Hello everyone I just joined

I Live in Washington State in the Seattle suburbs and I have five lovely acres in Snohomish County. I hope to retire next year and move there to start a hobby farm.

I was raised on an old school dairy farm in New York State and we kept hogs and chickens for our own subsistence. I have collected many an egg and plucked many a bird when I was growing up. One of my early childhood memories was coming into my house crying because a nasty rooster attacked me. Later that afternoon I looked out the kitchen window to see my mother dipping his lifeless body into a pot of scalding water. He was delicious!

That being said, I have always liked raising chickens. We would have baby chicks in our living room each year, keeping them warm until they could move to the coop.

When I build my house on my property one of the first things I will do is set up my chicken living quarters. I intend to grow free range birds on an alfalfa / rye / buckwheat patch supplemented as necessary with organic vegetables and feed.

Like a lot of young men, I left the farm to make my fortune when I was eighteen. I joined the Air Force and after got my engineering degree with the GI Bill. I have spent the last forty years in the high tech business. I'm ready to go back to farming. I look forward to conversing with you all to start out on the right foot.