BYC Member Interview - room onthebroom

Charlene, known to BYC members as room onthebroom, has been a member of our community since May, 2015. Another of our wonderful BYC friends, she will most often be found in the Social section, where she is known for her friendliness and good advice.

1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.

Hi! My name is Charlene (aka: Room onthebroom.) I’ve been married to my husband for 23yrs. He is a good man, but a terrible enabler & allows me to drag home a menagerie of stray animals. Its one of my favorite qualities about him. He’s a great sport about pretty much anything I throw at him & I love him dearly.

(Pictures of my family.)

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We live in a tiny house with a decent sized yard in suburban San Diego, California. I’m a homeschool mom of 3 amazing daughters, ages 11 thru 17. All 3 of my kids are crazy animal addicts. One of my daughters (FrankieDoodle) is also a member of the BYC community. She is a natural born Chicken Whisperer & our unofficial, amateur vet.

(A picture of Frankie patiently picking stick-tight fleas off of some quarantined hens & treating them with permectrin.)

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I don’t have a lot of time these days for hobbies, but when I can, I love to read & watch old movies. I love hats & wigs & I’m a huge fan of costumes & cosplay. I also like to throw themed parties for my family. Due to budget restrictions, I’ve done a lot of work with paper mache & clay mache. After many years of working with paper mache I definitely have a love/hate relationship with it. I love being able to make stuff for free, but I hate how messy & time consuming it is.

(Here’s DH & me renewing our wedding vows at the Renaissance Fair last Spring.)

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(DH & me doing a Mary Poppins cosplay. The bird handle of my umbrella is paper mache. I’m not sure how DH got his face in that position. Its possible he missed his calling as an actor.)

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2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?


We started our chicken adventures in Spring 2011 as a homeschool project. We did a ton of research, built a brooder out of repurposed goods from around the house & ordered some hatching eggs. We set 6 eggs & 2 of them hatched, both cockerels. We live in a rooster-free zone & knew that we’d eventually have to rehome our beautiful boys. We kept them for as long a we could, then found a farm out in the country who agreed to adopt them together. During that time we picked up some day old pullets from the feed store. They were a crazy, spoiled group of RSL’s. We called them The Maniacs. That was 8yrs ago & we’ve had lap chickens ever since.

(A picture of me adding water to the homemade brooder & another on hatch day.)

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


My favorite part of keeping poultry is watching the birds. We keep a small flock that’s allowed to free range during the day. My all time favorite thing about chickens is watching them run for snacks. No matter how bad my day is, seeing a flock of chickens racing across the yard always makes me laugh. Another thing about chickens that I’ll never get tired of is the eggs. I love the color & size variations. Finding an egg in the nest still excites me & makes me feel like a kid on Easter. Pest control has been a huge benefit too. We live next to a field & have had some serious bug migrations. The birds know when we start yelling, “PEEP! PEEP! PEEP! PRETTY! PRETTY! PRETTY!” that there’s a feast nearby.

(A picture of some of our current eggs, including a Cayuga duck egg & a quail egg.)

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(Me & the field across the street.)

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


Over the years we’ve had a few birds that have stuck out from the rest of the flock. First & foremost is Hope, the Dark Brahma in my avy. We’ve had her since nearly the beginning & she is the sweetest lap bird I’ve ever known. I love the shape & size of an adult Brahma. She looks like she’s wearing fluffy pants & is by far the funniest to watch when they’re all running for snacks. She is our go-to girl for any visitors who want to interact with the birds & she’s always very patient with strangers handling her. When she’s not displaying her sweet demeanor as a chicken ambassador, she’s strolling around the yard like a fine Southern Belle -- A true lady in every sense.

Another bird that really sticks out was Ruffles. She was one of the RSL’s from our original ‘Maniac’ flock. She was a very loved bird & the first one to ever get a case of bumblefoot. It was a mild case, but it was slowing her down & we fretted over her like a spoiled child. Being newbies we didn’t know a lot about bumble & we were squeamish about cutting it out. Ultimately we found Crazy K Farm online & ordered her a pair of chicken shoes. Not just one shoe like normal people do. We ordered the pair. I should probably be embarrassed by this, but I’m not. I actually think its extremely funny. It took her about a day to get used to them, but they gave her a new lease on life. She was standing tall again & running as fast as the other birds. We had to take them off of her during extremely hot days so she wouldn’t overheat, but for the most part she wore them all the time. We eventually changed her name to Boots & during her lifetime she wore through at least 2 pairs of shoes. She was a great hen & when we buried her, we buried her with her boots on.

(A picture of Hope showing off her big, fluffy pants.)

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(Ruffles, aka: Boots showing off her boots.)

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

Chickens are really funny animals & they’re always doing something entertaining. Our funniest chicken incident was from a pullet named Kitty. She was a Buff Orp from a flock we called The Luna-Chicks. That group was crazy, especially Kitty. She was a wild card & she always astounded me with the random stuff she would do. We have an auto door on our coop. One night, after the chickens had put themselves to bed, DH was walking thru our kitchen when he thought he heard someone tapping on the sliding glass door. He stopped & listened. Sure enough, he heard ‘Tap! Tap! Tap!’ on the door again. He opened the blinds but there was no one there. ‘Tap! Tap! Tap!’ He kept hearing it, so he went back & looked again. There was Kitty standing in the pitch dark pecking at the glass. She had got locked out, but instead of hunkering down or going off to roost like a normal chicken, Kitty walked out of the run, across the driveway, through the yard, up a flight of stairs & across the deck in the black of night to start knocking at the door. All DH could say was, “Its Kitty! Of course, its Kitty!”

(Kitty roosting on a hospital box. Most chickens lay in the box, but no, not Kitty.)

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


As I’ve said, my DH is an enabler & we have a menagerie of different pets here. Right now we have;

7 Hens
1 Illegal Rooster (Shhhh! Don't tell the chicken police.)
3 Ducks
2 Quail
3 Pugs
2 Cats
2 Guinea Pigs
1 Bunny
1 RES Turtle
We also have a handful of feeder fish that the turtle decided not to eat. They grew huge & are now being fed instead of being eaten (*insert eyeroll.)

(Pictures of our flock.)

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7. Anything you'd like to add?


This interview is probably getting too long, but I don’t want to go without thanking @Nifty-Chicken for turning a brilliant idea into such a successful reality. The BYC community has been a lifeline to me & my flock. Before joining, this was the first place I would go when I needed help. As a member, its still my #1 source for information, but its also become a second home for me. Like a real family, we have laughed together, cried together, supported & encouraged each other & even given out a few friendly smacks here & there. I have found virtual brothers & sisters here, a wizened father figure & friends that have become closer to me than people I’ve known my whole life. There are no words to express my gratitude to all of you wonderful peeps … Thank you!

-Charlene :)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/room-onthebroom.349594/

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
Wow! Sumi!
Another great interview! It was wonderful getting to know @room onthebroom better, your backstory was great, and I love your stories and photos.
May I say you make a beautiful Mary Poppins! That umbrella was gorgeous!
Ps. Husband is a very cute Bert too!
 
tenor (1).gif

You only love me for my Dirt;)
 
OK, had to look it up, didn't know it was a movie. Only found a 2 minute trailer and the "room" part isn't in that but I found a description. Looks like a cute film.


Its a very short (20-25min cartoon on Netflix.) Its also a small book.


So did I, lol!



Kathy you really are my favorite... Shhh… Don't tell the others.


@room onthebroom, I think you have been outed on your favoritism :lau


Bruce the others are all my (fake) nieces, but you are my favorite (fake) nephew. Shhh… Don't tell anyone.
 

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