Hi all,
My name is Therese, and I've been a member of the board for a year or so, but have rarely posted. I got a very, very slow start with my first chicken experience (bought older, sale barn hens whose laying days were pretty much done), sold them off to someone who was able to put them in a stew pot, and went chicken-less over the past winter.
Well the chicken bug has bitten again, and so far this time around I'm having far, far better luck. I bought 10 battery hens from an Amish egg producer, and then got my new girls a beautiful splash Orp roo from Clay in Iowa to watch over them. So far they are in a 20X20 area (which for the hens must seem palatial) and my intent is to eventually free range, once everyone settles in, I get a few more things ready for them, and the new roo figures out his job.
I'm so over enthusiastic this time around that I'm trying very hard not to go a little crazy and buy up scads of hens--especially given that the ten girls I have now all have clipped beaks, so they would be vulnerable to being pecked by other hens I might bring in.
I'm in Eastern Iowa, have a little acreage, and also have sheep, goats, llamas and horses, and a city boy husband from Boston who occassionally wonders how in the world he ended up here in Iowa with me in this zoo.
I look forward to learning lots from everyone here, as I have very little chicken knowledge, and definitely need to learn a lot.
Therese
My name is Therese, and I've been a member of the board for a year or so, but have rarely posted. I got a very, very slow start with my first chicken experience (bought older, sale barn hens whose laying days were pretty much done), sold them off to someone who was able to put them in a stew pot, and went chicken-less over the past winter.
Well the chicken bug has bitten again, and so far this time around I'm having far, far better luck. I bought 10 battery hens from an Amish egg producer, and then got my new girls a beautiful splash Orp roo from Clay in Iowa to watch over them. So far they are in a 20X20 area (which for the hens must seem palatial) and my intent is to eventually free range, once everyone settles in, I get a few more things ready for them, and the new roo figures out his job.
I'm so over enthusiastic this time around that I'm trying very hard not to go a little crazy and buy up scads of hens--especially given that the ten girls I have now all have clipped beaks, so they would be vulnerable to being pecked by other hens I might bring in.
I'm in Eastern Iowa, have a little acreage, and also have sheep, goats, llamas and horses, and a city boy husband from Boston who occassionally wonders how in the world he ended up here in Iowa with me in this zoo.
I look forward to learning lots from everyone here, as I have very little chicken knowledge, and definitely need to learn a lot.
Therese
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