Hey everyone
It took me a bit to scroll down the page far enough to see there was a place for new member introductions! I was busy reading all the great forums above it. First off, I'm Shannon, 30, and the username is something I've had here and there for a while. I have a dog named Frank, and he is verrah shiny. Glossy even.
Here I go!
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I got my first five hens from my mom, who had been keeping chickens at her place. We were around a lot when she first got them, it was so much fun raising babies and chicken-watching. She was moving from 5 acres to suburbia, and is now not allowed to keep chickens, despite having a 1 acre lot on a dead end street. Anyway, she did have 30+ hens but just before I was to come pick my keepers out, a raccoon got into the coop and the five girls I got were the only survivors. There were 3 RIR, 1 EE, and 1 (I think) Light Cornish. She was a weird bird, compared to the other 4 - VERY flighty, thick legs, and more upright posture. I had them for about 3 years when a girl who rides at the barn where my daughter takes riding lessons brought home two bantam babies from her Spring Break. Her mother brought them to me to raise, and they became my daughter's favorite pets until the little black one turned into a *real* rooster and pecked the crap out of her lip. The love story was over between those two. I wanted to change his name from PeeWee to Joe Pesci, but DD drew the line there. We rehomed all the birds when we were thinking of selling the house and I've been without for ~18 mos.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
As of this morning, 4 little chicklets.
(3) What breeds do you have?
So far, 1 Barred Rock, 1 black Australorp, and 2 Easter Eggers, both that badgery brown color...partridge?
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?
Probably Google.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
When I used to have a hobby, I showed dogs. Now I don't really have enough "me" time to devote to a hobby, which is pretty sucky. When I'm not rocking (or imagining an escape from) the domestic life, I make plaster belly casts for expectant mothers and turn them into art, and I dabble in henna body art. I'd like to make art pay the bills, but again, that stuff takes time I don't have. I also spend a lot of time answering my grandma's endless phone calls about what's for sale on QVC, or who Nancy Grace is lambasting, or what scary, ancient food she's making for me to sample when I come over...in a week.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
I am a perennial college student and homeschooling mom to one nearly 9 y.o. daughter. I have a great husband who went from somewhat fearful of dogs and indifferent to other animals to living in a zoo, happily, by his own admission! Really, I asked him that tonight after he got home to 4 new chicks.
I have 4 dogs - an australian shepherd (black tri, male, Simon), a coonhound/lab mix (tricolor, female, Ruby), and two italian greyhounds (both black & white, Frank - male, Paradise - female)
And then there's cats. Housecats are Bootsy Collins, Sunny, and Alfonso (Fonzi). "Porch cats", or "cats that I trapped, altered, and now feed because they started hanging around the chicken coop and garage, threatening to breed like mad" are Ethan, Mama Cat, & Stripey. Ethan came with his name, but let the unoriginality of the other two reflect my desire to NOT become a crazy cat lady. Or a crazy dog lady. Crazy chicken lady is okay with me... I'm just too soft. With the exception of chickens, there is an indefinite hiring freeze for pets, no matter how cute and desperate!
Glad to be here, and I hope to learn some awesome chickeny stuff!
It took me a bit to scroll down the page far enough to see there was a place for new member introductions! I was busy reading all the great forums above it. First off, I'm Shannon, 30, and the username is something I've had here and there for a while. I have a dog named Frank, and he is verrah shiny. Glossy even.
Here I go!
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I got my first five hens from my mom, who had been keeping chickens at her place. We were around a lot when she first got them, it was so much fun raising babies and chicken-watching. She was moving from 5 acres to suburbia, and is now not allowed to keep chickens, despite having a 1 acre lot on a dead end street. Anyway, she did have 30+ hens but just before I was to come pick my keepers out, a raccoon got into the coop and the five girls I got were the only survivors. There were 3 RIR, 1 EE, and 1 (I think) Light Cornish. She was a weird bird, compared to the other 4 - VERY flighty, thick legs, and more upright posture. I had them for about 3 years when a girl who rides at the barn where my daughter takes riding lessons brought home two bantam babies from her Spring Break. Her mother brought them to me to raise, and they became my daughter's favorite pets until the little black one turned into a *real* rooster and pecked the crap out of her lip. The love story was over between those two. I wanted to change his name from PeeWee to Joe Pesci, but DD drew the line there. We rehomed all the birds when we were thinking of selling the house and I've been without for ~18 mos.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
As of this morning, 4 little chicklets.
(3) What breeds do you have?
So far, 1 Barred Rock, 1 black Australorp, and 2 Easter Eggers, both that badgery brown color...partridge?
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?
Probably Google.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
When I used to have a hobby, I showed dogs. Now I don't really have enough "me" time to devote to a hobby, which is pretty sucky. When I'm not rocking (or imagining an escape from) the domestic life, I make plaster belly casts for expectant mothers and turn them into art, and I dabble in henna body art. I'd like to make art pay the bills, but again, that stuff takes time I don't have. I also spend a lot of time answering my grandma's endless phone calls about what's for sale on QVC, or who Nancy Grace is lambasting, or what scary, ancient food she's making for me to sample when I come over...in a week.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
I am a perennial college student and homeschooling mom to one nearly 9 y.o. daughter. I have a great husband who went from somewhat fearful of dogs and indifferent to other animals to living in a zoo, happily, by his own admission! Really, I asked him that tonight after he got home to 4 new chicks.
I have 4 dogs - an australian shepherd (black tri, male, Simon), a coonhound/lab mix (tricolor, female, Ruby), and two italian greyhounds (both black & white, Frank - male, Paradise - female)
And then there's cats. Housecats are Bootsy Collins, Sunny, and Alfonso (Fonzi). "Porch cats", or "cats that I trapped, altered, and now feed because they started hanging around the chicken coop and garage, threatening to breed like mad" are Ethan, Mama Cat, & Stripey. Ethan came with his name, but let the unoriginality of the other two reflect my desire to NOT become a crazy cat lady. Or a crazy dog lady. Crazy chicken lady is okay with me... I'm just too soft. With the exception of chickens, there is an indefinite hiring freeze for pets, no matter how cute and desperate!
Glad to be here, and I hope to learn some awesome chickeny stuff!
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