BYC Member Interview - igorsMistress ** UPDATE 09-24-24 Page 5 **

Pics
Date sort Score sort
sumi said:
Kim, known to BYC members as igorsMistress, has been a member of our community since April, 2013. One of our BYC Friends, she is known for her friendliness and good advice.

1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.

Hi, my name is Kim. As a kid I was born in the Midwest and lived on a farm. We had cattle, pigs and chickens. I can remember collecting eggs and going into the pen for Little Duke, a Black Angus, to give him his feed while my dad scratched his ears. Sadly, we moved to California when I was 8 and I hated it.

After my daughter was born I was living on a friends farm. Some guy with the most incredible green eyes walked in the house like he belonged there and stole both our hearts. We started a family and the last 28 years have seen us both struggle and triumph together. We have a mostly empty nest, but with 2 kids and 4 grandchildren there's always someone around.

Our sons kids, Hope and Skyler

View attachment 1685465 View attachment 1685466

Our daughters boys, Cam and Aiden

View attachment 1685468 View attachment 1685469

We lived in California for many years but when our situation changed and I needed to work, stay at home mom skills weren't in high demand. I managed to find a job and get a few years of experience under my belt, then found my current job as an insurance agent. I moved to Phoenix with the kids and my husband followed shortly after. Fast forward 15 years and I now work at home for the same company.

2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?

One of my husbands coworkers began keeping chickens. In their neighborhood everyone has them and selling their extras wasn't feasible. Instead they shared with people they knew and we started getting these beautiful green and blue eggs along with every shade of brown imagineable. That's all it took, I wanted chickens. As is often the case, good things come to an end and they lost most of their flock.

My husband agreed it would fun to have chickens ourselves. Since our experience was pretty limited I started to research what would be involved and BYC kept popping up. I started reading and lurked here for 3 years. I changed my mind from yes to no several times, kept thinking what if this or that. One day we went to the feed store just to see what they had for chicks so we could "plan" and came home with 4 chicks. A week later we added 2 EE's, one of which was our first roo. Here they are in the coop.

View attachment 1685470

3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?

Chicken TV and having my morning coffee with flock are my favorite activities. I sit at the picnic table and talk to them all. My RIR loves to have her wattles scratched and everyone gathers round to preen and chat. Gardening is also fun. Watching them hunt lizards and crickets when I turn over the compost pile is always good for a giggle. Especially when a game of keep away ensues, although I feel kind of bad for whatever they're tearing apart sometimes.

4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?

Ruby and Scarlet were my RIR sisters. While Ruby was always the boss, she and Scarlet really shared the position. Ruby went broody last summer. No matter what I did she wouldn't stop. I'd read that RIRs don't go broody, especially hatchery girls, but she was absolutely not giving up.

I got her some eggs to hatch but temps were so hot, 118 on a few days. We put a mister in the coop and her eggs in the incubator until lockdown, then slipped them under her. Two eggs hatched, but one chick died within a week. Ruby had a look of bliss on her sweet face watching that little chick. She attacked me a few times because I took the sickly chick to clean it up and It was a while before she trusted me not to take the other.

Sadly, Ruby is no longer with us. I love this picture of her

View attachment 1685471

Here's she is with her chicks. The one that lived turned out to be a roo. He's in the second pic, his name is Fugly. The third pic here is the flock including Ruby.

View attachment 1685472

View attachment 1685473

View attachment 1685474

5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?

One night Aiden went out to lock up the coop for me. My husband and I were showering and it was almost completely dark. Suddenly there was this blood curdling scream and both boys were in our room with terrified looks on their faces. Someone was knocking on the sliding glass door from the backyard! We went to investigate and found Fugly. He'd been locked out of the coop and came to let us know. He peeps in quite a lot.

View attachment 1685475

6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?

In addition to the chickens we have 7 Coturnix quail right now. We'll be hatching 4 dozen quail eggs in March and 15 chicken eggs for the Easter HAL this year.

We have a 12 year old Silkie Terrier named Midge. We also have a 1 year old Bull Terrier/American Pit Bull named Frankie and his 5 month old sister Abby. They share the same parents, Abbys litter was an oops. We're thinking about fish, we are debating between salt and fresh water right now.

View attachment 1685476 View attachment 1685477

7. Anything you'd like to add?

BYC has neen an incredible resource for information and support. I feel ready, in theory anyway, to handle whatever comes our way and know I have a place to turn for help if I need it. It's also a second home with wonderful and supportive people, some of whom I feel are friends even though we've never met.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/igorsmistress.202364/

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
Click to expand...
Your children and fur + feathered family looks awesome. I love all your pictures.

Its It's been really good too have a peep into you happy world. :)

It's looking as if fugly wanted to come into the house what a cheeky bird. :D
 
** UPDATE on @igorsMistress **

It's been several years since @igorsMistress member interview was first posted; time to catch up!

​
Hi all. How time flies and things change! We’ve hatched many eggs in an incubator, had many broodies, and processed birds for meat. We’ve had every possible option in the coop from poop boards and ramps to nest boxes and brooding areas.

We no longer process birds for meat; it’s not a pleasant thing to do but it’s a skill to have in case we need it. We no longer hatch in an incubator as a result and limit the number of eggs and frequency of brooding here. I only allow it if we need to add to the flock.

Our coop is super simple, a pop door and two roosts. Nest boxes are in a smaller coop and consist of a couple of boards leaning against the walls. Other than cleaning wading pools in summer and the ducks pool and buckets, I really don’t have many chores other than wetting down the litter in the big coop from time to time. I find this simplicity gives me more time to enjoy the flock and work in the garden. Two things I love doing.

Over the years we’ve had flock members come and go, and they’ve all been special in one way or another. Elvis was extra special. My son found him all alone and brooded him with a duck that was rejected by the mama. He is very human friendly, but only one of the girls liked him and he beat up the older girls when they wouldn’t let him mate. He and his favorite girl went back to my sons after a couple of cockerels hatched here recently. He knows his name and when called, he comes running. Toss him some treats and he will call the ladies and let them eat first. Quick to alert on aerial predators and an excellent escort. Mr Perfect really, sad I had to let him go but the girls were here first.

Kim 1.png


His son Phoenix is our new rooster. He and another roo hatched despite temps in the 110 range during the day and 90’s at night, hence his name. Elvis started out all black like this but without the red patches on his wings so I’m excited to see the manly plumage when Phoenix gets older. He’s still young, but old enough that he doesn’t try to hurt the chicks.

Kim 2.png

Kim 3.png


Other current flock members include Attila, a mean broody and broody all the time. She raises chicks for a couple of weeks and then tires of them. When she’s not broody she runs around with attitude. She’s friendly though and follows me around.
Kim 4.png


Henna, seen here with two of the ducks. She doesn't like to sit but helped and then took over raising Phoenix and his brother when Attila was over it. She is the top hen, but not mean about it.
Kim 5.png


I traded Elvis and his favorite girl for three ducks from my son. Connor is a fawn and white Runner. Selene, black and white, is a mix of fawn and white Runner and Swedish blue/black Runner mix. Ripley, the gray, black and white, is an Ancona and black Runner/Swedish blue mix. They are so much fun, I highly recommend.
Kim 6.png


Finally, the blue crew: Powder, Sky and Blueberry. I think they’re all Australorps, and around six weeks old. This group I brooded in my shade garden which is near where the flock hangs out all day rather than a coop in a separate yard. They saw each other face to face much more often and integration is going very smoothly.
Kim 7.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom