PrettyPaws29
In the Brooder
Hello all! I'm a homeschooling momma and wife from south Georgia. My husband and I have been married for 15 years and we have two boys - one is 11 and one is 7. I am a huge animal lover - doesn't matter what kind of animal either lol! We currently (besides the chickens) have 5 dogs and a cat as well. All of my days revolve around the kids and the animals (and of course, the hubby too, can't leave him out). I'm also a dog groomer and have my own grooming shop on my property as well. I cannot even begin to explain to you how much I love my job!
I grew up with chickens, quail, peacocks, turkey, and pheasant. Those I remember us always having when I was growing up. Every now and then we'd get pigeons, partridges, peafowl, ducks and geese. Because of that, birds have always had a special place in my heart. My husband and I had a large flock of chicken and peacocks when we first got married and moved in together. At one time we had 27 chickens and 8 peacocks! But, when I got pregnant with our first son I was very sick, it was a very hard pregnancy and I ended up spending 6 of the 9 months in the hospital and we just couldn't continue to take care of them like we had been. They were pets, they were loved, they were spoiled and now we didn't have the time for them. It just wasn't fair to them. So, we found them all amazing homes and vowed that as soon as I was back on my feet, we would start our flock over again, Well, 11 years and another baby later here we are!
Two weeks ago I got my first 5 chicks since my first child was born, and boy am I excited!! Even though they've only been with us two weeks tomorrow - I've already got them spoiled rotten - I really had begun to forget how much joy come from chickens - some of them can be just the sweetest things ever. And even the ones that aren't find their own special place.
The 5 chicks we have already have their names - Cupcake and Josephine were sold to us as buff Orpingtons. I say "sold as" because for some reason in our area you will quite frequently be told you're buying one thing, and come to realize that isn't what you got at all several weeks down the road. We also have Pepper, Dutchess and Sasha. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Even the people running the store couldn't tell us what these three were. They ordered in 3 different chipmunk colored breeds and put them all together - with no one working there able to tell them apart in any even tiny way. What we do know is those three breeds were Speckled Sussex, Welsummer, and Bantam Brown Leghorns.
I'm not picky about my chickens, and I really don't mind whatever they turn out to be - but that is quite aggravating. I have pictures up of all of them that I plan on updating every week so everyone can watch them grow and change with me, and find out what they really are all together! Currently they are in the brooder (it's a chicken mansion - seriously) and we are building a coop and yard currently. I have pictures of the brooder box up and the bitty box I use (I used to use this for chicks from eggs that we incubated and hatched for the first week or so.) and as soon as I get my coop done pics will be going up of it too. I've got high aspirations for this one. We're making everything much bigger than we need for 5 chicks, because this is just the beginning! Chicken obsession and chicken math is a real thing!
This is one of the most amazing and comprehensive sites revolving around chickens/fowl I've ever come across. It truly is an amazing place, and it has helped me even though I do know what I'm doing. I'm still a bit rusty at this and I love that anything I could possibly need answered can be found right here in one place. I just happened across this site while searching out what to do about wry neck (one of the rusty parts), and I've devoted waaaay to much time to searching and looking here since I did.
Thank you all so much for making such an amazing community of chicken lovers!
I grew up with chickens, quail, peacocks, turkey, and pheasant. Those I remember us always having when I was growing up. Every now and then we'd get pigeons, partridges, peafowl, ducks and geese. Because of that, birds have always had a special place in my heart. My husband and I had a large flock of chicken and peacocks when we first got married and moved in together. At one time we had 27 chickens and 8 peacocks! But, when I got pregnant with our first son I was very sick, it was a very hard pregnancy and I ended up spending 6 of the 9 months in the hospital and we just couldn't continue to take care of them like we had been. They were pets, they were loved, they were spoiled and now we didn't have the time for them. It just wasn't fair to them. So, we found them all amazing homes and vowed that as soon as I was back on my feet, we would start our flock over again, Well, 11 years and another baby later here we are!
Two weeks ago I got my first 5 chicks since my first child was born, and boy am I excited!! Even though they've only been with us two weeks tomorrow - I've already got them spoiled rotten - I really had begun to forget how much joy come from chickens - some of them can be just the sweetest things ever. And even the ones that aren't find their own special place.
The 5 chicks we have already have their names - Cupcake and Josephine were sold to us as buff Orpingtons. I say "sold as" because for some reason in our area you will quite frequently be told you're buying one thing, and come to realize that isn't what you got at all several weeks down the road. We also have Pepper, Dutchess and Sasha. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Even the people running the store couldn't tell us what these three were. They ordered in 3 different chipmunk colored breeds and put them all together - with no one working there able to tell them apart in any even tiny way. What we do know is those three breeds were Speckled Sussex, Welsummer, and Bantam Brown Leghorns.
I'm not picky about my chickens, and I really don't mind whatever they turn out to be - but that is quite aggravating. I have pictures up of all of them that I plan on updating every week so everyone can watch them grow and change with me, and find out what they really are all together! Currently they are in the brooder (it's a chicken mansion - seriously) and we are building a coop and yard currently. I have pictures of the brooder box up and the bitty box I use (I used to use this for chicks from eggs that we incubated and hatched for the first week or so.) and as soon as I get my coop done pics will be going up of it too. I've got high aspirations for this one. We're making everything much bigger than we need for 5 chicks, because this is just the beginning! Chicken obsession and chicken math is a real thing!
This is one of the most amazing and comprehensive sites revolving around chickens/fowl I've ever come across. It truly is an amazing place, and it has helped me even though I do know what I'm doing. I'm still a bit rusty at this and I love that anything I could possibly need answered can be found right here in one place. I just happened across this site while searching out what to do about wry neck (one of the rusty parts), and I've devoted waaaay to much time to searching and looking here since I did.
Thank you all so much for making such an amazing community of chicken lovers!
