Hi All,
I'm new here, so here's a little bit about me and my chicken journey!
My parents kept chickens when I was growing up and finally my partner and I have worked our way up the housing ladder to a house with a generous plot. What started as a few laying hens to provide us with fresh eggs has turned into quite a hobby! We've been keeping chickens for about a year now.
We have four girls in our flock so far; Claudette (Marans based Hybrid), Penelope (White Leghorn), Gwyneth (Cream Legbar X Barred Rock), Rita (Legbar based Hybrid).
I built a lovely run for our girls, but it only provided them with just over 1m2 per hen so I used to free range them when I was home. My lawn didn't approve of this set up and after a couple of close calls with foxes the girls decided they were not so keen either! So in the summer of 2017 I set about dedicating the end 50ft of our garden to the girls and they now have a spacious enclosure protected by a mains powered electric fence. They don't have access to the whole garden any more, but they seem so happy in their new space.
I bought some hatching eggs on eBay in January and we now have nine little fluff balls in the brooder; 7 Lavender Araucana (UK Standard) and 2 Wheaten Marans. When they reach POL I'm planning to introduce two girls to our laying flock and sell the rest. Maybe I will get stuck with some roos and I can't bring myself to eat them! Fortunately I have a friend with a 180 acre farm so they will go to have a lovely life free-ranging with 70 ladies! We can't easily have roos here as we have neighbours.
It's very entertaining and rewarding raising chicks. I plan to hatch some more later in the year and I will sell them on... I've spent far too much money on incubators and brooders, it would be nice for my hobby to pay for itself!
I don't have years and years of experience but I've gained a lot of knowledge through BYC and thought it was finally time I became a member. I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone and reading about yours.
Joe
I'm new here, so here's a little bit about me and my chicken journey!
My parents kept chickens when I was growing up and finally my partner and I have worked our way up the housing ladder to a house with a generous plot. What started as a few laying hens to provide us with fresh eggs has turned into quite a hobby! We've been keeping chickens for about a year now.
We have four girls in our flock so far; Claudette (Marans based Hybrid), Penelope (White Leghorn), Gwyneth (Cream Legbar X Barred Rock), Rita (Legbar based Hybrid).
I built a lovely run for our girls, but it only provided them with just over 1m2 per hen so I used to free range them when I was home. My lawn didn't approve of this set up and after a couple of close calls with foxes the girls decided they were not so keen either! So in the summer of 2017 I set about dedicating the end 50ft of our garden to the girls and they now have a spacious enclosure protected by a mains powered electric fence. They don't have access to the whole garden any more, but they seem so happy in their new space.
I bought some hatching eggs on eBay in January and we now have nine little fluff balls in the brooder; 7 Lavender Araucana (UK Standard) and 2 Wheaten Marans. When they reach POL I'm planning to introduce two girls to our laying flock and sell the rest. Maybe I will get stuck with some roos and I can't bring myself to eat them! Fortunately I have a friend with a 180 acre farm so they will go to have a lovely life free-ranging with 70 ladies! We can't easily have roos here as we have neighbours.
It's very entertaining and rewarding raising chicks. I plan to hatch some more later in the year and I will sell them on... I've spent far too much money on incubators and brooders, it would be nice for my hobby to pay for itself!
I don't have years and years of experience but I've gained a lot of knowledge through BYC and thought it was finally time I became a member. I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone and reading about yours.
Joe
We are glad you joined our flock.
to have you join the family. Enjoy your time here at BYC! 
