jinmon
Chirping
- Jul 16, 2022
- 7
- 34
- 59
Howdy all! I'm Julie, and I'm new. 
I've been lurking and benefitting from all the amazing advice and information posted here for the past 7 months or so since I inherited a small young flock from a neighbor when I moved into her old apartment when she moved out of state in December. It's been so much fun - and absolute chaos!
From the initial 5 (two silkies, an easter egger, a bantam cochin (maybe?) and a rooster we think was the child of a bantam minorca hen and a silkie dad), the flock has mostly grown due to an unplanned 14-chick hatch (easter egger is a sudden and sneaky broody - she hid under the deck so far back I couldn't find her or get her out until her eggs were halfway along - and then I didn't have the heart to toss them... oy). But we did lose the roo (sweet Roo!
) to what I think was a fox. The flock is theoretically yard-ranging, but apparently I have very athletic birds who fly over fences or dig under them to go visit the neighbor's chickens, play in the woods, explore, etc. And unfortunately, in the last month we've had a young possum find and attack the chickens and a neighbor's chihuahua go after them - so needless to say I'm in the process of upgrading the fencing - and building a bigger coop!
Right now I have 15 chickens - the original 4 hens, 3 young cockerels, and 8 young hens. Friends of neighbors took a few chicks and may take 4-5 of the young hens soon, so that should get me down to a more reasonable number - though with more roos than I need, obviously! I may try creating a "boys town" for them and keeping them separate from the ladies to see if they can peacefully coexist that way if I don't find a trusted friend or neighbor who wants a handsome young fella for their girls!
Other than the chickens (who are bizarrely obsession-inducing), I have two wonderful indoor cats (Isaac and Percy) and a gorgeous rescued Belgian gelding named Remy (Remington). I'm lucky enough to have a job where I can work from home from anywhere, so for the last 2.5 years I've been able to live in an apartment on a farm and get my feet wet with a more rural lifestyle, which I am truly loving - and learning SO MUCH! I have always been an animal person, have some rescue and vet assistant background (planned to go into veterinary medicine but found other compelling interests - life is just too short!), so that's helped a lot with the transition. But it's quite different to put into practice all the stuff I only knew from books and videos!
I want to say a huge thank-you to this community, which has been such a help to me as a lurker as I've learned to deal with broody hens, new chicks, predator attacks, coop expansion, wing trimming, and a million other things! I finally decided to join today as I saw a post that I thought I could contribute to from what I've learned working with my own chicken setup - so it's really nice to be able to try and help others, as I've been so greatly helped here myself!
Thanks for having me!
-Julie
I've been lurking and benefitting from all the amazing advice and information posted here for the past 7 months or so since I inherited a small young flock from a neighbor when I moved into her old apartment when she moved out of state in December. It's been so much fun - and absolute chaos!From the initial 5 (two silkies, an easter egger, a bantam cochin (maybe?) and a rooster we think was the child of a bantam minorca hen and a silkie dad), the flock has mostly grown due to an unplanned 14-chick hatch (easter egger is a sudden and sneaky broody - she hid under the deck so far back I couldn't find her or get her out until her eggs were halfway along - and then I didn't have the heart to toss them... oy). But we did lose the roo (sweet Roo!
) to what I think was a fox. The flock is theoretically yard-ranging, but apparently I have very athletic birds who fly over fences or dig under them to go visit the neighbor's chickens, play in the woods, explore, etc. And unfortunately, in the last month we've had a young possum find and attack the chickens and a neighbor's chihuahua go after them - so needless to say I'm in the process of upgrading the fencing - and building a bigger coop!Right now I have 15 chickens - the original 4 hens, 3 young cockerels, and 8 young hens. Friends of neighbors took a few chicks and may take 4-5 of the young hens soon, so that should get me down to a more reasonable number - though with more roos than I need, obviously! I may try creating a "boys town" for them and keeping them separate from the ladies to see if they can peacefully coexist that way if I don't find a trusted friend or neighbor who wants a handsome young fella for their girls!
Other than the chickens (who are bizarrely obsession-inducing), I have two wonderful indoor cats (Isaac and Percy) and a gorgeous rescued Belgian gelding named Remy (Remington). I'm lucky enough to have a job where I can work from home from anywhere, so for the last 2.5 years I've been able to live in an apartment on a farm and get my feet wet with a more rural lifestyle, which I am truly loving - and learning SO MUCH! I have always been an animal person, have some rescue and vet assistant background (planned to go into veterinary medicine but found other compelling interests - life is just too short!), so that's helped a lot with the transition. But it's quite different to put into practice all the stuff I only knew from books and videos!
I want to say a huge thank-you to this community, which has been such a help to me as a lurker as I've learned to deal with broody hens, new chicks, predator attacks, coop expansion, wing trimming, and a million other things!
I finally decided to join today as I saw a post that I thought I could contribute to from what I've learned working with my own chicken setup - so it's really nice to be able to try and help others, as I've been so greatly helped here myself! Thanks for having me!
-Julie
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
