Come say hello to @Ridgerunner! Ridgerunner has been a member since February 2009 and comes to us from southeast Louisiana.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I grew up on a subsistence farm in the ridges of East Tennessee in the Cumberland Gap area. We had a flock of free ranging chickens, a milk cow, some beef cows, plow horses that we used instead of a tractor, and raised pigs for butchering. We raised practically everything the animals ate and most of what we ate. Dad eventually got a job in a shirt factory, he just could not feed us from that farm. I understand the reality of trying to feed yourself from a homestead versus the romance of back to nature. It may have been a simpler time but it was not an easier time.
I left home as soon as I graduated from high school and eventually got an engineering degree. That took seven years as I worked to make money for college and served a tour in the Army, going to Korea instead of Vietnam. I worked for a major oil company, mostly along the Gulf Coast of the US but also in Europe, Africa, and Asia. I really enjoyed working overseas, it was easy to see that we are not alone on this planet and we depend on each other. I really enjoyed getting to know people from different cultures. Anywhere I went the people were what was important.
I’m still married to my bride. We have three kids and two grandkids. I’ve been blessed with them.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens? (or any other poultry you have)
When I retired we moved onto two acres in Northwest Arkansas. After we’d been there several months my wife said “why don’t we get chickens?” I’d grown up taking care of chickens so we did. Chickens were a hobby. The eggs were a nice side benefit, we really don’t eat that many eggs. My excess eggs were given to friends or relatives, sold at church with that money donated to a church charity fund, or given to a food bank. My main goals were for meat and to play with genetics. I had no interest in breeding to the SOP for show, but made up my own goals. For instance I wanted a blue or green egg laying chicken, either red speckled or black speckled, that went broody a lot, so I made some.
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
One was genetics. By playing with genetics I gained a real appreciation for people that can breed to the SOP, create the hybrid meat or egg laying commercial birds, or create what they want in a chicken. There is a tremendous amount of anticipation when you hatch eggs to see what you get. Another aspect is just watching them, seeing how they interact with each other and react to their environment. They are each an individual. They have a fairly complex social society and just changing one or two chickens in the flock can alter flock dynamics by a lot. They can be fascinating to watch.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Usually not for good reasons. I remember one hen that kept getting separated from most of her chicks across a fence. She’d go through a gate and walk back along the fence. Instead of following her out through the gate many of her chicks would try to go through the fence to get to her. She never learned to go back to the gate to collect them. Occasionally my rooster would leave the rest of the flock to watch over her abandoned chicks until they got back together. For that and other reasons that had to be the dumbest chicken I ever raised.
I remember one rooster that would not bother me but he’d attack most other people that went down there, including a friend that would chicken sit when I took a trip. That rooster did not last long.
Through the years most of my hens will allow other hens to lay eggs with them. But one was a nest hog. She not only would not allow another hen in the nest with her but she regularly took over three hours to lay an egg. Most are finished long before that. She was not a long term keeper either.
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
I raise cockerels and pullets with my flock. When a cockerel is bothering a hen that doesn’t want to be bothered she usually runs to the dominant rooster for him to take care of Junior. One day a cockerel was chasing a hen and veered off when the hen got close to the rooster. That rooster started strutting around, really proud of himself. “See how I handled that, he is scare of me.” That cockerel kept running, went out of sight behind a small outbuilding, ran back to the hen and mated her on the run while that rooster was still strutting around and before the hen knew what was going on.
@Ridgerunner
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
Thank you for your service.
Your speckled chickens are beautiful, and I love that they lay blue or green eggs, and go broody a lot - I love a good broody.
