Hello from Wisconsin! First-year flock keeper here.

Hey all. I have read quite a few things from this site and am finally joining. A little about me ...

I live on 40 acres in northern WI with my husband, 4 kids, 1 border collie named Solo, many reptiles, and then there is the flock. Most of these aren't actually "mine," but my husband and I did put in a lot of time, effort, and money into gettiing the birds for our kids!

We have: 17 chickens. 13 were purchased first as pullets, but we ended up with 2 roosters. There are 2 black Australorp roosters, 3 black Australorp hens, 2 New Hampshire Red hens, and 6 red sex-link hens. The next 4 were purchased a few months later, and there is one of each: Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Ameraucana, and 1 bantam mottled Cochin rooster.

9 ducks. I lay claim to the Khaki Campbell and crested hens. The others belong to my son (who is @Spyderk117 ) and there are 3 mallards (1 drake), Buff, Pekin (drake), and a Rouen. My youngest daughter has a Cayuga drake.

Then the pigeons ... an red archangel that flew in one day and wouldn't leave, so she became our pet (and first bird)! We then added 4 rock pigeons from a local (and apparently well-known) loft nearby. One of those pigeons mated with our existing one, and from her we now have 4 babies of various ages. One is only a day old!

We've been at our place for 2 years now, and our future plans include a beef cow and sheep, maybe even a pig. I'm looking forward to browsing the forums and learning quite a bit on how to have a hobby farm!

 

Thanks, everyone! We are really enjoying the poultry life. I can't get over how enjoyable it is to just watch ducks, chickens, and pigeons! My third child always wanted to have chickens but we lived in town for years. Finally when we moved to the country, we were able to take the plunge and build a little poultry complex in our yard. It's great!

We actually have a pig right now, but it is being raised by my good friend. When she's butchered, she'll come home to live in the freezer. Maybe in a year or so we will raise our own.