Hello everyone! I live in a rural little no-name town in NJ (there are still a couple hidden country spots left!) I am not quite a 1 year chicken owner yet, that'll be later in the summer. Right now I have 2 Ameraucana hens (at least that's what the people who I got them from told me) and 6 rapidly growing Buff Brahma chicks.
It all started while I was volunteering at the church food pantry. One of the local farmers was donating fresh eggs every week. I live between two not very ideal neighbors, an old lady who is ALWAYS trying to call the cops or animal control or any authority on absolutely anything we do and the other neighbors are a Saint Bernard puppy mill. Earlier in the week there was a stray Rhode Island Red walking around the neighbor's yard where I have never ever known any animal to live. Well I was concerned for the hen because I have seen foxes and other predators around our block. So I tried to catch it in a humane trap so it could be returned safely to its owner. The old lady neighbor got very indignant that I was trying to catch that poor hen (she obviously hadn't known about the red fox around the dairy farm directly across the fields behind our houses). Anyway, knowing that my father's property was rural/agricultural I only have seriously inquired if she had a spare rooster. Matter of fact, sure! Come on over! They also threw in a female to keep the rooster (who was at the bottom of the pecking order) company. The rooster I named Peter (not sure how my minister liked that, lol) and the hen Jenny Robot Chicken (Cartoon Network... what else is there to watch in college?). Unfortunately Peter couldn't wait for the sun and started crowing at 3:30am and every half hour from there on. Don't know how much he annoyed the nasty old neighbor (she did try calling animal control but my setup was perfectly legal!) but my dad couldn't sleep with the crowing, so I had to take Peter back to the farm, and I bought another hen (Henrietta, "Henny") to keep Jenny company.
After being able to keep the two girls alive through the winter, I caved in and decided it was time to try my hand with chicks this spring. (So far so good!)
My father calls me "mother hen" and thought it was kind of pathetic how my two grown girls would run to the gate of the kennel and start cackling every time they saw me (I'm sure they know me as Food Lady
) Then I was sent on site for my job and my dad had to care for my hens... now he clucks back at them and watches them out his bedroom window
It all started while I was volunteering at the church food pantry. One of the local farmers was donating fresh eggs every week. I live between two not very ideal neighbors, an old lady who is ALWAYS trying to call the cops or animal control or any authority on absolutely anything we do and the other neighbors are a Saint Bernard puppy mill. Earlier in the week there was a stray Rhode Island Red walking around the neighbor's yard where I have never ever known any animal to live. Well I was concerned for the hen because I have seen foxes and other predators around our block. So I tried to catch it in a humane trap so it could be returned safely to its owner. The old lady neighbor got very indignant that I was trying to catch that poor hen (she obviously hadn't known about the red fox around the dairy farm directly across the fields behind our houses). Anyway, knowing that my father's property was rural/agricultural I only have seriously inquired if she had a spare rooster. Matter of fact, sure! Come on over! They also threw in a female to keep the rooster (who was at the bottom of the pecking order) company. The rooster I named Peter (not sure how my minister liked that, lol) and the hen Jenny Robot Chicken (Cartoon Network... what else is there to watch in college?). Unfortunately Peter couldn't wait for the sun and started crowing at 3:30am and every half hour from there on. Don't know how much he annoyed the nasty old neighbor (she did try calling animal control but my setup was perfectly legal!) but my dad couldn't sleep with the crowing, so I had to take Peter back to the farm, and I bought another hen (Henrietta, "Henny") to keep Jenny company.
After being able to keep the two girls alive through the winter, I caved in and decided it was time to try my hand with chicks this spring. (So far so good!)
My father calls me "mother hen" and thought it was kind of pathetic how my two grown girls would run to the gate of the kennel and start cackling every time they saw me (I'm sure they know me as Food Lady
