Expectant Mom in Utah

Pics
Date sort Score sort
jjulian812

jjulian812

Songster
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Messages
69
Reaction score
241
Points
116
Location
Bountiful, Utah
Hi,

My six girls are hatching out next week and I’m beyond excited.

Since I was a little girl, I have wanted to have chickens, and now, finally, at age 72, I will finally get to be a chicken mommie. We are expecting 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Australorps, hopefully all girls. I’m just a little anxious and hoping I’m not too old to learn all I need to know to raise these girls.

My husband and I live in Bountiful, Utah, on a quarter acre lot where we have 17 fruit trees, 12 grape vines, flower and vegetable gardens, and have finally figured out a way to squeeze chickens in. So happy about that. I spend so much time in the garden and it will be nice to have company.

We have a 11 children (second marriage for us both), 33 grandchildren and some of them even live nearby.
We love to travel, especially in the winter, which can seem to last forever. I guess we won’t be doing a lot of traveling, can’t even think about going off and leaving our chickens.

Beside gardening, I enjoy cooking/baking, reading (especially lying in the hammock in the grape arbor),Quilting, hiking (well, more like just walking now), traveling, sketching and painting, and of course, spending time with grandkids. Now I can add chicken keeping to my favorite ways to spend my time.

I’m so very happy to have found this site. Lots to learn and this a goldmine of information and help from experts. I’m also looking forward to finding new friends. I hear chicken lovers make the best friends.
 
Last edited:
jjulian812 said:
Hi,

My six girls are hatching out next week and I’m beyond excited.

Since I was a little girl, I have wanted to have chickens, and now, finally, at age 72, I will finally get to be a chicken mommie. We are expecting 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Australorps, hopefully all girls. I’m just a little anxious and hoping I’m not too old to learn all I need to know to raise these girls.

My husband and I live in Bountiful, Utah, on a quarter acre lot where we have 17 fruit trees, 12 grape vines, flower and vegetable gardens, and have finally figured out a way to squeeze chickens in. So happy about that. I spend so much time in the garden and it will be nice to have company.

We have a 11 children (second marriage for us both), 33 grandchildren and some of them even live nearby.
We love to travel, especially in the winter, which can seem to last forever. I guess we won’t be doing a lot of traveling, can’t even think about going off and leaving our chickens.

Beside gardening, I enjoy cooking/baking, reading (especially lying in the hammock in the grape arbor), hiking (well, more like just walking now), traveling, sketching and painting, and of course, spending time with grandkids. Now I can add chicken keeping to my favorite ways to spend my time.

I’m so very happy to have found this site. Lots to learn and this a goldmine of information and help from experts. I’m also looking forward to finding new friends. I hear chicken lovers make the best friends.
Click to expand...
:frowHi there and welcome to BYC. You are in for a treat. You’re going to love being a chicken keeper.

Read all you can here. This is a great site.
There is a LEARNING CENTER with lots of articles and many many coop pages to look at for inspiration.

Just make sure you build right the first time so they have plenty of space to be happy healthy and safe... and so that you also have a plan for keeping them out of the garden and arbor.
 
byc-chicken-family.jpg

hithere.gif
If you get the right setup in place, I think you'll find you can still go on vacations... just leave a few easy instructions for a neighbor or petsitter, or one of your children. My coop has attached covered runs, with a poop tray under the roosts that I just scoop like cat litter... very easy maintenance. (see link under my avatar) The rest of the coop and run I use pine shavings as a deep litter method, keep adding and only change them out once a year. The old litter goes to a bin to finish composting and by the following year, it's the best garden soil you can get!

I also free range my girls in my suburban yard and they do have a tendency to destroy some landscaping if left unchecked, especially my raised garden beds. But I blocked off a special dust bath corner in one of the beds which seems to work well keeping them from other areas, although they did manage to take over one of my flower pots too.
dust-bath-garden.jpg flower-pot2.jpg

Getting new chicks is so exciting! Make sure your coop is all ready to go by the time they arrive... those little buggers grow so fast! Here are some links to articles that contain essential information to incorporate in your coop build:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!

Predator Proofing

Best wishes in your new chicken adventure!
 
staceyj said:
:frowHi there and welcome to BYC. You are in for a treat. You’re going to love being a chicken keeper.

Read all you can here. This is a great site.
There is a LEARNING CENTER with lots of articles and many many coop pages to look at for inspiration.

Just make sure you build right the first time so they have plenty of space to be happy healthy and safe... and so that you also have a plan for keeping them out of the garden and arbor.
Click to expand...

Yes, we’ll have a 50x12 run for them when they’re not invited into the garden.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom