Hello to everyone, thank you for the welcomes from Nifty-Chicken and all others who said hi to me and the other new members. (1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?* I consider myself new to chickens, tho I've been caring for my sister-in-law's chickens, 6 black australorp, 3 araucana ?, 2 lav. orfs, 1 barred, 1 RIR, 1 leghorn, 2 BSL (1 is a roo) sooo 15 hens and 1 handsome Roo, tho he's moulty right now. For about 2 1/2 years now. WOW ,It's been that long. You've all given me a wealth of info, since the adventure began. * I added my first : now 6 weeks old, 2 silver laced wyandottes and 3 araucana maybe americanas. This confuses me still.* (2) How many chickens do you have right now? Sis added : what are now 6 weeks old, 19 cal whites, 7 buff orfs, 4 RIR and now 2 weeks old 10 Jersey Giants. * I added my first : now 6 weeks old, 2 silver laced wyandottes and 3 araucana maybe americanas. This confuses me still.* My oh my, there are 60 birds out there....+ 2 fan tailed pigeons+ 2 mini quail (button) = 64 birds. (3) What breeds do you have? Opps, please see above. (4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com? Thank the heavens for bing and google. I had tried joining previously, but I guess birdsitter and chickennanny or versions thereof were taken. I was also having pc problems. which were really frustrating. (5) What are some of your other hobbies? Reading, cooking, fishing with my super duper husband. Trying to teach an 8 yr. old Husky/ Australian Shep. mix (ADHD). I will succeed. Sewing and crafting on and off. (6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. My handydandy honeydo husband 5 grown great step kids who have given me lots of angels to love nanna. a very sweet senior dog with I swear ADHD She came with the house.
Welcome to BYC, Nanna. Glad you decided to join our flock. You have a very good and thorough introduction. I've had all of those breeds at one time or another over the past 50 years, and you and your sister have a great mix of breeds. Black Australorps are my favorite standard breed; extremely hardy, calm and gentle (my children, and now my granddaughter, made lap pets of them), and excellent layers of large, brown eggs. Your Araucanas/Ameraucanas are likely actually Easter Eggers as true Araucanas and Ameraucanas are relatively rare and expensive, and lay only blue eggs. Also Araucanas have tailless rumps. Hatcheries cross Ameraucanas with other breeds to produce hybrids that lay eggs in colors other than just blue. They frequently market them incorrectly as Araucanas or Ameraucanas (frequently misspelling it as Americana or Americauna) when they are in fact Easter Eggers. There is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html explaining the difference between Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers. There is nothing wrong with Easter Eggers as they typically outlay pure Ameraucanas, and they are my granddaughter's (pictured in my avatar) favorite chickens. She loves the different colored eggs that they lay. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Sounds like you have a lovely flock! Make yourself at home here and welcome to our roost!