I started raising chickens 2 yrs ago. I've been reading these forums since then but never posted until now, so I figured it was time to say hello. I'm Wendy. I co-run a small farm we built from the ground up called Four Acre Farms in Norfolk MA. Currently we have a very diverse chicken flock with 16 hens, 3 roosters, and 15 7 week old chicks. In addition to the chickens, we decided this year to try ducks and turkeys. We have 6 pekin ducklings, one Rouen, and one mystery duckling. It's all black but has some very strange feather growth on its head. :shrugs: we aren't sure what turkeys we have yet. We have 5 poults also about 7 weeks old now. Raising the animals has being a unique experience for us. We didn't grow up farmers, so we are learning as we go and in some cases we are learning the hard way. All our birds have their own coops/houses with fenced in runs, but get to free range on the four acre property when we are home. (Hawks, neighbors dogs, and a pack of coyotes have taught us that while free ranging is the best for happy healthy birds, keeping them safe while we aren't home is more important) Over all we have a very healthy and happy little farm, that grows from year to year.
and You'll never have a day without learning something again. Hope you enjoy BYC as much as the rest of us. MW
Haha love that picture! I only meant to have 6 chickens tops when I started... 47 birds later... Now, I can't wait to raise more next year! We have some Easter egger eggs we want to try and hatch to see if we can get some olive eggers out of it and we want to expand the duck and turkey flocks. In addition to poultry we are about to raise pigs in partnership with our neighboring farm and will be adding honey bees to our farm in the spring of 2018. We are working professionals turned farmer! I wouldn't have it any other way!! Thanks for the warm welcome!
Hi Wendy and welcome to BYC - great to have you onboard with us. You'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center, and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads. You may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread All the best CT
Nice to meet you Wendy, I really enjoyed your introduction. Especially where you said "we built the farm from the ground up."
Thanks drumstick. It's been a lot of fun, a great learning experience, and lots of hard work!! In the long run, it's worth it. I love my animals and the farm has become a refuge for us after a long day in corporate America. We look forward to one day opening up our small farm to visitors, but for now it's a work in progress. We have one more building to construct for the turkeys so they can get out of the brooding area and next year we are putting strong focus on the different gardens (veggie, herb, poultry and bee gardens) but overall the farm is doing well and coming along nicely.
