Skylark47
In the Brooder
Hello everyone! I am a new chicken mama, having inherited four lovely hens in a backyard coop with the house my family just bought, as the previous owners were moving out of state. We are in Portland, Oregon. We've had them about four months now and I've been trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. We've already had some injury drama (just posted on another thread about this!) which has been very stressful and sad but I'm grateful to see I'm not alone in all this.
Two of the hens are five years old and two of them are three years old. They are all slightly different and so pretty! My best guesses as to breeds are a brown and white Sussex named Helene and a black-green Australorpe named Matilda, both age five. The three year olds I think are a brown and gray Cream Legbar named Eunice and a dark Speckledy (maybe?) named Lettie. They have so much personality, come running when I have treats, and are very curious.
I can see their coop in from my office and my bathroom so I love checking in on them from afar and spend time with them outside. It makes me so happy to look out and see them in their run, and their excitement and curiosity in general.
I'm still adjusting to the constant cleaning and maintaining of a backyard coop, though I have a cat as well, so sometimes it just feels like a very large litterbox, haha.
These hens are definitely more of pets to me than anything else, though we do get regular eggs from one or two of them. There were more before their recent seasonal molting but one of them, I suspect Lettie, is back in high production. Eunice sadly has been struggling the past few months with some injuries and is currently in a chicken hospital in our spare bathroom. It's been a few months of angst for me trying to do my best to get her healthy again, and my heart hurts a bit that I suspect she isn't going to make it through this. I've grown quite attached to her.
Outside of new chicken-lady status, I'm an artist/illustrator and designer. I'm self-employed and run my own creative studio making artwork for licensing, Etsy and markets, and graphic design client work. I'm also a big crafter and home-maker, spending time with sewing, knitting, building/DIY, gardening and cooking. I'm also a voracious reader and have a gazillion library books checked out at any given time - mix of fiction/literary and also tons of home garden and lifestyle books and non-fiction about various things that peak my curiosity. Currently I live with my partner and his son and my mom, plus our little cat. We love long walks around our neighborhood and boardgames and movies.
I found BYC as soon as I made my first google search about chicken care, and have been reading a lot of posts as things come up to see if I'm "doing it right" but especially with the coming winter and the injured girl. I also joined a FB chicken group but I kind of hate going on FB, haha.
Anyways, excited to be here. Thank you all for sharing all your knowledge and experiences!
Two of the hens are five years old and two of them are three years old. They are all slightly different and so pretty! My best guesses as to breeds are a brown and white Sussex named Helene and a black-green Australorpe named Matilda, both age five. The three year olds I think are a brown and gray Cream Legbar named Eunice and a dark Speckledy (maybe?) named Lettie. They have so much personality, come running when I have treats, and are very curious.
I can see their coop in from my office and my bathroom so I love checking in on them from afar and spend time with them outside. It makes me so happy to look out and see them in their run, and their excitement and curiosity in general.
I'm still adjusting to the constant cleaning and maintaining of a backyard coop, though I have a cat as well, so sometimes it just feels like a very large litterbox, haha.
These hens are definitely more of pets to me than anything else, though we do get regular eggs from one or two of them. There were more before their recent seasonal molting but one of them, I suspect Lettie, is back in high production. Eunice sadly has been struggling the past few months with some injuries and is currently in a chicken hospital in our spare bathroom. It's been a few months of angst for me trying to do my best to get her healthy again, and my heart hurts a bit that I suspect she isn't going to make it through this. I've grown quite attached to her.
Outside of new chicken-lady status, I'm an artist/illustrator and designer. I'm self-employed and run my own creative studio making artwork for licensing, Etsy and markets, and graphic design client work. I'm also a big crafter and home-maker, spending time with sewing, knitting, building/DIY, gardening and cooking. I'm also a voracious reader and have a gazillion library books checked out at any given time - mix of fiction/literary and also tons of home garden and lifestyle books and non-fiction about various things that peak my curiosity. Currently I live with my partner and his son and my mom, plus our little cat. We love long walks around our neighborhood and boardgames and movies.
I found BYC as soon as I made my first google search about chicken care, and have been reading a lot of posts as things come up to see if I'm "doing it right" but especially with the coming winter and the injured girl. I also joined a FB chicken group but I kind of hate going on FB, haha.
Anyways, excited to be here. Thank you all for sharing all your knowledge and experiences!
