Hi! I'm Jyn!

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Jynuine

Jynuine

Songster
6 Years
Apr 15, 2014
122
23
121
Gaston, OR
​
We have wanted chickens for a long time and lived in an area that would have been great for them, however our landlord did not understand the in's and out's of it as a city girl, so asked that we not have them. It was tedious- because we go through 14 DOZEN eggs a month as it is! Even our neighbors had chickens. I had chicken envy.

Mid January the landlord informed us she had to sell our house ASAP and we had to QUICKLY find another (um, 30 days, anyone, to find a house to fit 10 people 8 of whom are kids... in winter?) and we found a rural house on 12 acres with a run down barn filled with 3 feet of manure, moldy personal items from a past resident and a chicken house that was used for goats at some point (we found that out from all the goat poo in it).
YAY! We can have our chickens!

So, with a LOT of work over the past few weeks- we have been cleaning up and reinforcing the barn, doing a makeover on the hen house that had only 3/4 of it's floor, had moved down the hill a foot as well as a foot to the right, and had a ton of goat poop still left in it. YUK!

My husband reinforced the legs, tore down the 10 foot blackberry vines all over it and around it, put in a new floor, tore out rotten side boards and put other ones in, tore out a broken window and made that area into a people door, and he's finishing the last of the chicken run at the moment. I decided to whitewash the inside of the hen house in hydrated lime because of the fact goat poop was in there for so long (and wood bees were making their nests quickly) and I still have a little more to do.

We got our chicks about a week ago and have:
1 week old frizzled Cochin Banties from Wilco Im not sure exactly what 2 are going to be yet they're kind of creamy yellow, but the other is a blue and she is my favorite. Im concerned because she isn't as spunky as everyone else, is kind of more of a loner, and is very layed back- but she is eating a little drinking from the nipple, and her poop seems okay.

Two 4 week old Rhode Islands & another who will be black and white speckled one (I cant remember the name of yet) who is a little firecracker. She likes to jump as my hair when my bangs droop over the brooder. She is also motherly towards the babies and fluffs up and lets them under her wings. I got them at the local feed and farm store and they arent as social, but Im working on that.

One large white cornish who is also 4 weeks but twice the size of the other pullets and likes to pick on firecracker (okay she just got her name). I got her for free off of craigslist from a gal who didnt realize how a Cornish hen grows and why they are fryers. She will be a meal in a month or so but for now she just bullies Firecracker around every time she hops or makes a sudden movement.

We hope to get a nice flock of 20 or so birds to free range and are starting out with these 7. My husband built a beautiful brooder and as soon as the hen house is done, the brooder is going in there and the pullets are moving out!

I worry for my little blue cochin (she looks like happy feet) but I will keep watching her to make sure she doesn't go downhill fast. She really is my favorite and is so sweet. I also worry because we have a few falcons and hawks nesting in the trees literally just off from the hen house. Our flock is going to be free- range and our neighbors have free range chickens. A falcon was circling over us yesterday as we built the run singing, "Ohhhh, a new buffet is opening it's doors in the neighborhood..."

Okay, so there is our chicken story. Well, the beginning at least. My husband used to work on a farm where they raised broilers in a big warehouse so this is very different for him. I am blogging about the chickens and everything else, by the way on Jynuine Mothering and have pictures as we go. In case you are curious.

Oh... and I'm Jyn, I have 8 kiddos (2 who home school, and 3 who are not school aged yet), my husband works from home, I'm a part-time photographer and we live in Oregon. I also really like coffee.

A lot.

I think I need some right now.

-Jyn
 
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Welcome to BYC!

Congrats on the new chicks! You picked out some great breeds. When ever you free range, you take your chances that they will be preyed upon. I can't let my birds out because of all the predators lurking or flying the skies. A good rooster can help defend the flock, but that is no guarantee either.

Good luck with this new adventure! Love the barn. Welcome to our flock!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Wow that was one big sudden move for your family. At least it sounds like you wound up finding what can be a really nice place. Glad you are finally able to get chickens! Hope your little blue Cochin is OK, you might try feeding her food wet like a mash, some chicks seem to like it better like that.
If you are interested in figuring out what your chicks are, you can post pictures in the What Breed Or Gender Is This forum www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this
Hawks are a problem, especially with bantams, you may wind up having to keep the girls in a covered area, there are some good threads in the Predators forum you might want to check out on dealing with hawks, ie https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/717891/hawks
A great place to check out is the BYC Learning Center, lots of good articles on all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
And it is always fun to check out your state thread for chicken keeping neighbors https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/48/oregon
 
Thanks! I have been doing a LOT of research, and yes! The move was IN.SANE. I'll share a little of what it was like:

We were actually technically homeless the last week at our old house in February because we had nowhere to go yet and the landlord was tearing the house apart for a remodel, only she didnt want to actually have to do anything yet still wanted to be the project manager. So we had guys tearing things apart and asking US what color, types of things, where the new faucets were, if we liked the granite, all sorts of things. We had 2 bathrooms with no floor, toilette or sink, and eventually the 3rd bathroom had no sink either.... I was scrubbing everything like a mad woman and trying to get stains out of the carpet and cleaning 3200sf of walls and hardwood floors for move out, as well as managing kids and looking for a NEW home, finally trying to find temporary homes for my older girls to go and home school since our house was a bomb shelter.

The highlight was when we got a text from one of the gals who had just toured us through a home in an appointment that ran a little late into our dinner hour. We had all our kids as well as her 4 in the house at the same time. Apparently while one of our children were 'using' (maybe I should italicize that word instead?) the bathroom, she helped herself to the homeowner's shaving cream, toothpaste and mascerra... all over the bathroom.
I was mortified.

Even better was when I had to break the news their home wasn't suitable for us (she still really wanted us in there) because there was almost no dining room. The house was a little weird with 5 bedrooms and a 5x5 square for a dining room.

It snowed a LOT a week and a half before we had to move and then the brakes of the 20ft moving van caught on fire on the way to the new house (18% downgrade hills can do that apparently). My husband had to hose them off in the driveway. I had run to the new house earlier to drop off some stuff and... it was still full of the landlord's items! I drove home crying. He was there into the wee hours of the evening moving his things out as we were moving in... more insaneness (that is a word, right?).

Then a couple of days after finally getting everything over- we get INCREDIBLY sick. Like, all of us. Especially my then 8 mo old and my husband. I swear my husband and I had whooping cough and we found out after 2 ER visits my son had bronchialitus. My older girls got the equivilant of strep throat (without a positive strep test) 3 weeks in a row, one after another. I was coughing so hard I bruised my ribs. The other kids got coughs, and sore throats and one would throw up and the other would have a sore throat. Yeah, I was SOOO HAPPY for March to be over! It was like we coudlnt catch a break.

We don't watch TV (although we have a movie theater in the house... really) so I am looking forward to spending time with my birdies in my own 'Day's of Chicken's Lives'. We already have a 15 yr old Rainbow Lorikeet, so I have been loving birds for a while now. :) As soon as I have picture posting privs Ill post more on my coop and brooder. :D
-Jyn
 
That was a week I bet you don't want to repeat, am glad you all survived relatively sane.
Sounds like your child saw so much house redecorating going on around her, she decided to go ahead and redecorate the bathroom herself, she's in big trouble now, but it will be a funny story to tell when she is an adult.
House designs are sometimes interesting, you wish there was an explanation to come with some of the floor plans, I mean did those people never eat?
And apparently you didn't have any more luck moving in than moving out, I am guessing you have no plans to move again anytime soon :)
Glad everybody is over being sick, there has been something nasty going around, quite a few people are coming down with that flu/cold/cough/fever/ whatever
And it is called Chicken Television, you never get tired of watching it, and you never want to change the channel, unless you get Ducks, then you also have Duck Television, or Turkeys, or Guineas .....
 
Kelsie2290 said:
That was a week I bet you don't want to repeat, am glad you all survived relatively sane.
Sounds like your child saw so much house redecorating going on around her, she decided to go ahead and redecorate the bathroom herself, she's in big trouble now, but it will be a funny story to tell when she is an adult.
House designs are sometimes interesting, you wish there was an explanation to come with some of the floor plans, I mean did those people never eat?
And apparently you didn't have any more luck moving in than moving out, I am guessing you have no plans to move again anytime soon
smile.png

Glad everybody is over being sick, there has been something nasty going around, quite a few people are coming down with that flu/cold/cough/fever/ whatever
And it is called Chicken Television, you never get tired of watching it, and you never want to change the channel, unless you get Ducks, then you also have Duck Television, or Turkeys, or Guineas .....
Click to expand...

HA! Right, well we have a lot of DVD's and I have my magazines. I think Im addicted to them. I have about 15+years of Pottery Barn Catelogs as well as Country Living, Better Homes & Gardens, etc. We dont do Self magazine or Teen magazines or Vanity ones. Okay so kids begging me to take them to the park. They dont see their own 12 acres, playground, sandbox and everything else as a park- so Im taking them to the small in-town one :D Cheers, gals!
-Jyn
 

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