Hi, I'm from Central California. We just moved here in December from Orange County. I'm as new to this as you can get, really. We went from a tiny postage-stamp house with an even smaller yard to 7 acres - we LOVE it. We've always wanted chickens, and now we've got them! But, even after reading tons of books and websites, I always have questions, so here I am.

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? We are brand new to chickens and just got ours last night!
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? We have twelve!
(3) What breeds do you have? Let's see...we have Black Astralorp, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rock and Rhode Island Reds.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? Well, my daughter (she is 10) says that she loves how they snuggle into her when she picks them up right now.

(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Um, well...I am the owner/editor of a website dedicated to fans of the band Duran Duran, so...that's kind of my thing. I also am a gemologist, and I homeschool my daughter.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. We have three children. The two oldest are off at college, and my ten year old is still at home with us. We just moved to Central California a couple of months ago, and I am very excited about having chickens and eventually goats and sheep. I love it. We also have two indoor cats, and a dog (Malshie) named Gizmo. He's my buddy and also takes pride in guarding the baby chick bin from the cats. Oddly, he's a herder...which is very bizarre given his tiny little breed, but he tries.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
