Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[ronott1]

Hey old and new fiends. I got a very nice message from @Nifty-Chicken checking in after a long absence on the forums. I had a crazy few years. I took a little break from being online and on social media for a few years due to life craziness and I also shut down my pastured poultry business during the pandemic and I've just been growing out my own chickens for my family and friends the last few years. Currently just hatched out a clutch of black astrolorp, buff Orpington, and blue Andalusian chicks and I'm waiting for some Mottled Brahma eggs I'm pretty excited about. Love the community here and excited to be diving in again. See ya around!

It is nice to see you!

Are you going to start up the business again?

 

[ronott1]

Hello! Its been tough these past years.

I had to leave home and give all my chickens, geese and quail away due to some pressing family troubles.

I hope that this year i can go back at it again without having to loose it all again.

(PS: its amazing to feel the sense of community here <3<3)

Iam sorry about the troubles!

It sounds like things are getting better for you.

 

[ronott1]

Thank you for the poke and link here @Nifty-Chicken
Life got busy and I dropped off of most socials. Currently, I have my 2 girls that survived the starting small brood my husband and I got that first led us here. We've had several ducks that came and went since then that we're mostly given to us as rescues more of less by others. Currently we have 3 ducks and we are trying to raise a pair of geese to add to our small backyard flock.
We had a bit of an accident with one of our poor girls though, and she unfortunately didn't make it which is heartbreaking given that we're keeping our flock for pets. We located another store with babies since we know they should be kept with at least one other goose, and are trying to decide how long the quarantine period needs to be before we let them be together. I'll be making a post about that here shortly in the geese forums.

Good to be back at least somewhat!

I ams sorry you lost one! It is good to see that you are getting a new friend for the one you still have.

 

[Raenh]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Hey, y'all! Im checking in and i know its been awhile! Gonna update my first post with a new surprise picture of Speedy! Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[Oliver_Douglas]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Been a while since I posted here. Hope Y'all are well.

Tragedy (and coyotes) struck a couple years ago, taking a couple of our small flock of 5 (Orangina 1 and Orangina 2).

Then we lost our old-timer (Easter) and Gorgeous (a beautiful campine) to sickness, leaving just 1--Shaggy--also a campine that got attacked by a hawk, and lost most of her feathers in what appeared to be a stress response. They eventually they grew back a little, well, shaggy.

With our flock all but gone, I didn't post too much.

And thus began the current flock--with Shaggy no longer shaggy, but beautiful again, and top of the pecking order, with the addition of two "Production Reds"--Brownie, and Not Brownie--and two Australorps (One of the reds has a single brown feather in her tail--the other doesn't)

We lost one of the Australorps about 6 months in to some kind of predator. May have been a bobcat, because they were 'safely' closed up in the barn, or so I thought, and she literally vanished--I found 1-2 feathers but no other sign of struggle.

So now, and for the past 18 months or so, we have a stable small flock of 4: Shaggy the boss, 1 big ol' Australorp (Blue Bell), 1 quiet Red, and one chatty Red--in that (pecking) order.

They free range every day from about 2PM to sundown. We have a few acres, but they stay mostly around the house and barn, where where their coop is.

I now have two LOUD boat horns (the ones in a can), one in the house, 1 in the barn, that I've used to successfully ward off red tailed hawks. They are bold, and will swoop right in, within 20 feet of humans, but that horn scatters 'em for sure.

Today was coop deep-cleaning day. 1) open all the barn doors, fans on high, 2) shovel coop, 3) sweep coop, 4) vacuum coop, 5) spray with premethirn--coop and surrounding area, 6) air dry, 7) sprinkle liberally with DE, then 8) a few pine shavings, and 9) a few fragrant nesting herbs in the nesting boxes (ridiculous, I know--it was a gift, ok?), 10) wash feed bowls and waterers, 11) fresh water with nutri-drench supplement, 12) fresh food (crumbles).

Shoot I could live here...