Hello, Thank you for having me on your forum! I have been lurking here for about a year. All I can say is WOW! What amazing information!! I grew up with chickens, but that was a VERY long time ago. My parents had pet chickens back in the 70's when it wasnt "cool" to have chickens as pets, lol! So, I have been on a mission to have my owns flock ever since I moved out of my parents house (18 years ago). My husband and I moved onto 10 acres last fall and the first thing that occurred to me, even before moving ourselves in, "I CAN HAVE CHICKENS!!!". So, I spent all winter reading everything I could find about chicken care since honestly, I can't remember anything about caring for the chickens I grew up with. Three weeks ago I brought home my first batch of babies (notice I said "first"). I went to TSC fully intending to ONLY look (ya right). SO, I ended up bringing home 1 rock, 3RR, and 2 blk. sexlink (all pullets). One week later, everyone is doing well in their box in our upstairs bathroom. Suddenly, I decide that I really should go and get 6 more just in case I loose some this summer. This was my justification to my husband who is a true "city kid". So back to TSC I go to check out the new order that they had just gotten in. This time I brought home 2 buff orpingtons, 1 sexlink, 1 leghorn, 1 americana, 1RR, and 2 rock roos. Now, one of the little buff orpingtons has decided that she is going to be my very best friend and I am afraid that she just might end up as a house chicken, lol! We spent about 4 hours last night, sitting on my bed, reading this forum together. Also, my 17yo son discovered that she will chase a twig dragged back and forth acrost the ground just like a kitten would. When I first picked up the second batch of chicks I didnt realize that the Americana chick was what she was. I just thought she was cute because she had super fuzzy cheeks. Once I got her home and looked a little closer, something was ringing a bell in the back of my mind. I had seen a picture of this chick before. Spent a couple hours looking on the web and sure enough! She was an Americana!! I was so excited that I went back the next morning in hopes that there would be more and unfortunately she was the only one. So now, I am on a quest to find more. Oh, and next week I will be putting an order in with our local mill for an order of 6 guinea keets and 6 indian runner ducklings. Good thing is, my husband is falling in love with chickens too. He has been spending quite a bit of time designing plans for the "perfect" coop and run, lol. He doesn't even mind the buff orp chick hanging out on our bed while we watch Tv at night. It's good to have an enabeler! Lol! So, short story long, I am officially addicted and you should be seeing quite a bit of me around here.
I'll try to get some pics. up. I tend to be REALLY bad about posting pics., but I might just have to change that, lol!
Welcome and glad to hear you love chickies. I had chickens for years and never had tick issues. I got rid of my chickens and bang 6 months later 4 th stage Lyme. Chickens and ducks are great for keeping down the tick population.
