Hello All!

[Beacon Point Ratite Ranch]

My name is Nicholas Whalley. I grew up on a farm until the age of 11 and have been bouncing around from apartment to apartment ever since. I hate the apartment life and have always wanted a farm of my own. It's been a long road to get here, but I am FINALLY buying a beautiful place down in Canterbury, CT. We're closing on the sale a week from today and I couldn't be more excited! For the last 5 years, I have developed a strong passion for ratites! Specifically ostriches, emus and rheas. These will be just a few of the animal species I intend to raise on the ranch, but they will also be what we have the most of. The bird will be raised for meat, leather, feathers and eggs. I will also be offering for sale a large number of other products composed of what we get from our livestock. I hope to meet others in the industry via this site to share information and experiences now and into future!

Nicholas Whalley
Beacon Point Ratite Ranch

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
We are glad you joined this flock!
Jump right in and make yourself at home.

Good luck at the closing! Exciting times.

This video will help you learn how to navigate this site (how to upload photos too):

Coop Ideas:
Chicken Coops.

What exactly did you Google to get here? <<<<<<<<<<<

BYC has an APP!

 

[CarpCharacin]

Welcome to BYC! We're glad you decided to join our wonderful community!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi Nicholas and congrats on your escape from apartment life.

This is a useful link of “How to” BYC guides to take a look at announcements-feedback-issues-guides.3. I’d suggest including your location using the guide in the link. You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find your State's thread.

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[Melky]

Welcome to BYC!​

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Nicholas and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!!

Feel free to check out the links below for some interesting reading. Good luck on your adventures!​

 

[drumstick diva]

So glad you joined us at Backyard Chickens

 

[sourland]

Hello, Nicholas, congratulations on your upcoming move, and good luck in establishing your flocks.

 

[Beacon Point Ratite Ranch]

Wow! Such a warm welcome! ^_^ Thank you all for saying hello! I'm so happy to be here! To let you know a little more about me: Aside from the ratites, I also intend to raise chickens, ducks, goats and alpaca! Why that particular mix of species? Chickens and ducks for meat, feathers and eggs, goats for milk (can't stand the smell of cows) and alpaca for fiber to spin, weave fabric and crochet garments out of!

I'm basically trying to set things up so that we are almost entirely self-sufficient! I want trips to the grocery store to be something we do mainly for things like flour, salt and spices. We will also be growing our own veggies, fruits and herbs! We're basically trying to minimize overhead, so anywhere we can cut out a recurring bill, we will. The farm already has a well and septic system, so no bills there. Well, except for emptying the septic tank every 10 years (the septic tank is HUGE!), but that's not very expensive. I plan to buy (not rent) and install solar panels on the house so we can eliminate our electric bill too!

I'm under no illusion that this will all happen in the first year we're there, however. I'm thinking in about 10 years we will hit that point. In the meantime, we will work our way there adding new animals and farm features as the budget allows.

Nicholas Whalley
Beacon Point Ratite Ranch