BYC Member Interview - LaurenRitz

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Happy New Year!
BYC Staff
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12 Years
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Dec 12, 2013
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Location
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@LaurenRitz


Come say hello to @LaurenRitz who comes to us from Kansas and has been a member since November 2022.​



1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
I am either a writing obsessed gardener, or a gardening obsessed writer, depending on the season.

Lauren is my writing name. I decided to keep the same initials. Ritz is because a little girl many years ago couldn't pronounce my last name and "Ritz" stuck.


2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
I started in 2022, just a few months before moving to Kansas. The timing just wasn't right until then. A friend gave me my first chickens, although I had to give them away when I moved. So of course, the first thing I did after I bought my new house was order some fuzzballs.


3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
I like their personalities, particularly the roosters. I also love seeing them hatch, and seeing the broody mamas with their babies.


4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
My first rooster hated my guts. He was perfect with the girls, perfect with predators, but he couldn't go a day without attacking me. The neighbor's dog attacked the flock and he played wounded bird, led the dog away, and then came back. I couldn't have him attacking me, so I found him a home where they needed his skills.

The other that stands out was one of my first birds. She was very small right from the start, and I noticed she was really lethargic at about 8 weeks and brought her in. She just kept getting weaker. I sat there with her on my lap and told her that if she wanted to live I would help her, but she needed to make the decision. She looked up at me and within a few seconds she was dead.

When I went out to the coop her sister came running up, visibly excited. She'd never done that before. I said, "I'm sorry, she's gone." Her head drooped, shoulders drooped, wings drooped, and she walked away very slowly.
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5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
I can't say that anything funny has happened to me, and the chickens certainly didn't think it was funny.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...or-are-you-sure-you-want-to-try-this.1643378/


6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
None, at the moment. I am very much a cat person, but I do not currently have any.


7. Anything you'd like to add?
I do landrace or adaptive gardening, on 3 acres of heavy clay. The chickens are also a landrace project. I am aiming for a locally adapted, large, broody, dual purpose population, which can forage for the majority of its food, raise its own babies, and out-run or out-breed our predators.




@LaurenRitz

For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews​
 
Hi, Lauren! Thanks for the interview, as it was nice knowing a bit more about you. That landrace gardening was new to me, so I looked it up. Very interesting! Landrace chickens aren't an option for me but that sounds neat too.

I hope you come up with a cat, as it sounds like you'd love each other.
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
Nice to meet you @LaurenRitz . Is that a Barnevelder rooster? He's gorgeous. What breeds have you started with for your landrace chickens?
Click to expand...
No. The black and red is Jersey Giant x RIR and is one of the primary ancestors of my population. The other is Bielefelder x Jersey Giant.

Currently most of my birds are some combination of Jersey Giant x RIR with BA, Marans, Buckeye, and Ranger. I brought in Kraienkoppe, American Game, and a Dorking-Sussex mix last spring for broodiness, predator awareness, foraging and disease resistance.

I'm hoping that the Dorking-Sussex cockerel will take over as flock master, but so far the girls haven't expressed that preference. If not I have two pullets of the same breed, so the line won't be lost.
 

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