I'm Judy, living in the woods just outside Westport, at least for the next couple of years (looking for a smaller place). In 2005 I scratched a long-time itch by buying two pairs of peafowl. Then I decided that I would like 3 or 4 laying hens for the eggs, so a trip to the farm store. They also had a cage of cute little banties; my aunt kept banties when I was a kid and I always loved them. So 4 banties to the cart. You can guess where it went from there.
At first I was keeping chickens just to enjoy them myself, but then started going to swap meets and Chickenstocks, where I met so many great people.
Over the last couple of years I decided to start trying to improve the quality of my stock, so off to the shows, which this fall led to entering some of my birds to determine who would be best for breeding stock. I had no idea what I was doing, but at least no DQs!
After trying several breeds to see who I really like, I've settled on silkies, bantam cochins, and Polish for breeding. Picked up a nice pair of splash silkies from LAMom at Lebanon, a buff-laced Polish pair and pearl silkie cockerel at Ohio Nationals, and a white cochin pair and WCB Polish trio at the winter show in Connersville. Added to what I already had, I think that it's a decent base. Now I need to get busy on pens!
My barnyard mix is just that--there for the eggs and whatever chicks they produce.
Between enjoying my flocks and other pets, keeping up with BYC forums, and teaching part-time at Ivy Tech, I keep myself out of trouble (mostly).
