Ribh
Come say hello to @Ribh! She has been a member since December 2018 and comes to us from Australia.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Ribh ~ not pronounced rib! It’s an uncommon Irish name for striped [as in a striped cat] lol & is pronounced Reev.
I’m a 2nd generation Aussie living on an even smaller island off the Queensland coast. Something in the blood, maybe. My Great~Grandmother was a Skye woman. It may also explain the introversion…We have about an acre of waterfront land, lots of which is still bushland so we see lots of native bird life & the occasional wallaby; 5 children ~ all grown up now. We are sub~tropical & have almost no predators so our chicken keeping looks a little different to most. My life is about the 4 great Cs: Children, coffee, cats & chickens. We’ve maxed out on all of them.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
We first had chickens over 20 years ago when our kiddies were little, mostly ISA Brown rescues, a couple of bantams & some Wyandottes who all turned out to be roosters & went to a far, far better place. My man wasn’t keen on keeping chickens again. He spent a lot of time on farms growing up & swore all chickens were neurotic nut cases. Just the same he built me a lovely big coop but our present mixed flock of 14 hens has been something of a shock to his system. We have lots of girls with personality plus. They are a pretty calm, placid lot, very chatty & inquisitive & he has come right round to saying which breeds he’d like more of. He can’t believe what a difference it makes when chickens are well kept & well loved.
My older girls are past their best laying years now & I’m a more confident chicken keeper so I have begun moving my flock in a different direction. I began by wanting a mixed flock & while I have loved all the different breeds I have surprised myself by finding I’m very partial to the flightier, less cuddly girls who have also turned out to be the most sweet tempered. One third of my flock is now Campines. I adore these girls. They are an incredibly gentle hen, great foragers, very intelligent & wonderful companions once you have earned their trust. They run really well with Wyandotte Bantams ~ for some reason the BAs, BRs & Favorelle Xs don’t much like the Campines though they get along well with each other. I also have 2 Aracaunas for their blue eggs & a lavender Frizzle for eye candy. She also happens to be a great layer but being a big girl is something of a bossy boots.
3. Which aspect(s) of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
When we started again I went for big placid breeds: 3 Barred Rocks, 2 Black Australorps. I felt more comfortable handling the bigger breeds & we wanted eggs. I’m more the arty~farty sort than the practical scientific sort, so the only criteria I wasn’t negotiable on was pretty. The BAs & BRs were also relatively easy to source as the most common backyard chickens around here are ISAs & whatever we got I knew I didn’t want ISAs again. I do like me a pretty bird! Eggs are nice but a pretty bird feeds the soul. My original supplier had Campines & I fell irrevocably in love. For my 2nd buy I indulged myself & brought home 2 Golden Campines. Yes, they were flighty. Yes, they screamed blue murder. Yes, they were smaller & more fragile than I was comfortable with. No, they didn’t like being handled. They drove my older girls batty. They shrieked at everything & everybody. When they were allowed into the run they went AWOL. They were a huge amount of work but they are such clowns, so full of personality I got me some silvers as well! It took months of patience, months of persistence but they have all calmed down & they are just so pretty to look at!
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Tuppence was the first Campine to let me hold her. She was terrified but over time she learnt to trust me & is the closest thing to a lap chicken I’ve ever had. She was an absolute sweetie & I still miss her.
Of my present girls Alpia, a Wyandotte bantam, has the sweetest, gentlest nature. I have become very fond of her.
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing(s) that happened to you in your years as an owner?
I have Campines. They really are the clowns of the chicken world. Eventually our run will be extended & fully enclosed but for the present it’s barely 2’high ~ very easy for a determined chicken to hop over. The Campines all know they are supposed to stay in the run but as soon as I turn my back 1 or all of them will be sitting on the fence watching me to see if they can get away with hopping out. When I turn round they pretend butter wouldn’t melt! Of the new girls I’ve recently added, Wrold, a Wyandotte bantam, is now bottom of the flock. She is very timid & was terrified when she was allowed out into the big run with everybody else. The 2nd time she decided it was too risky so she took off flying ~ out the coop & right across the run & over the far fence, a good 20 feet. She scared herself silly & was very relieved to be scooped up & popped back with her flock mates!
6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
I’ve always kept cats. I’m not a dog person @ all, though dogs like me. Our present 2 are a ragdoll mix, bonded brothers, who have been known to take on big dogs in order to keep me safe, quickly learnt not to hunt my chickens & are the world’s biggest sooks. The girls all know Marlow is harmless but Kirby likes to sit on the wire roof of the chicken pen & make the girls alarm. He thinks it’s funny. They do not.
We also keep native bees & run a small horticultural business from home specializing in air plants, staghorns & elkhorns, Lotus & waterlilies.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
At different times I’ve had to do some wild life rescue. This has included black swans, fruit bats & mutton birds. I’m a chronic reader; if it’s printed I’ll read it, & enjoy photography. BYC is a great place to share pictures! And I crochet. I dislike routine & enjoy having lots of different projects on the go so there are generally multiple tasks started @ any one time ~ except for cooking. I don’t enjoy cooking; a necessary evil. I also like a good chat & can often be found here talking up a storm.
Ribh
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
It sounds like an idyllic life you have there!
.... it might be hard for me to stop calling you “rib”
.... but I do like reev better
