- Jun 28, 2011
- 39,160
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Amanda, known to BYC members as Redhead Rae, has been a member of our community since January 2017. Another of our wonderful all rounders, she is known for her friendliness and good advice.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hello everyone! I am Amanda (or Rae as I go by online). I’m a 33 year old, female, software engineer who works from home and keeps and breeds chickens as a hobby.
First thing you should know about me is that I’m a perfectionist with procrastinator tendencies. @sumi asked me to do this interview on July 30th. I immediately typed up at least half of it to send to her and then had to take a break. When I came back a week or so later, what I had typed up, was gone! So with a few starts and stops, it has taken me this long to get around to it and finish the durned thing.
I’ve been married to my dear hubby for 5 years.
We have a 2.5 year old son known to many people BYCers as “the Milk Drinker”. I can’t remember now who gave him that name. It was either @Texas Kiki or @staceyj.
Another reason it took me so long to get around to finishing is that while I was procrastinating, I got pregnant with baby #2, who is due in June. I didn’t have really bad morning sickness, but it wasn’t fun.
We live in Central WV in an old farmhouse on my parent’s land and my parents built a house next door. My parents-in-laws and one sister-in-law also live in the house with us. It is great for the Milk Drinker, because he gets to see both sets of Grandparents all the time. Sometimes it is a little hard, but we make it work. We recently bought a plot of land off the property from my parents and we are working on putting a new house on the property for our growing family and my in-laws. My sister-in-law is in the process of buying her own house so she won’t be moving into the new house with us. We hope to get that done early in the spring. It will be nice to be able to make decisions about what to do on the property without having to consult my parents.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
My parents had chickens when I was really little. They were all RIR except for one leghorn who I named “Tilly”. Bonus points if you know where that name came from. I really enjoyed helping my mom with them and collecting the eggs. When I was 4-5, my mom didn’t have time to manage the chickens anymore, so we didn’t have them after that.
After I got married in 2013, I thought it would be fun to have a small backyard flock because it was permitted in our neighborhood. However, I didn’t think we had the time or energy to properly manage the birds in the space we had. Towards the end of 2015, my parents bought ~130 acre property in Central WV and we moved my in-laws out here so we could fix up their house and get it sold. When we moved, we knew the first animals we wanted to get were chickens for meat and eggs. In May of 2016, a neighbor hatched out 7 Dominique/Dominique cross chicks for us and in July, a friend of the neighbor gave us 17 Leghorn/Leghorn cross chicks. And those chicks were the start of our flock. DH and I moved up here about a month after the Milk Drinker was born and we’ve settled in nicely.
Fast forward to today, we have 62 large fowl chickens in several different breeds.
We keep Dark Cornish to breed for meat.
Blue/black Cochins for eggs/meat
New Hampshires and a few EEs for eggs.
We also decided to keep a few Orpingtons and a White Leghorn that have proven to be good mothers.
We also have a 7 Bantam Cochin/Chocolate Orp pullets and 1 cockerel. I have great hopes that these little birds will be super broody.
At one point this summer, I had over 120 birds. Between selling off some stock and processing cockerels, I think we are down to a good number for the winter.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
There is a LOT I enjoy about keeping chickens. I’m really enjoying a lot of what surrounds breeding chickens. I’ve hatched over 40 chicks from my Dark Cornish birds this year. There is a lot that is sad about breeding and hatching chickens, but it is a joy to watch the birds grow up and to provide meat and eggs for your family at the same time.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
The first member to stand out to me is our original Cockerel, General Tso. He was a Dominique/RIR, really beautiful, and the meanest rooster I ever met. Of the 7 Dominique/Dom cross chicks we got from a neighbor, he was the only cockerel. He taught us the value of nice roosters. After we had him, it became a rule on the farm that any rooster that attacks a human in anyway, goes to freezer camp.
Next is Alfredo, he was the nicest of the Leghorn cross cockerels we got from the friend of the neighbor. He was great with people (kept out of our way and caused no trouble), lovely with his hens and chicks, but tried to outright kill any other roosters in his territory. For that, he had to go to freezer camp. He taught us the value of a good flock rooster who will put younger cockerels in their place, but coexist with them.
Our first Broody, Mama, who was a Dominique/Buff is another bird I will always remember. She was really great with her chicks, taught us the value of a good broody, and taught my parents’ cockapoo/dachshund to respect chickens. We sold her this summer because she didn’t go broody again and we wanted to focus on pure breeds.
My current favorite rooster is Molasses, a Black Cochin. I got him in an order of Buff Orpingtons as a “free, rare chick”. Before him, I had decided 100% against ANY feather footed birds because of how muddy it gets here. I was amazed at how well he kept his feet clean and with his calm, laid back demeanor. I even bought some Blue ladies for him to breed next year.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
Finding out that chickens HATE snow. That first winter we had birds, we let them free range. The first day it snowed that winter, the birds REFUSED to come out of the coop. So my FIL decided to chase them out. I was outside and I had two Dominique cross hens fly towards me and perch on my arms. This is the first (and last) time they ever sought me out for anything besides food.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
We have an outdoor mouser named Silvie, she has kept our house relatively mouse free for the past year or so. Sadly, my SIL will be taking her when she moves out in January.
I wouldn’t call them pets, but we got two American Guinea Hog feeders a few months ago. We are enjoying watching them grow up and look forward to bacon next year.
We also got guineas for watch animals this year, however I sold off all the lavenders I had and we are down to 4 pearls that are much quieter and less flighty than the lavenders.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I really love the community I found on this site. Especially my fellow Squatch Watchers, or as my DH calls you, my “chicken codependents”.
Oh and in conclusion:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/redhead-rae.455651/
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
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hello everyone! I am Amanda (or Rae as I go by online). I’m a 33 year old, female, software engineer who works from home and keeps and breeds chickens as a hobby.
First thing you should know about me is that I’m a perfectionist with procrastinator tendencies. @sumi asked me to do this interview on July 30th. I immediately typed up at least half of it to send to her and then had to take a break. When I came back a week or so later, what I had typed up, was gone! So with a few starts and stops, it has taken me this long to get around to it and finish the durned thing.
I’ve been married to my dear hubby for 5 years.
We have a 2.5 year old son known to many people BYCers as “the Milk Drinker”. I can’t remember now who gave him that name. It was either @Texas Kiki or @staceyj.
Another reason it took me so long to get around to finishing is that while I was procrastinating, I got pregnant with baby #2, who is due in June. I didn’t have really bad morning sickness, but it wasn’t fun.
We live in Central WV in an old farmhouse on my parent’s land and my parents built a house next door. My parents-in-laws and one sister-in-law also live in the house with us. It is great for the Milk Drinker, because he gets to see both sets of Grandparents all the time. Sometimes it is a little hard, but we make it work. We recently bought a plot of land off the property from my parents and we are working on putting a new house on the property for our growing family and my in-laws. My sister-in-law is in the process of buying her own house so she won’t be moving into the new house with us. We hope to get that done early in the spring. It will be nice to be able to make decisions about what to do on the property without having to consult my parents.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
My parents had chickens when I was really little. They were all RIR except for one leghorn who I named “Tilly”. Bonus points if you know where that name came from. I really enjoyed helping my mom with them and collecting the eggs. When I was 4-5, my mom didn’t have time to manage the chickens anymore, so we didn’t have them after that.
After I got married in 2013, I thought it would be fun to have a small backyard flock because it was permitted in our neighborhood. However, I didn’t think we had the time or energy to properly manage the birds in the space we had. Towards the end of 2015, my parents bought ~130 acre property in Central WV and we moved my in-laws out here so we could fix up their house and get it sold. When we moved, we knew the first animals we wanted to get were chickens for meat and eggs. In May of 2016, a neighbor hatched out 7 Dominique/Dominique cross chicks for us and in July, a friend of the neighbor gave us 17 Leghorn/Leghorn cross chicks. And those chicks were the start of our flock. DH and I moved up here about a month after the Milk Drinker was born and we’ve settled in nicely.
Fast forward to today, we have 62 large fowl chickens in several different breeds.
We keep Dark Cornish to breed for meat.
Blue/black Cochins for eggs/meat
New Hampshires and a few EEs for eggs.
We also decided to keep a few Orpingtons and a White Leghorn that have proven to be good mothers.
We also have a 7 Bantam Cochin/Chocolate Orp pullets and 1 cockerel. I have great hopes that these little birds will be super broody.
At one point this summer, I had over 120 birds. Between selling off some stock and processing cockerels, I think we are down to a good number for the winter.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
There is a LOT I enjoy about keeping chickens. I’m really enjoying a lot of what surrounds breeding chickens. I’ve hatched over 40 chicks from my Dark Cornish birds this year. There is a lot that is sad about breeding and hatching chickens, but it is a joy to watch the birds grow up and to provide meat and eggs for your family at the same time.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
The first member to stand out to me is our original Cockerel, General Tso. He was a Dominique/RIR, really beautiful, and the meanest rooster I ever met. Of the 7 Dominique/Dom cross chicks we got from a neighbor, he was the only cockerel. He taught us the value of nice roosters. After we had him, it became a rule on the farm that any rooster that attacks a human in anyway, goes to freezer camp.
Next is Alfredo, he was the nicest of the Leghorn cross cockerels we got from the friend of the neighbor. He was great with people (kept out of our way and caused no trouble), lovely with his hens and chicks, but tried to outright kill any other roosters in his territory. For that, he had to go to freezer camp. He taught us the value of a good flock rooster who will put younger cockerels in their place, but coexist with them.
Our first Broody, Mama, who was a Dominique/Buff is another bird I will always remember. She was really great with her chicks, taught us the value of a good broody, and taught my parents’ cockapoo/dachshund to respect chickens. We sold her this summer because she didn’t go broody again and we wanted to focus on pure breeds.
My current favorite rooster is Molasses, a Black Cochin. I got him in an order of Buff Orpingtons as a “free, rare chick”. Before him, I had decided 100% against ANY feather footed birds because of how muddy it gets here. I was amazed at how well he kept his feet clean and with his calm, laid back demeanor. I even bought some Blue ladies for him to breed next year.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
Finding out that chickens HATE snow. That first winter we had birds, we let them free range. The first day it snowed that winter, the birds REFUSED to come out of the coop. So my FIL decided to chase them out. I was outside and I had two Dominique cross hens fly towards me and perch on my arms. This is the first (and last) time they ever sought me out for anything besides food.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
We have an outdoor mouser named Silvie, she has kept our house relatively mouse free for the past year or so. Sadly, my SIL will be taking her when she moves out in January.
I wouldn’t call them pets, but we got two American Guinea Hog feeders a few months ago. We are enjoying watching them grow up and look forward to bacon next year.
We also got guineas for watch animals this year, however I sold off all the lavenders I had and we are down to 4 pearls that are much quieter and less flighty than the lavenders.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I really love the community I found on this site. Especially my fellow Squatch Watchers, or as my DH calls you, my “chicken codependents”.
Oh and in conclusion:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/redhead-rae.455651/
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
. 
never trust a fart!!
