1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I first had 6 barred rock hens about 7-8 years ago. Unfortunately, I could only keep them 1 year. Because I had to move, I found them a good home.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
Now, I have 2 Barred Rock hens, both 2 years old. We had 3, but lost 1. Heart failure seemed probable, but I didn't have the heart, myself, to cut her open, and necropsy in Oregon is well over $100. My first dead hen
I imagine I will be less sensitive someday, pending further experience.
We also have 2 new 4-week-old chicks, 1 BO and 1 RIR. This will be my first time trying to integrate and create a larger flock.
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?
Google.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
Not many. I work a lot, paying off an acre and a vintage double-wide. I like DIY (mostly youtube, haha) to solve problems and produce needed elements at home. My husband and I framed walls on an open lean-to wood shed to build our chicken run (though adult hens free-range all day in the backyard), and I've recently drawn up plans using Google Sketch-up to build a coop for 4 hens. Our current coop is too small. The 2 hens that now use it, only use it for laying. They roost at night on the roof of the itty bitty coop. I had it built locally, but dude built it way too small. I was too much of a newb to know better, I guess.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
Me, my awesome husband (Avatar) and my mother live on the property. I work remotely at home in medical records. Mom has her own little studio. Between both households, there are 3 dogs, 2 kitties, 4 chickens (2 still in brooder), and several tropical fish in a freshwater aquarium. The chickens are our friends (with eggy benefits). I'm not at all against culling them; I just enjoy them way too much. I may cull and eat them someday if we ever need to, but, for the time being, we don't want to. We both like the idea of having a happy, long-lived chicken friend (or 2 or 3 but, hopefully, now 4)
I first had 6 barred rock hens about 7-8 years ago. Unfortunately, I could only keep them 1 year. Because I had to move, I found them a good home.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
Now, I have 2 Barred Rock hens, both 2 years old. We had 3, but lost 1. Heart failure seemed probable, but I didn't have the heart, myself, to cut her open, and necropsy in Oregon is well over $100. My first dead hen

We also have 2 new 4-week-old chicks, 1 BO and 1 RIR. This will be my first time trying to integrate and create a larger flock.
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?
Google.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
Not many. I work a lot, paying off an acre and a vintage double-wide. I like DIY (mostly youtube, haha) to solve problems and produce needed elements at home. My husband and I framed walls on an open lean-to wood shed to build our chicken run (though adult hens free-range all day in the backyard), and I've recently drawn up plans using Google Sketch-up to build a coop for 4 hens. Our current coop is too small. The 2 hens that now use it, only use it for laying. They roost at night on the roof of the itty bitty coop. I had it built locally, but dude built it way too small. I was too much of a newb to know better, I guess.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
Me, my awesome husband (Avatar) and my mother live on the property. I work remotely at home in medical records. Mom has her own little studio. Between both households, there are 3 dogs, 2 kitties, 4 chickens (2 still in brooder), and several tropical fish in a freshwater aquarium. The chickens are our friends (with eggy benefits). I'm not at all against culling them; I just enjoy them way too much. I may cull and eat them someday if we ever need to, but, for the time being, we don't want to. We both like the idea of having a happy, long-lived chicken friend (or 2 or 3 but, hopefully, now 4)