Open Contest Memories of Summer—2025

[EmmaDonovan]

Several things experienced in summer 2025 have left a big impression on me. One is Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. Long recommended to me as a place worth visiting, I finally got there. It is magnificent, inside and out.
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For example, a library to linger in
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while someone tinkled the ivories
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and extraordinary examples of the decorative arts whose quality can be appreciated even if one's personal preferences tend more towards the Bauhaus
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(that wall covering is embossed and painted leather). And this, apparently, was what it looked like in 1703, shortly after completion
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And finally, their farm shop was selling eggs in cartons very similar to those I use, and for £2.75, which is reasonable
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Those photos took my breath away. What splendor! I'd love to see that in person someday. I just learned that the Southern California city of Chatsworth was named after that estate. I always just associated it with valley girls.

I had seen that exterior before, though: it's a favorite in Jane Austen movies. It was used in Pride and Prejudice (1995), Pride and Prejudice (2005), and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013).

 

[DuckLady]

We adopted Cassie to Barnette’s Chicken Sanctuary earlier this summer! She had to leave her old home because she kept killing their chicks, but her family wanted to give her a second chance instead of putting her down. So, since we had no chicks for her to kill and didn’t plan on getting any, we adopted her. At first we moved her into our main flock of ~10 at the time, and she got along fine for the first few months. She was able to free-range after only a week of being here, and came right back to her coop. Cassie was completely healthy, so it was a mostly stress-free integration.
After a few months, though, it seemed she hadn’t fully settled in. The other chickens picked on and chased her around a lot, and she didn’t seem to be getting much food.
At the time, in our other coop (which was mainly for disabled hens and “outcasts” from the flock), one of the two hens that had been living there passed away, leaving the last one, Hermione, lonely.
So, to free Cassie from being bullied and to give Hermione another friend, we moved them in together. They didn’t immediately get along, but eventually they got used to each other and balanced out their miniature hierarchy, and now they’re best friends.
That’s Cassie’s story and one of the big things that happened this summer!

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What a wonderful outcome! Humans could learn a lot from animals! Thank you for sharing!

 

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

This summer, my birthday was on July 2nd, and my grandparents got me four baby chicks. Two of them turned out to be roosters and had to be rehomed. The other two were Olive Egger chicks, and they’re doing well. I’m very thankful that my grandparents gave me these chicks.

When we went to rehome the Sapphire Gems (the roosters), the person I swapped with was very nice. We traded the roosters for some female mixed-breed chicks. One of the chicks seemed like it might have wry neck, but I’m still not really sure. I couldn’t say no to her, though. She also had lice and couldn’t groom herself properly.

Around the same time, some of my older chickens developed bumblefoot, which got pretty bad and turned into a staph infection. I also had a guinea fowl start limping, and the ducks stopped laying eggs due to molting.

On the positive side, I really enjoyed the guineas following me around, always being their happy selves. Watching the ducks and geese swimming is so peaceful. I also got my first blue egg from my Ameraucanas!

Last but definitely not least, I’ve really enjoyed being here on Backyard Chickens and learning so much from all of you!

I wanna give a especial things to all the staff members here at BYC Making this place such a special and fun place to be and I want especially thank @DuckLady, @Nifty-Chicken, @casportpony, @TwoCrows, @Debbie292d , @N F C and @oldhenlikesdogs for all your hard work!

 

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

This is for each member giving you Ehug !

 

[notabitail]

The downpours are some of my best memories this year. The day would start, clear as any other boring, hot, and dry desert day. But later those nights was when the rain would start. I would sit down in the night, sitting with my device of choice, staring at the screen and its moving pixels, and as I sat, the weather got worse. I sat, safely inside, a piece of glass keeping the weather from getting me. The wind would start, the thunder would start, alongside the lightning, and as the thunder died the rain came alive. At times, while the lightning flashed, I would point my phone out of the door and film it in slow-motion. And oftentimes, after the rain, I would open the window to let the fresh rain smell in. Every single storm that's big enough brings the feeling of being cozy, safely inside my house, even as the exteriors got drenched.

 

[Goosebaby]

I had a lot of new experiences this summer, from raising coturnix quail chicks for the first time to my old duck Bee finally achieving motherhood by hatching her adorable son Bramble, but you can’t have the sweet without the bitter in life.

At the start of summer Leo “in the pic” and I lost our sweet boy Parsnip and this summer was one of grief for us, grief that hasn’t really gone away but which we’ve learned to live with. Leo is my oldest gander and we’ve had a tumultuous relationship, he’s viewed me most of his life as a rival, his sons Parsnip and Thor were pretty much inseparable from me and each other since they hatched but did not have the best relationship with their father to put it mildly. In 2018 Thor passed away at the age of six leaving a huge emptiness in our lives.
Parsnip was lost in his devastation and his grief lead to chronic health problems, he was still bonded with me but was still deeply lonely, missing his brother, but after months he and his dad Leo inexplicably found solace in each others loss “Leo had been kicked out of his clique by his other two sons “strawberry and Darby” and the two formed a new strong bond with each other. Parsnip and Leo became inseparable and looked out for each other.

Parsnip finally lost his battle with his condition early this summer leaving Leo alone. He still has Delphi, a goose who was more like a third wheel in Parsnip and Leo’s group but who they both got along with well, and he has his daughter Friday who makes a point to sit with him every day, but it’s not the same. I can tell Leo knew it was coming as his grief isn’t as extreme as Parsnip’s was when he lost Thor and Leo has known loss before, he knew Parsnip was sick. Leo still eats, he spends time with Delphi and his daughter Friday, occasionally I find him following the ducks, but I also often find him alone often in parts of the yard he once hung out with Parsnip. I sit with him when I find him alone, and he doesn’t try to chase me away like he used to. I know he misses Parsnip and he knows I was there taking care of Parsnip like he was all those years, I think that’s why he’s glad of my company now, but I’m not Parsnip and I can see the pain in Leo every day and I don’t know how to fix that. I don’t think it can.
Our summer memory is thinking all the summer memories we had with Parsnip, I think I know Leo is as grateful as I am to have them even if those memories sting with loss as much as love now.

 

[Perris]

Those photos took my breath away. What splendor! I'd love to see that in person someday. I just learned that the Southern California city of Chatsworth was named after that estate. I always just associated it with valley girls.

I had seen that exterior before, though: it's a favorite in Jane Austen movies. It was used in Pride and Prejudice (1995), Pride and Prejudice (2005), and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013).

I'm glad you liked it. There is so much more to see in the house if you do ever get to Derbyshire.