- Mar 28, 2014
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What a great resource this site has been to me! I am somewhat of a newbie (my grandmother was an avid chicken keeper) and I am starting my first flock. Started with 9 hens, five of which turned out to be roosters. I had already named them.....Rosa Parks, Marilyn Monroe, Queen Latifah, etc., well, Queen was a really handsome roo, so I kept him and the 4 other girls. They are small black and RIR mixed. Then I got 3 Americanas, a Black A. and a silver laced W. Then Rosa Parks hatched out two eggs and I bought 2 leghorns. Then I got a Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco with 18 Black Copper Maran Eggs and 6 RIR mix X Queen in there on day 9 at this point and I am off and running. Rosa Parks is also very broody and is now sitting on five other eggs. I have a day job that keeps me busy, and I keep a small farm in North Central Florida, not far from Gainesville (where UF is located). I have a kitchen garden that now has several beds dedicated to chicken food, a small citrus grove, blueberries and all the day lilies, roses, camellias, etc., etc., etc. that make a garden beautiful. Sure do like the poo. It makes everything happy. I try to grow and raise my chickens organically and am mostly successful in doing so. I live on a small wild lake and there are lots of predators here. As you know, EVERYTHING likes to eat chicken. I have hawks, eagles, kites, bob cats, foxes, raccoons, possums, and snakes in addition to the Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs that I keep, oh and of course coyotes. I pride myself on having built a really tight coop and run for my girls which I am now ready to expand to include 2 breeding coops and runs. Wish me luck. I can only let the girls out under close supervision so I have very large run areas. I am interested in having rainbow colored eggs and selling maran and wellsummer hatching eggs once my flocks are established. It is just me, the dogs and the chickens here on the farm, so it is a lot of work, but also a lot of pleasure. I am glad to have found a sense of community here on Backyard Chickens and hope to get to know some of you better. I was trying to learn about candeling but gave it up when I could not see anything in my BC Maran eggs. Later I will buy a scope, but for now, am just trusting that all will go well. I will probably do 3 -4 sets this summer. How exciting! Just call me .....Eggmoma
an Welcome To BYC! You're going to have a busy summer! Good luck with all your poultry projects!
