Hello in SW Ohio

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pidgejr

pidgejr

Songster
11 Years
Jan 6, 2013
97
285
167
Warren County, OH; 10 Lav Ameraucanas, 13 Wellies
My name is Suzanne and I live in Southwest Ohio. I had introduced myself a long time ago, but the site seems to want me to do it again, probably due to inactivity(?). I was always a stealth reader of the articles and posts on the site earlier also, so will try to be more involved in posting this time around. I posted a few times, but very little. I kept a very large flock for about 5 years...too large (~40), and got "pooped" ...so ended up selling the flock to a local farmer, and taking a break this year. It was funny because I sold them in January 2020 and we started having covid lockdowns in March 2020. It was a great time to reflect on the whole experience. I was going to crazy with the chicken math and was hatch addicted which created my problem. I just didn have a plan with them, and was giving away eggs to friends and family. The chickens were just a hobby. After giving it a lot of thought this year, I decided to settle on one breed as my breeding flock , get NPIP certified, and sell hatching eggs for the flock so they can pay for themselves. A big decision was deciding to also keep a much smaller flock of 12 total. I really got the bug again this month and am planning to buy eggs and set them in January. Getting excited!
 
DobieLover said:
Welcome back to activity on BYC!
And which is the lucky breed you decided to focus on?
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I decided to get one of the rarer ones, self Blue Ameraucana. I love the Ameraucan breed overall because they are so firendly and their pea combs don't get frostibite like the other breeds.They also of course have the beautiful blue eggs and are some of the better layers from what I have seen when others have slowed down in winter.(Though they slow down too)
 
hysop said:
With everything that went on do you wish you had kept your flock for the lockdown? Or were you relieved to not have an expense during that unknown time?
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I was actually relieved. Initially, I had planned on having the ability to travel to see my kids in other states more often, because its hard to find a "sitter" for a flock that big! But then of course the Covid hit, and put a kabosh on those plans. Though there was an expense, I could absorb that ok. Of course for many of us that have jobs, we were wondering if the jobs would still be there through these times, so in retrospect, expense could have come into play, though thankfully for me it did not. They were a lot of work hauling 5 gallon buckets of water each day to the barn out back, (which sits about 200yds behind the house) and I was going through a 40+lb bag of feed a week or more. Don't mean to sound "doomsday preppery", but was also wondering how I would feed so many chickens if I suddenly did not have access to feed over winter, so it really did help not having the responsibility of caring for them this year. Also, it is just me caring for the chicklets. I did and do miss them, as my own kids are grown and gone. But I am ready for a smaller flock and a better plan this year :). God willing it will work out better all the way around this time.
 

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