@swampfox440
Come say hello to Mark who has been a member since December 2012 and comes to us from Ohio.
Come say hello to Mark who has been a member since December 2012 and comes to us from Ohio.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
I am now widowed due to the loss of my wife Susie on November 8/2022 Due to a long battle with cancer. I have always kept poultry except the years from when I started chasing girls, to the time, I found one and got married. My wife was gifted with animals, and it always seemed to me that she could tell what they were thinking. We raised many animals too many to name, having a cabin with a 1/2-mile driveway and a very large pond. for the first 5 years we didn't have electricity or plumbing. Looking back, it was the best years of my life. We have a son that serves in the USAF, he is now stationed in South Korea.
We lived there 24 years. I took my member's name from the fact that I (at one point) raised foxes and we had swampy areas on the land. There were many fox farms nearby at that time and I could go to the local feed mill and buy fox food. It didn't last more than two years until the bottom dropped out of price given for pelts.
2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
I had runner and pekin ducks as a youngster along with rabbits, I was a 4-H member. After we married I found out my wife liked poultry also, so the first birds were brooded with kerosene lamps. I built special brooders and chicken math kicked in.
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
In the Spring when all the chicks and ducklings are borne is my favorite time of the year. I love all the mammas running around with fuzzballs and acting like they are so bad. I do not fear even the swans, if you are afraid of the they somehow sense this fear and go after you even more. Thats just my opinion.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Old Mrs. Quack, the last surviving duck that belonged to my wife. She now has 8 fully grown babies that she adopted at an old age, they are fully grown now! Of course, my swans B.C. and Swanita.
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
When my Susie had a jumbo white pekin female that disappeared, and we thought for sure the coyotes got her. We were told they were too big to breed and then one day she came out of hiding and had a large number of newly hatched ducklings with her. We were stunned!
She had nested under a tarp that was covering my brothers snowmobile the only place I overlooked.6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
Cats, Neocaridina shrimp (cherry shrimp) I have two fish tanks.
I also have a pair of guineas. Buckwheat and Pearl.
@swampfox440
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
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For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
