How Long Have You Been Raising Chickens? - OLD

[Judav]

I live on the top of a mountain in Spain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea (and the mountains of Africa on clear evenings)
I have 8 chicken .... 2 black bareneck, 2 large speckle, 2 white and 2 small brown. My husband built a Chicken Palace (named so
by neighbours and worthy of the name ! )and they have access to a safe enclosed area of the moutain side.
They have laid well,on some days we have had 8eggs a day. Now 30th Oct we have had one egg and the clock went back an hour
last night.
I love my chickens and together with my 3 dogs and 9 cats exist in harmony in the clear mountain air.

Judy Mathias.

 

[sianara]

I got my first batch of six chickens in May 2002 on my DDs 9th birthday. I still have one remaining hen from that group and she's still going strong! She's a rosecomb brown leghorn.

 

[maggiec1951]

Hi, I'm a newbie - at least as an adult. Grew up with chickens until I went away to college. My dear husband built me a lovely little coop and run and got me 5 chickens for my birthday last month. Two Australorps(Mattie & Aida), two Bramas(Dolly and Blondie) and one Ameraucana(Lucille). Australorps and Bramas were 4-6 wks old and Ameraucana was about a month older, so the biggest and the bossiest. The Bramas and Australorps have now gotten to be almost twice the size of the Americauna and I am wondering if maybe she is a bantam. I love my little girls and enjoy them a great deal. Hubby enjoys watching them play keep away and chasing each other and anything that moves, so do I. Every day I go out a couple of times a day and hand feed them a treat so that they are friendly and sit all over me. Blondie is actually sort of cuddly.

I haven't clipped their wings yet so that they can roam the yard when we are outside, are they old enough? We live in south central Florida and are outside a fair amount of time, but live in a subdivision and wouldn't leave them out unattended - couple of cats that roam. They have a fairly large run so I am not worried that they don't have enough room.

 

[leah1211]

just 6 months and am really having a blast!

 

[NovaAman]

I got my first chickens in April, Silkies. Turns out I have a great nack for picking roosters. I hand pick all of them, and ended up with 5 roosters out of 7. Yay! Now I have a silkie trio I am going to breed, 3 wyandotte pullets, 1 white leggen, 1 pro red, salmon fav pair, 1 austalorp, 3 blck cochin mutts, and one barn yard mutt that I think might be special. LOL. She's one of a kind. SO 15 in all. And its better than tv to watch them.

 

[Linn Bee]

I remember collecting eggs at Aunt Claris's house as a child and loved being on the farm, but lived in the big city until I married. Shortly after building our second house - on wooded farm land with one shed and 1/2 of another building - we made part of the storage/tractor shed into a coop and ordered 100 leghorn cockerels.

Ended up with about 10 hens that I kept for eggs while all but one rooster was put into family freezers. After a year the shed was torn down and the chickens were moved into the building we shared with the neighbors. A racoon, raising her family in the neighbor's barn, got in and wiped out the chickens just before spouse wiped out the 'coon.

Fast forward 25 years later. I 'adopted' 12 chicks this May. . . Australourps (5 hens/one rooster) and light brahmas (5 hens/one rooster). Started them in the sun room and then moved them to the garden shed. Dear spouse took apart the grandchildren's sandbox and we used that as the base for a small chicken coop just as the teens were outgrowing their space.

The coop is beautiful! My chickens are beautiful! The first egg - we got it yesterday (10-29-11) - is beautiful! Spouse can often find me just sitting amid my girls and boys, enjoying their antics. Mine have been free-ranging, but with the colder weather and the desire to find any eggs they lay, I have been keeping them in their coop and adjoining play yard.

Grandson, Maverick, (10 YO) is fascinated with the chickens as well and intends to raise some as a 4-H project. He has researched breeds and decided he wants (and I would/should get him) some Buckeye chicks. I fear that having only the small 8 X 8 ft coop is going to greatly restrict my chicken raising abilities as not too many more dual-purpose birds will fit comfortably there. Grandson's plans are already outpacing my space.

Maverick is pressuring me to let a hen hatch some chicks despite getting only two eggs so far. He has also convinced everyone that one of my two roosters 'has to go' and anticipates enjoying a chicken dinner at grandma's one day soon.

I love my 'girls' and hope to have chickens in my life for many years to come.

 

[dpops853]

I GOT 8 CHICKS BACK IN FEB.2011 SINCE THEN I'VE WENT OVERBOARD I'M NOW A CHICKEN NUT. I NOW HAVE AROUND 90 BIRDS AND HAVE BUILT 20 DIFFERENT PENS AND COOPS. I GUESS YOU CAN SAY I LOVE MY CHICKENS SOMETIMES I GET IN A CHAIR AND JUST WATCH THEM AS THEY GO ABOUT THERE ACTIVITIES SOMETIMES I LAUGH TILL I CRY AT THEM.THEY ARE A PLEASURE TO ME AND THAT MEANS ALOT THIS DAY AND TIME TO BE ABLE TO SIT QUITLY AND ENJOY THEM. SIGHN OUT FOR NOW DPOPS853.

 

[EE lover:)]

Year and a half, ladies' birthday(s?) was(were?) in April! ^^

 

[LimitedWisdom]

How AWESOME is it that this forum has a bunch of newbies and a bunch of old salts! That's PERFECT! Now, as a newbie, I feel like I belong...AND I feel like I'll get some great advice. Excellent work putting together a forum with such a good mix!

We started raising chickens this year. We've been talking about it for a couple years and just randomly decided one Saturday THAT was the day. It was great - we went to Tractor Supply and got some chicks and away we went. We wanted two...but they only sell them in groups of six or more! Our little girl (just turned 2) LOVES them...and our little boy (10) thinks they're great too. We wanted them for a couple of main reasons:
- we like the taste of fresh chickens MUCH better (who doesn't?!)
- we wanted our kiddos to know where food comes from
- and lastly - we like the idea of having a slightly smaller footprint.

I look forward to posting a bunch of newbie questions and getting to know everyone on here better.

Great to meet all of you.
-LW

 

[mymiddie]

Hi Everyone - My name is Sherie and I just joined BYC. I live at 8700' in Colorado and have had 6 chicks now for one year. I love it, but always worry they are too cold. My sweet Emmy is molting horrendously and I wonder if I should bring her in at night 'til she feathers up. We're anywhere from 15-25 degrees at night. We have a birdbath heater under the water bin, but it doesn't run all night. Thanks for any suggestions!