Good Morning and Hello!

[SusanCranford]

Good Morning Everyone.

I am very new to chickens and don’t even have any Yet. The grand plans are to retire from working my 9-5 in the next few years and have a small hobby farm on the 40 acres I just bought in Arkansas. This something I have dream about doing since I was a kid. In the mean time I am in the Dallas suburbs dreaming of a busy, but less stressful life and reading and learning.

A friend who has lived my dream told me to read everything I can and do anything I can in my backyard so that I kept my dream alive. I now have 3 raised garden beds and a bumper crop of tomatoes on the vine. She also said to check my city ordinance and see if they allow chickens. I did and we can have up to 10! No roosters. I only want 3-4. They do require them to be 30 feet from your neighbors house. I have a nice big corner lot so no issues. The HOA does not prevent them, but will not allow structures to be seen above the fence line. No problem, 8’ board on board. Yes! I don’t have to wait for Arkansas to have my chickens!

Before we add the feathered friends to our family of furry friends I have been doing my research and going through the what if list. So in short I am hear to meet and talk to others about chickens.

My other hobbies range from sewing to shooting, cooking to camping. I have 5 indoor cats and 2dogs...one is my 10 month old lab. I recently was given my parents business to run, so I’m a geologist by day and manufacture deep sea fishing equipment by night with my husband-part of the retirement plan.

I’m looking forward to meeting all of you and having some wonderful conversations.

Susan

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello Susan and welcome to BYC. I wish you the best of luck with your hobby farm in the future.

On this link you'll find lots of information on almost every aspect of keeping birds - from coop building ideas, to incubating eggs - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/

There’s a link on the page above to the Learning Centre - it’s a great resource. If you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive


You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find Your State Thread

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[sourland]

Good morning, Susan, and welcome to BYC. Study the forums, ask questions, plan, and you will be good to go. I highly recommend retirement. It's a great thing.

 

[N F C]

Hi Susan, how nice you can start "practicing" for retirement now

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[drumstick diva]

Nice to meet you Susan, Welcome to Backyard chickens.

 

[Joeschooks]

Hello Susan. It sounds like you have some great plans. I hope you enjoy the site

 

[SusanCranford]

Thank you. My husband is usually the one that spends hours reading and posting on different forums. I spent a good part of the afternoon reading different posts.