know neither are profitable with the low scale we will be running things. But, we knew that going into all of this. However, you cannot really put a price on fresh farm eggs, the learning experiences, and reward you get when you taste how good free range chicken eggs taste. We bake a ton and make our own breads, noodles, rolls, etc. so we use a lot of eggs on a daily basis. We recently had to repair our 10-acre fence (more like band-aide it for a time) while we make decisions on cost and style to replace it all. We were also given an Anatolian Shepherd Pyrenees from a good friend and co-worker that will be moving and can no longer care for his farm animals and pets. This was a huge blessing because it was exactly the dog we were looking for after much research and well thought needs. He is a great dog, and our family loves him. He has not been able to be put back to work yet since we do not have our goats, but he has learned to be a part of the family so he is not bored by any means. As I mentioned previously, we are a family of 6, well, now 5. My wife is a stay-at-home mother and teacher. God has blessed me with a decent enough job to keep her home for the past 20+ years now. We knew about BYC through the farms we were purchasing our chickens through. Now, however, I thought it best to become a part of the BYC community since raising chickens is very popular where we live, especially for all us rural folk. The only thing we have yet to figure out is who would want to take our hens (for free) when we cycle them out for a new flock. I tried the whole butcher thing last year with two of them and I will never do that again, ever. I knew it would not be like gutting an elk or deer, but man alive that was just gross. Anyway, here we are with a little bit about who we are. If you have any questions for us let us know, we will do our best to answer.
 
Aletheia said:
We are a family of 6, our eldest married now, and have been raising chickens (mostly hens) since 2020ish. This started in South Dakota and now continues where we live in Wyoming. We currently have 11 hens and 2 roosters, and will be expanding our hens to around 20 by springtime. We currently have Red Stars and Rhode Island Reds, but will be changing our flock to Australorps. We wanted Australorps initially but the wait time from breeders was longer than we could wait for at the time. Yes, we raise our chickens for our own family primarily, but we have also been selling our eggs to members of our church family since the cost is otherwise high for them to get quality eggs. This was one reason we bought our acreage, so we could have animals for food, and then in turn provide for our church family as well. We let our chickens free range inside of a 100 x 120 foot fenced in area with their coop inside this area as well. We used to let them roam our 10 acres, but we quickly learned how bad the fox were where we moved to after they killed all of our Black Stars. Raising chickens is just one of the many things that keeps are family busy, but I believe this is good experience for our children to learn not only how to raise animals but the importance of hard work. We want to expand our interests into raising goats next year as we have been contemplating this for quite some time now. The benefits for us far out-way the cost of raising them, and our chickens. We know neither are profitable with the low scale we will be running things. But, we knew that going into all of this. However, you cannot really put a price on fresh farm eggs, the learning experiences, and reward you get when you taste how good free range chicken eggs taste. We bake a ton and make our own breads, noodles, rolls, etc. so we use a lot of eggs on a daily basis. We recently had to repair our 10-acre fence (more like band-aide it for a time) while we make decisions on cost and style to replace it all. We were also given an Anatolian Shepherd Pyrenees from a good friend and co-worker that will be moving and can no longer care for his farm animals and pets. This was a huge blessing because it was exactly the dog we were looking for after much research and well thought needs. He is a great dog, and our family loves him. He has not been able to be put back to work yet since we do not have our goats, but he has learned to be a part of the family so he is not bored by any means. As I mentioned previously, we are a family of 6, well, now 5. My wife is a stay-at-home mother and teacher. God has blessed me with a decent enough job to keep her home for the past 20+ years now. We knew about BYC through the farms we were purchasing our chickens through. Now, however, I thought it best to become a part of the BYC community since raising chickens is very popular where we live, especially for all us rural folk. The only thing we have yet to figure out is who would want to take our hens (for free) when we cycle them out for a new flock. I tried the whole butcher thing last year with two of them and I will never do that again, ever. I knew it would not be like gutting an elk or deer, but man alive that was just gross. Anyway, here we are with a little bit about who we are. If you have any questions for us let us know, we will do our best to answer.
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so nice to have you with us!
E6DAD3B9-1000-4B65-ABDA-1BB99B5B211B.jpeg
 
It's nice of you to share your eggs! A lady I share mine with calls them "gold nuggets" haha. And she hides them from the rest of her family. 😂

Are you planning on getting milk goats? I'm a fan. I've got a few ruminants in my back yard.

Thanks for joining and telling us a big about yourself! I enjoyed it. Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
 

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