Hello from Tasmania, Australia!

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?

I still class myself as new to chickens although I purchased my first four bantams in August 2016. They were a pair of Golden Seabrights and two Duckwing Leghorns. Having got used to having these, I then progressed to Standard size and purchased a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Lavender Araucana.

(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
24!

(3) What breeds do you have?

I've now got the breeding bug and have Buff Laced and Gold Laced Wyandottes; Lavender, Blue-Wheaten and Isabel Araucanas and an Oliver Egger rooster with a variety of Pretty Hens. I intend to purchase a French Wheaten or Golden Cuckoo Marans Rooster to put my Olive Eggers to, to darken up the Olive Eggs I'm getting at present.

(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?

I love their characters - especially the way they run down the hill of their yard to the gate as soon as they see me! Greedy little things they are! I also love the different feather colours and patterns and egg colours.


(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
No time for any others now, despite being retired! I spend a lot of time researching and learning about chickens on the net and Facebook. I used to breed Arabian Horses and loved their different colours also, especially Black, Palomino and Buckskin.

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.

My partner and I moved from Queensland down to Tassie as we could no longer handle the heat and humidity. We sometimes whinge about the incessant rain when working outside but still prefer it to the extreme heat, which has worsened since we moved three years ago. The summers down here are a delight!

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? I probably found BYC whilst searching for answers and I saw a post about crossing Lavender, Wheaten and Blue and found the reply strange saying that most of the resulting birds would be black as I was advised they will produce Isabel, wheaten, blue-wheaten and Lavender, so having introduced myself I'll now go to the Forum and ask that question! But later - have to clean coops now!!