1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
My user name is my last name. I'm a straight forward fellow so why not use my last name? My straight forwardness is also sometimes almost my undoing, but I am learning to be straight forward in a gracious manner rather than a blunt manner.
2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
I grew up on a farm and as long as I can remember we had chickens, I was always very interested in them and naturally became the chicken tender on the farm. In my free time I could often be found spending time with the chickens. The chickens on the farm mostly consisted of either Leghorn, Isa Brown, Golden Comet, Rhoad Island Red or New Hampshire and for meat chickens it was the broad breasted meat breeds.
When I was nineteen I purchased my personal first fifty chickens. Back then there was a hatchery by the name of Marti Poultry. I purchased 25 each of their Top Hat Special and Wild Island Fowl. The Top Hat Special consisted of hatchery choice of Gold Laced, Silver Laced, White Crested Black and Buff Laced Polish, Mottled Houdans and White Sultans.
The Wild Island Fowl consisted of Black Sumatra, Phoenix, Standard Old English Games, BBRed Cubalaya, Saipan and Yokohamas.
In the "Top Hat Special" I received Mottled Houdans, Gold and Silver Laced Polish and White Sultans.
In the "Wild Island Fowl" I received Black Sumatra, BBRed Cubalaya, Silver duckwing Phoenix and Silver Duckwing Standard Old English Games.
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
I like the interaction of going out amonst the chickens and they come up to me like in this photo. I was feeding them some raw peanuts which they really liked.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
The Cubalaya stand out heads above the rest, their curious and friendly disposition is to be desired. I select for a curious and friendly disposition without being handled much. Note: Not all Cubalaya are curious and friendly, these specifically came from breeders rather than hatchery ones. These in the picture are not the same as the ones I had gotten from Marti Poultry years ago, although the ones from Marti Poultry did have the typical, curious and friendly disposition. The Marti Poulty ones were long gone by the time this picture was taken.
Cubalaya have a real regal look and demeanor, they just look so majestic! There is a presence about them that is difficult to express.
The ones I have are instinctually wary of hawks from being a few days old. Cubalaya are wary of strangers as well, which I really really like. Of the ones pictured I only have the black one. The rest passed from old age.
This Cubalaya hen was 17 years old when she died and this is six days before that. She didn't seem unhealthy, it looked like she just lay down and passed.
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
From that very first group of Wild Island Fowl I kept the only Sumatra hen in that group.
That spring I had gotten a coonhound pup whom I named Lady, she was curious and playful just like puppies are. I spent a lot of time with Lady in training so she was very mindful of me.
This incident was when the Sumatra hen was seven years old. She had gone broody and hatched out twelve chicks. As she was out and about one day Lady the pup noticed that she had these little one week old chicks that scurried hither and thither wherever she took them, of course the pup was curious as to what these were as she had never seen a chicken that small before. I was intrigued enough to see what the hen would do if the pup came close to her with her having new chicks, that I allowed this incident to happen. The pup in her curiousity went to investigate. Mama hen did not like that! She sounded an alarm and when she did so the chicks scattered into an area of approximately twelve feet in diameter and flattened themselves to the ground, Mama hen then got the attention of the pup to herself. She fluttered around acting as though her wing was hurt and lured the pup to follow her. The pup only followed because she was curious as to why this hen was acting so strange. I had previously trained the pup to not chase the chickens wildly, so she just followed the hen purely out of curiousity. I watched them carefully. The mama hen took the pup to our horse pasture out through the weeds and out of sight of where she had left her chicks. When the mama hen was satisfied that she had sufficiently sidetracked the pup, being approximtely 150 yards from her chicks, she took to the air and flew back to where she had left the chicks. She stood close to the general area of the chicks for awhile making sure that the pup wasn't coming back, when she was confident that all was well she made a clucking sound and the chicks all popped up from where they were hiding and scurried to Mama. Mama hen then took them into cover where the pup usually didn't go.
I was impressed!
6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
We currently have a few horses and goats, a couple dogs and two cats.
Flicka doesn't mind when Rosy climbs all over her. Rosy's Mother is Laying down beside Flicka and Violet on the right is watching to make sure Captain the Cur doesn't get too close to Rosy.
Cosmo showing off. ^^^^
This is Lilly, she's half Gypsy Vanner and half Appaloosa.
Captain is a Cur and gentle with the goats.
Bowser watching the chickens, he has never chased the chickens that we know of. Captain on the other hand has needed a good amount of training, but is doing very well with the chickens now.
Buster the cat making his presence known.
Here is Cremesaver the orange and white cat, he is my wife's cat and will allow her to do almost anything with him, but is a bit stand-offish to me, but I don't mind because Buster the black and white one is more my cat.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
I enjoy photography for personal use, hiking, spending a lot of time with the pups, gardening and reading. I do a bit of fishing on occasion as well.
I appreciate BYC, it's definitely a favorite place to spend time and I would be at a loss if I didn't have it. I appreciate that it's a family friendly site, but also open to family friendly banter and humor.
@troyer
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
Very nice interview, thanks for sharing your life with us!
