Hi!

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Greetings, gingerfarms.



So glad to hear that you are with us chicken keepers. Congratulations on your ten acres. I am on nine.


1]Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I started keeping chickens as soon as I moved out to the country and was able to. That was in 1996, the first Spring after moving in. I am not new to chickens, and first “got” them, so to speak, when I gathered eggs at 8 years old, visiting a great aunt. I could not believe that everyone did not keep them. Eggs. Really good eggs. I love eggs.

2]How many chickens do you have right now?
I keep around a dozen chickens, generally. Just for immediate family egg use, with the occasional meat situation when extra males are hatched by the broody hens.

3] What breeds do you have?
My favorite breeds come from talking to the grandmas, who were still alive back in 1995. I wanted to keep up the family traditions. Our families kept, and still keep, barred rocks, buffs [rocks and orpingtons], reds [rhode island and new hampshire], silver laced wyandottes, leghorns, and my wife has innovated with easter egg layers.


4] My favorite part about keeping chickens is the eggs, but watching the social aspects of flock behavior is a close second. My least favorite is having to dispatch roosters who are mean to the hens. The chickens run free inside a fence that is 50 by 90 paces, with woods. No need to get agitated and aggressive unless they are just mean spirited. Those guys do not last.


5] What are some of your other hobbies?
I have many interests and hobbies besides keeping chickens. Being over 60 I can indulge. I draw, write, read, cook, climb trees when hale, gather wild foods, fish, hunt mostly for the walk, keep dogs, camp, play the saxophone, collect and wear funny hats, compose songs, hike, ride a recumbent bike every day, birdwatch, do yoga to stay balanced and flexible, act, swim, butcher my own meat, visit national forests, go to museums, motorboat, kayak, keep a worm farm, collect cookbooks, throw themed dinners, keep a stocked catfish pond, ignore current fashion trends, allow cats to think that they keep me, take interesting classes at the community college, and spend as much time with my wife as I possibly can, as she is the coolest person I know. I am sure I left a bunch of stuff out . … Life is short, so I say fill it up.



6] Shared in paragraph five, 'spose. Every day is Saturday, now that I am retired.



I want to hear more about your soap making. Do you start with ashes, for example?
 

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