@GreenJay
Come say hello to @GreenJay who comes to us from Texas and has been a member since February 2023.
Come say hello to @GreenJay who comes to us from Texas and has been a member since February 2023.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
Howdy, my name is Trisha, my husband David and I live in rural south Texas. As for my member name, I've been a bird watcher most of my adult life. I spotted my first green jay a couple of decades ago and fell in love with their glorious blend of greens, yellows, and blues. When we moved to this house, I was thrilled to find out we had a sizable flock living in the area. Now we enjoy seeing those rare noisy beauties almost every day in the yard. And I must add that the green jay is a "life bird" for many birders list. So that's where I get my avatar and member name from, stopping there before I go on and on about birding and our variety of wild bird residents.
Hummingbirds swarming a feeder during fall migration.
Some personal trivia in case there's a pop quiz later...
* I love puns or a good play on words.
* I am easily amused or entertained.
* I love chocolate and hate seafood. And coffee is an essential element.
* I will eat dessert first if anyone is foolish enough to leave it in reach.
* I am highly earworm susceptible (this is a serious problem for a secret disco junkie).
* And last, my favorite color is purple.
We have Texas size hummingbirds
2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
We got our first flock in March 2023. We'd talked about getting chickens for awhile and finally decided to go for it. We got them primarily for eggs but I spent an awful long time agonizing over choices of chicken varieties haha. I wanted a variety flock in addition to pretty eggs! Our current flock is a mixed flock - one each of Barred Rock (Dulcé), Midnight Marans (Duchess), Sapphire Gem (Peekaboo), Prairie Bluebell (Princess), and two Speckled Sussex (Gracie and Ellie). And we'll be getting new chicks soon!
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
Definitely not poop patrol! How quickly it went from "oh look at the widdle chickie poo-poo!" to "good grief! who dropped that bomb!?".
I should say it was watching our ladies grow up. I've never raised birds before so the whole first time experience of raising them was both exciting and scary. I can truly say the chicks and I were equally terrified of each other at first! But watching them grow up, changing feathers, and developing "personalities" was great fun and very rewarding.
Or I could say it's listening to the quiet murmurs, and purrs from the girls at the end of the day.
But, to be honest with my fellow chicken lovers, my biggest enjoyment is the cheep thrill when collecting eggs each day. I really enjoy the 'surprise' of finding out what lovely eggs were laid and thanking the girls.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Ah, let me tell you a story about a Princess! Once upon a time, haha no but from the moment I opened the chicks carry box, she has fascinated me. Her pale yellow fuzz with bold almost-chipmunk markings really made her stand out from the mostly dark colored group. She was dubbed the "mystery chick" aka bonus chick. But things are not always what they seem to be, fast forward a few weeks and it becomes apparent that this chick is my only bluebell and I don't have two of them as ordered.
She was unbelievably aloof and stand-offish, even with the other girls in the flock, which is how she got her name Princess, it's much easier than always saying "Your Royal Highness". Anyway, her attitude and avoidance to all frustrated me, she wasn't mean to anyone, more like nobody was worthy of her company. We don't do cuddling here but at least the other girls would come around me. Then all the girls started reaching POL and started laying eggs. Except Princess. She refused to lay even as the months passed, always treating me like a leper trying to poison her. I'd begun to secretly worry she was some weird rooster and my sister was teasing me with Foghorn Leghorn gifs. She'd grown into a gorgeous intelligent bird and I had resigned myself to loving her from afar and never seeing a blue egg.
Any story with a Princess should have a good twist and a happy ending and this one does. On a dreary, late winter day, she finally laid her first egg, a perfect, medium sized, powder blue jewel in the nestbox. Hurray, happy ending! But where's the good twist? Well....
The first royal egg from Princess, blue eggs are hard to photograph!
She quite literally flipped 180 degrees in personality after she laid that egg! Instead of standing two arms length away from me and giving me the stink eye, she was at my side chattering away to me like we'd been best buddies since day one. Rather shocking but I figured she was just as thrilled as I was and wanted to brag. I assumed the next day she would be back to treating me like something she had stepped in. No, I'm happy to say that from that day on, she's been my buddy of the flock. Sure, lot of the ladies were mellower after first lay but they were reasonably friendly before laying. Princess was a real Jeckel & Hyde conversion. We have fun chats now when she hangs out with me doing coop chores or at the end of the day.
Princess was a few days shy of being 11 months old when she finally laid and I didn't expect such a drastic personality shift but I'm glad it happened. So the moral of this Princess story to all the first time chicken owners is don't give up on that pullet!
Her lobes make up for lack of wattles, I've offered her earrings for those things but she turns me down every time.
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
Not so much as about a chicken but what they do - egg song. Calling the racket-riot-ruckus they make during egg laying a "song" is very misleading to someone who was small city raised and never been around chickens. I certainly wasn't expecting nightingale melodies but come on! Wounded water buffalo? Outraged dinosaur? Nope, just one of my girls... Duchess however, sounds like someone who's hit the hysterical laughter stage and Can't. Stop. Laughing. Brings a grin to my face every noisy time.
6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
Two Australian shepherds, Yoshi (F, blue Merle) and Royce (M, black tri). Yoshi is Daddy's girl and Royce is a big Mama's boy. Velcro dogs, always with the drama, always underfoot, and we love them dearly!
Royce and Yoshi waiting for a c-o-o-k-i-e.
Royce and Sam on guard duty while I'm watering the nursery.
Three cats, Lincoln, Sam, and Neko. Sam is more like a cat-dog, he and Royce are best buddies.
Sam slacking while on guard duty.
Lincoln, the "I thought you had three cats" cat. Rarely seen by visitors.
A large Koi pond with about a dozen+ koi. One of them won Grand Champion two years in a row at a koi show - hubby would want me to mention that part, they're his babies. This is the reason we can't have ducks y'all...
The large one on left is the two-time grand champion.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I know y'all hear this often but this really is a great group of people here! When I joined couple of years ago ahead of my new chicks arriving, I wasn't sure what to expect. I don't use any social media and usually dislike in-person social/hobby clubs. So I figured to lurk a bit, absorb a lot of knowledge, and have a chicken emergency backup. To my surprise, this friendly and cheerful community actually made me feel comfortable enough to join-in, not just join. I was offline for awhile in '24 due to life here being flipped upside-down but I thought of y'all often!
The contests and games are great fun (more bingo please! LoL) and as a member said recently, I am a sucker for a Hatch-along! (hold on, changing profile banner to reflect same...) The incubation and hatching process fascinates me but I have to experience it vicariously through others.
Enablers, don't even start - I know my gambling luck and every hatch would be a 10M-1F ratio.
If y'all made it this far, no pop quiz today! Thanks for reading and a huge Thank You for being such a great community!
Y'all have an egg-cellent day!
Trisha aka GreenJay
@GreenJay
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
such a beautiful bird! They don't range here in New Mexico, I wish they did. 
