MoonDragonRoo
Hatching
Great to be here. I've been using BYC forums for a long time to just read and learn. Now I've decided to participate and join in the fun!
I live smack dab in the middle of Florida between Tampa and Orlando. I'm very new to Florida as I just moved here from San Diego, California. I love Cali, but it was getting too expensive for me to own animals there. Plus, it was time for a new adventure!
I just graduated college in digital media (and unfortunately I'm not the typical college kid age..shhhh...don't tell anyone...) only to find that college degrees don't always mean what you hoped they would. So much time and effort into getting that degree, and I can't find work in my field anywhere. So I'm trying to get past the post-grad "can't find a job" depression phase so I can keep building my skills. The chickens have really helped me to get through this funk so I can keep on plugging away at my goals. I'm seriously considering switching to a field that is animal-related! In the meantime, I've been picking up jobs where I can...manufacturing...retail...janitorial.
We can't have human kids, so our animals are our kids. My biggest baby is a Great Dane named Bob. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's a human!
Our chicken flock is small with only 12 birds all less than a year old. We don't have a farm or anything, but we have several acres and they seem to be very happy. Well, happy except when I don't let them out on time in the morning and they make a fine mess in the coop to remind me!
We made the mistake of buying several unsexed bantams. Unsexed my bottom! They ended up being all roosters. Now we have four roosters to eight hens. We haven't done anything about it just yet because they seem to be getting along okay and the hens look happy and healthy. The hens are larger than the roosters, so maybe that's why. They don't let the little guys push them around too much.
There is one rooster in particular that hates me, which is too bad because he is the prettiest of the lot. I'm trying some of the suggestions I've read here on the forums to control his bad behavior before he gets to be a problem. We'll see if it works or not. He hasn't actually physically hurt me yet, just likes to run at me and gently peck my legs, so I'm giving him a chance to shape up before those spurs get too nasty. The other roosters are not that bad, which is good, because they actually do have big spurs already.
The hens are great. They aren't the type of chickens that will let you hold them willingly, but they will come up to me and follow me around the yard in case I happen to drop something tasty. All except for our sole tiny bantam hen. She so badly wants to be a jungle bird. She loves to wander on her own. A rooster or two will try to follow her, but she is to fast and sneaky to be monitored all the time. Good thing she's good at hiding, otherwise a hawk would've gotten her.
Right now I'm working on figuring out how to make my chicken coop a lot better. It came with the house we bought and doesn't exactly have everything it should. I would like to make the nesting boxes more private instead of open, for example, and put an area where there is protection from the wind and cold on those occasional Florida nights when it frosts. Right now it's just a big open pen.
Well, that's it for me for now. Glad to be here and glad to virtually meet all of you! I'll post some pics of the flock later as I participate in the forums.
I live smack dab in the middle of Florida between Tampa and Orlando. I'm very new to Florida as I just moved here from San Diego, California. I love Cali, but it was getting too expensive for me to own animals there. Plus, it was time for a new adventure!
I just graduated college in digital media (and unfortunately I'm not the typical college kid age..shhhh...don't tell anyone...) only to find that college degrees don't always mean what you hoped they would. So much time and effort into getting that degree, and I can't find work in my field anywhere. So I'm trying to get past the post-grad "can't find a job" depression phase so I can keep building my skills. The chickens have really helped me to get through this funk so I can keep on plugging away at my goals. I'm seriously considering switching to a field that is animal-related! In the meantime, I've been picking up jobs where I can...manufacturing...retail...janitorial.
We can't have human kids, so our animals are our kids. My biggest baby is a Great Dane named Bob. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's a human!
Our chicken flock is small with only 12 birds all less than a year old. We don't have a farm or anything, but we have several acres and they seem to be very happy. Well, happy except when I don't let them out on time in the morning and they make a fine mess in the coop to remind me!
We made the mistake of buying several unsexed bantams. Unsexed my bottom! They ended up being all roosters. Now we have four roosters to eight hens. We haven't done anything about it just yet because they seem to be getting along okay and the hens look happy and healthy. The hens are larger than the roosters, so maybe that's why. They don't let the little guys push them around too much.
There is one rooster in particular that hates me, which is too bad because he is the prettiest of the lot. I'm trying some of the suggestions I've read here on the forums to control his bad behavior before he gets to be a problem. We'll see if it works or not. He hasn't actually physically hurt me yet, just likes to run at me and gently peck my legs, so I'm giving him a chance to shape up before those spurs get too nasty. The other roosters are not that bad, which is good, because they actually do have big spurs already.
The hens are great. They aren't the type of chickens that will let you hold them willingly, but they will come up to me and follow me around the yard in case I happen to drop something tasty. All except for our sole tiny bantam hen. She so badly wants to be a jungle bird. She loves to wander on her own. A rooster or two will try to follow her, but she is to fast and sneaky to be monitored all the time. Good thing she's good at hiding, otherwise a hawk would've gotten her.
Right now I'm working on figuring out how to make my chicken coop a lot better. It came with the house we bought and doesn't exactly have everything it should. I would like to make the nesting boxes more private instead of open, for example, and put an area where there is protection from the wind and cold on those occasional Florida nights when it frosts. Right now it's just a big open pen.
Well, that's it for me for now. Glad to be here and glad to virtually meet all of you! I'll post some pics of the flock later as I participate in the forums.
! I'm so glad you've joined us here officially! Good luck with your chickens and your job!
