@416bigbore
Come say hello to Mike! He has been a member since June 2020 and comes to us from North Carolina.
Come say hello to Mike! He has been a member since June 2020 and comes to us from North Carolina.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hello everyone I am Mike (semi-retired) and a recent transplant with my girlfriend Stacy to the Carolinas from the Midwest. I am a farm boy through and through who grew up in a small rural farming community in the Dakotas.
Animals have always been a big part of my life while growing up, either as pets or those others we raised for food. The importance of proper animal care and respect was instilled into me at a very young age and I was responsible for meeting their daily needs first before my own.
Looking back, I feel very blessed and fortunate for the way I was raised. Hard work was just a normal way of life and that is just how it was. There were always things that needed to be done and complaining about it only made the task take that much longer. LOL
Good home cooking was a daily reward that I enjoyed very much for having worked hard. My Grandmother was an amazing baker and cook. I am so glad I paid attention and asked questions as to what she was doing in the kitchen when I wasn't under foot. LOL Today I can still enjoy the same awesome ethnic dishes I did as a child.
My Career as a heavy equipment diesel mechanic and pipe welder/fabricator, has taken me all over the lower 48 and including Alaska. Unfortunately having animals at that time in my life was not an option because of always being on the road working or in an airplane every two weeks flying to or from. Today is a different story, Stacy and I are currently looking for a larger piece of property to purchase so we will be able to expand on our little hobby farm. A pond is a must for our ducks, even if I have to dig one by hand! LOL
I am very much old school in a lot of the stuff I do. I like to be self-sufficient and frugal (not cheap) and would rather raise, process, grow, preserve, make, and or build it first, before having to buy it.
For the most part I am very positive and like to goof around and have fun in whatever I am doing. I was very fortunate to have a career that was fun and I enjoyed it very much, so I never really looked at it as a dreaded old job. I learned early on in life, life is very precious and way too short to waste anytime with negativity.
A few of my hobbies are things I had to help with as a child and now enjoy very much and appreciate as an adult. Anything outdoors, BBQ Chicken, gardening, hunting , fishing, cooking, reloading and shooting, hence my username, 416bigbore.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens? (or any other poultry you have)
Why? I was used to having poultry around growing up and enjoyed them. We also lived in a natural migratory fly zone for all the different waterfowl, so I enjoyed hearing that very loud Quack! Quack! from the Mallard hens that would hang out in the small ponds that were behind us.
I also enjoyed seeing momma ducks or a Canadian goose pair take their little babies waddling across the gravel roads from one pond to another, that was always cute to watch.
My very first time at having my own chickens was about 30 years ago and they were all White Rocks. I went into the local hatchery with the intentions of only getting 20 chicks. By the time I left, the old owner had me talked into taking the last of the chicks he had on hand so he could be done for the season messing around with chicks. Well I bought into it and that chicken math went from 20 to 156 when I left.
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy starting my day with our flock at sunrise with my first cup of coffee in hand. I do a quick head count as they leave the coop to free range for the day and also make sure everyone is ok at that time.
I also enjoy all aspects of keeping poultry, you have to take the bad with the good and do your very best to keep everyone healthy and happy. They are all very entertaining to watch and their eggs are an amazing gift for taking such great care of them.
This last spring before Covid, Stacy and I decided to start a small flock. We started our small mixed flock with four Isa Brown chicks and two pure breed Mallard ducklings. Then four weeks later we added ten day old ducklings that are a Rouen/Pekin mix.
At the time we didn't know what the Drake to Hen ratio would be and figured we could rehome the extra Drakes. Well that never happened after we fell in love with them all, so yes we kept everyone. LOL
This is my first time around with having baby ducklings and it has been a very interesting journey for sure and I have learned so much along the way compliments of experienced BYC members. I now have a very crystal clear understanding as to why ducks don't make the best pets for a lot of people over chickens.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
That is a tough question to answer, all seventeen of them have their own little quirky unique personalities about each one of them.
If I had to pick one it would have to be Chewy our adopted cockerel. Chewy is a Brahma barn yard mix and soon to be eight months old. Chewy was just about seven weeks old when we got him and since he was too little in size to join the rest of our flock, he received a lot of extra special care and attention. Spoiled absolutely rotten he was. LOL
I would try putting Chewy out in the run with our flock and the ducks didn't pay no mind to him. Our four Isa Brown hens were another story, they would chase him around the run with fire in their eyes. They wanted absolute nothing to do with little Chewy so I would have to watch the hens so they wouldn't try killing the poor little fella.
Once his young cockerel hormones started to kick in, it was like a switch was flipped overnight and he is not the same little lovable pecker head he once was. He is just a pecker head now without the little and lovable in front of it. LOL He DOES NOT like being touched at all, unlike when he was young.
I am hoping Chewy mellows out with time so I don't have to cull him and find a replacement. He is actually really good with the four hens, it's only when he has his hackles raised and comes at me is what needs to change, but we are working on it!
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
As Redneck as this may sound, when we first got Chewy he was to young to be out in the coop with the others on the really cold nights. We would keep him in the house in the living room in a large dog kennel.
It was too funny when Chewy first started to crow, we would be in bed sleeping and about 5:00 am every morning Chewy would start to crow. He would crow about twelve times and then he was done for the rest of the day.
Chewy made quite the Alarm Cock, I am sure Jeff Foxworthy would have to agree. You know you're a Redneck, when you keep a Rooster in your house for an alarm clock!
6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
We also have three little rescue goats that needed a good home and on March 13th we were Blessed with little Scooter .
Momma goat Black Betty is a Spanish breed mini who was questionably pregnant when we got her? Betty wasn't much more then a year old herself and this was her first time with having a kid and she did a very amazing job on her own. All we had to do was stand back and watch as momma did the rest.Thankfully Little Scooter is a healthy and happy little guy, Betty did an awesome job with him. Little Scoot Scoot is such a little character, he loves the attention and is so much fun to play with.
Betty is unlike our other two Billy goats BB and Ducky who would be lap goats if you let them. LOL Betty must not have been handled very much and loved on because she is very skittish and didn't like being touched which has made it hard to work with her.
Today after she has had little Scoot Scoot, Betty has calmed down considerably and is just now letting us start to touch her without shying away. It makes it so much easier to work on her hoofs this way.
Once we find a bigger place I would like to grow our flock by learning how to incubate our own healthy fertile eggs. Then add a few hogs for the purpose of some awesome old school cured bacon, ham and sausage! IMO, Baby piglets are just as fun and cute as little baby goats.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I feel very honored for being asked to participate in doing a member interview, given the fact that I am still a Newbie to the forum and soon to see my one year BYC anniversary.
I will be the first to admit, I am certainly no poultry expert and found BYC like so many other members by googling poultry information. IMO Rob struck gold when he hatched BYC. BYC is an amazing community to be a part of with so many knowledgeable poultry members who are only a click away if I have any questions and there has been a few of them. LOL
I can't thank those special BYC members enough for all their time and information in helping us keep our flock healthy and happy. You all know who you are, thank you so much.
I do get accused of spending a little too much time on BYC and I haven't even scratched the surface of all it has to offer. I am no computer wizard so it takes me a little time to navigate around the wealth of information and all the fun contests. The weekly Caption contests is one of my favorites along with welcoming the new members to the BYC.
When I do get a friendly reminder from Stacy that I am spending too much time on BYC, I just reply with........ When is the last time one of your phone games like Candy Crush has ever helped our flock?
Last but not least, a very special thank you to all the BYC Staff who put a lot of their own personal time into the BYC Forum to make it a great poultry community for everyone to enjoy.
@416bigbore
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews.905602
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews.905602
