Hello There From a Covid-Chicken Farmer

[Ace0813]

Good morning all,

My wife, my two daughters (7 and 3) and I took the plunge into backyard chicken keeping when the Pandemic hit and we were all locked down at home. We live up in a semi rural area in New Hampshire.

It's been a super rewarding experience thus far - we have six Buff Orpington hens, we had four Speckled Sussex Hens and we rescued a Speckled Sussex roo. At the beginning of allowing the hens to free range, we lost a couple of our Sussex hens to bald eagle predation. We do live right on a lake, so that's not a surprise. Since they've all beefed up a bit, we haven't had any issues with predators as they all get into the coop and sealed up at night.

We've actually just placed an order for our second local made coop. It'll be delivered and attached to the run by November. It should address lack of roosting space in the coop in the evening.

Looking forward to hearing from likeminded and far more experienced chicken keepers!

Thanks,

Ace

 

[KarynVA]

Welcome, Ace,
Sounds like you've got a nice set up. My family also got chickens as a pandemic project/ food sustainability / hobby/ new pets. haha! Looking forward to your continued posts here.

 

[cheepteach]

glad you arrived in Chicken Nirvana!! we feather-freaks welcome you! not so much trouble with eagles here, but hawks and coyotes

 

[sourland]

Good morning, Ace, and welcome to the BYC community.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Here are some helpful links:

• Great go-to resource - Articles
• How to start a new thread
• Find other BYC members nearby using the links in my signature, below (turn your phone to landscape to see them).

Best wishes
Pork Pie

 

[N F C]

Hi Ace, it's nice to have you here with us!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there ACE and welcome to BYC!

Buff Orps are a fabulous breed, one of my favs. So sorry for your losses however.

Make yourself at home here and welcome to our community!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello, Ace, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I'm surprised that the bald eagles stopped attempts on your full grown LF chickens. A much smaller red tail hawk will make the attempt.

 

[Ace0813]

Hello, Ace, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I'm surprised that the bald eagles stopped attempts on your full grown LF chickens. A much smaller red tail hawk will make the attempt.

We're fortunate to have some thick trees/bushes along our fence and they're generally pretty quick to run there, especially with the roo looking out for them.

 

[DobieLover]

We're fortunate to have some thick trees/bushes along our fence and they're generally pretty quick to run there, especially with the roo looking out for them.

The boys do help with early warning. I had a hawk make a strike that was completely unsuccessful because the boys raised the alarm and everyone made it to cover. There sat a confused frustrated hawk sitting on the ground next to the huge thorny bush the chickens were deep inside of.