savvythesavvy
Chirping
- Aug 21, 2020
- 28
- 157
- 69
Hello everyone! My name is Savannah, and I live in central Iowa with my husband and daughter.
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I’m new to chickens! I’ve been dreaming about starting a small flock for a few decades now, and we’re finally planning to take the leap in spring 2021! We have our plans drawn up to build a modified Palace Chicken Coop (we bought the plans from Steamy Kitchen, and are going to make the coop and run bigger to accommodate 12 standard hens eventually). And we’ve already purchased all of our brooder supplies for the chicks in the spring, and have been reading tons of books (like The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Raising Chickens and Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens).
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
Right now we have zero, but cannot wait to place our order of 6 female chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery in the spring! It’s a bonus that we’re within driving distance, so we’ll be able to go pick them up.
(3) What breeds do you have?
Our current plan is to order one of each of the following: Ameraucana, Black Australorp, Barred Plymouth Rock, Salmon Faverolle, Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock, and Welsummer.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I’m so excited about so many things! I love watching chickens and seeing their personalities, and I'm looking forward to socializing our chicks from a young age to hopefully have a flock of lovely, cuddly ladies. I also think it's very important for children to learn animal stewardship and responsibility from a very young age - my parents did this through cats and a dog with me, but I'm very much looking forward to (slowly and safely) introduce my daughter to the hens and have her gradually learn about caring for them and start helping me with them.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I'm a bit of a homesteader mixed-bag haha. We live on a 2 acre lot that got absorbed by the edge of town a long time ago, so we have a strange amount of space for our neighborhood. We currently have one bee hive and will be expanding in the spring to two hives (the honey is just soooo good). We have a very large vegetable garden that we love to tend - it's over near the bee hive, which is cool. There isn't enough pollen in the garden to sustain them, but they usually stop by for a morning snack in the squash blossoms first thing in the morning when I'm out there harvesting. They're my fuzzy little coworkers hah.
I also hand dye yarn, and am an avid knitter (I can be coerced to crochet, but I prefer knitting). Other than that, mostly I just run around outside with my goofball toddler!
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
I've been married to a lovely man for 3 years now, and we have a year and a half old daughter together. We've been spending a LOT of time together during COVID, which has been really fun - we've both been able to see all of our daughter's milestones. In addition to the bees, we have 3 cats and an old-man dog.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
I'm definitely a researcher before I start anything - and while researching all aspects of preparing for chickens, time and time again I found amazing advice on BYC! Now that we've planned out the coop and started getting materials, started collecting supplies, and have hashed out which breeds we're going to get, I feel like I'm in a good spot to really dive into the community to learn all I can before we bring our girls home!
Thank you to you all for being amazing!
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I’m new to chickens! I’ve been dreaming about starting a small flock for a few decades now, and we’re finally planning to take the leap in spring 2021! We have our plans drawn up to build a modified Palace Chicken Coop (we bought the plans from Steamy Kitchen, and are going to make the coop and run bigger to accommodate 12 standard hens eventually). And we’ve already purchased all of our brooder supplies for the chicks in the spring, and have been reading tons of books (like The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Raising Chickens and Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens).
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
Right now we have zero, but cannot wait to place our order of 6 female chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery in the spring! It’s a bonus that we’re within driving distance, so we’ll be able to go pick them up.
(3) What breeds do you have?
Our current plan is to order one of each of the following: Ameraucana, Black Australorp, Barred Plymouth Rock, Salmon Faverolle, Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock, and Welsummer.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I’m so excited about so many things! I love watching chickens and seeing their personalities, and I'm looking forward to socializing our chicks from a young age to hopefully have a flock of lovely, cuddly ladies. I also think it's very important for children to learn animal stewardship and responsibility from a very young age - my parents did this through cats and a dog with me, but I'm very much looking forward to (slowly and safely) introduce my daughter to the hens and have her gradually learn about caring for them and start helping me with them.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I'm a bit of a homesteader mixed-bag haha. We live on a 2 acre lot that got absorbed by the edge of town a long time ago, so we have a strange amount of space for our neighborhood. We currently have one bee hive and will be expanding in the spring to two hives (the honey is just soooo good). We have a very large vegetable garden that we love to tend - it's over near the bee hive, which is cool. There isn't enough pollen in the garden to sustain them, but they usually stop by for a morning snack in the squash blossoms first thing in the morning when I'm out there harvesting. They're my fuzzy little coworkers hah.
I also hand dye yarn, and am an avid knitter (I can be coerced to crochet, but I prefer knitting). Other than that, mostly I just run around outside with my goofball toddler!
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
I've been married to a lovely man for 3 years now, and we have a year and a half old daughter together. We've been spending a LOT of time together during COVID, which has been really fun - we've both been able to see all of our daughter's milestones. In addition to the bees, we have 3 cats and an old-man dog.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
I'm definitely a researcher before I start anything - and while researching all aspects of preparing for chickens, time and time again I found amazing advice on BYC! Now that we've planned out the coop and started getting materials, started collecting supplies, and have hashed out which breeds we're going to get, I feel like I'm in a good spot to really dive into the community to learn all I can before we bring our girls home!
Thank you to you all for being amazing!
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