- Apr 26, 2010
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Hello fellow chicken lovers!
We're in North West Florida. DH and I have been married 19 years and have two sons, ages 17 and almost 14. DH and sons built the most awesome coop and run. The coop is 4x8, 4' high with a pitched, metal roof. It sits 2' above the ground and there is a run attached that is 8x8 and 4' high, with the area under the coop enclosed with it. There are 4 nests in the coop. We're going to finish painting the trim and then I'll share pictures of it. I am extremely proud of their handiwork! Our chickens are free range in our 1/4 acre backyard, but we built the run to keep them safe when we aren't home.
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? We had chickens for a few years when I was a kid. A few years ago, DH and I had some friends start selling their eggs and they were delicious! So we thought, we should do this. We talked about it for a long time until finally we took the plunge in March and decided to buy some chicks!
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? We currently have 4 hens. We originally had 6; 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Black Sex-links, but a neighborhood dog jumped our fence and killed 2 of the reds and severely injured one of our Blacks. (I never thought I'd cry over chickens, but it was devastating to us!) Our survivors are 1 red - Lucille, and 3 blacks - Olive, Ella, and Chicken Jane.
Chicken Jane was originally named Cricket, since she's the first one who ate a whole live cricket when she was barely bigger than a cricket herself! She's the one who was injured in the attack. We found her under a bush and she had one leg drawn up and blood all around her wing. DH gently placed her in the coop with food and water close by. We weren't sure what to do and considered putting her down, but I couldn't bear it. We watched her and and the others to make sure she didn't get picked on, but they were all gentle with her and seemed protective of her. After a few days she started hopping around on one leg to keep up with her sisters. Then she started putting more weight on it and limped for a while. Now you can barely tell she was hurt! She only limps a little bit when she walks, but when she runs it's barely noticeable. Amazing! When she was injured we re-named her Chicken Jane - after the hilarious Chicken Jane from Between the Lions! Our boys watched when they were little. Chicken Jane always saves Scott and Dot from danger but gets injured trying to save them. Here's a link to one, with many more to be found on You Tube:
Chicken Jane
(3) What breeds do you have? 1 Rhode Island Red and 3 Black Sex Links
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com? Internet searching
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? DH has a small home recording studio, I love reading, cooking and baking, ds 17 loves soccer and reading, and ds 14 loves drawing and computer animating.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. We also have 2 cats who rule our household and love to watch the chickens out the back door, and ds 14 has 2 pet rats in a huge cage in his room. Yes, we have the circle of life for pets. Interestingly, though, the cats are scared of the rats!
DH works as an Aviation Life Support Systems tech for a military contract, basically packs parachutes and takes care of helmets, backpacks, suits, and ejection seats for military pilots on a local Navy base. I am a stay at home mom, but I worked last year in the office of our sons' private school. A few weeks ago, I started homeschooling our youngest son, which keeps me busy! Oldest son is still at the school and is very active with soccer, basketball, yearbook, and drama.
I am amazed at how quickly we became attached to our chickens. I absolutely LOVE looking through our kitchen window and seeing them happily scratching around in our back yard. It makes me so content somehow. One of the most relaxing things I can think of is sitting in the backyard in the shade with a book or chatting with DH while sipping iced tea, with the chickens all gathered around us looking for handouts and just clucking happily. Bliss!
How could anyone NOT want chickens??
Looking forward to getting to know you!
We're in North West Florida. DH and I have been married 19 years and have two sons, ages 17 and almost 14. DH and sons built the most awesome coop and run. The coop is 4x8, 4' high with a pitched, metal roof. It sits 2' above the ground and there is a run attached that is 8x8 and 4' high, with the area under the coop enclosed with it. There are 4 nests in the coop. We're going to finish painting the trim and then I'll share pictures of it. I am extremely proud of their handiwork! Our chickens are free range in our 1/4 acre backyard, but we built the run to keep them safe when we aren't home.
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? We had chickens for a few years when I was a kid. A few years ago, DH and I had some friends start selling their eggs and they were delicious! So we thought, we should do this. We talked about it for a long time until finally we took the plunge in March and decided to buy some chicks!
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? We currently have 4 hens. We originally had 6; 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Black Sex-links, but a neighborhood dog jumped our fence and killed 2 of the reds and severely injured one of our Blacks. (I never thought I'd cry over chickens, but it was devastating to us!) Our survivors are 1 red - Lucille, and 3 blacks - Olive, Ella, and Chicken Jane.
Chicken Jane was originally named Cricket, since she's the first one who ate a whole live cricket when she was barely bigger than a cricket herself! She's the one who was injured in the attack. We found her under a bush and she had one leg drawn up and blood all around her wing. DH gently placed her in the coop with food and water close by. We weren't sure what to do and considered putting her down, but I couldn't bear it. We watched her and and the others to make sure she didn't get picked on, but they were all gentle with her and seemed protective of her. After a few days she started hopping around on one leg to keep up with her sisters. Then she started putting more weight on it and limped for a while. Now you can barely tell she was hurt! She only limps a little bit when she walks, but when she runs it's barely noticeable. Amazing! When she was injured we re-named her Chicken Jane - after the hilarious Chicken Jane from Between the Lions! Our boys watched when they were little. Chicken Jane always saves Scott and Dot from danger but gets injured trying to save them. Here's a link to one, with many more to be found on You Tube:
Chicken Jane
(3) What breeds do you have? 1 Rhode Island Red and 3 Black Sex Links
(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com? Internet searching
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? DH has a small home recording studio, I love reading, cooking and baking, ds 17 loves soccer and reading, and ds 14 loves drawing and computer animating.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. We also have 2 cats who rule our household and love to watch the chickens out the back door, and ds 14 has 2 pet rats in a huge cage in his room. Yes, we have the circle of life for pets. Interestingly, though, the cats are scared of the rats!
DH works as an Aviation Life Support Systems tech for a military contract, basically packs parachutes and takes care of helmets, backpacks, suits, and ejection seats for military pilots on a local Navy base. I am a stay at home mom, but I worked last year in the office of our sons' private school. A few weeks ago, I started homeschooling our youngest son, which keeps me busy! Oldest son is still at the school and is very active with soccer, basketball, yearbook, and drama.
I am amazed at how quickly we became attached to our chickens. I absolutely LOVE looking through our kitchen window and seeing them happily scratching around in our back yard. It makes me so content somehow. One of the most relaxing things I can think of is sitting in the backyard in the shade with a book or chatting with DH while sipping iced tea, with the chickens all gathered around us looking for handouts and just clucking happily. Bliss!
How could anyone NOT want chickens??
Looking forward to getting to know you!
