New Member introduction - Homestead Dave

Homestead Dave

In the Brooder
Oct 28, 2018
2
16
21
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?

I have been into backyard chickens for a little over 9 years now. My wife and I got into them before my daughter was born. We started off with 5 and loved them until we were forced to move and had to give them to a neighbor who also had chickens (new place did not allow for them), a few moves later we were finally in a house with a yard that we could have backyard chickens again. When my daughter was 3 we bought 5 new chicks and then took on a rescue, whom my daughter named Princess, who turned out to be a rooster. We fell in love with him, who remained named Princess, and instead of getting rid of him, we moved out to the country so that we could keep him. My wife and daughter had a facebook page dedicated to him "Princess the Rooster" Sadly we lost him this last season, reason unknown...he was fine the day before and went to sleep never to wake up, he was 5 years old. My daughter was devastated as were we all. The yard seems more empty without his presence here. We had him cremated and his ashes are in an urn until we find a nice place to lay him to rest.


(2) How many chickens do you have right now?

Our flock has grown, we now fluctuate between 80 to 150 chickens. Our flock fluctuates because of the farm business (see below for more info on the business). We moved out to the country and have an acre of land now.


(3) What breeds do you have?

We have a few different breeds. We get one breed and try them for a season to see how friendly they may be, We have had Red stars, Black stars, White Leghorns (most of them rescues), Buff Orpingtons, Black Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Red Laced Blue Wyandottes, Spangled Hamburgs, Welsummers, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Silkies, and white Crested Polish.


(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?

Seeing the different personalities of the chickens. Princess loved to swing with my daughter, he would sit in her lap and swing with her. A few follow us around like puppy dogs when we are in the yard. My wife has trained a few to hop on command.


(5) What are some of your other hobbies?

Building anything and everything. Always trying different designs for chicken tractors, feed stations, shelters, coops, brooders, etc.


(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.

We are part of the "Rent the Chicken" franchise. We help people get into backyard chickening. We offer chicken rentals. 9 out of 10 of our rentals become adoptions. We like the idea of being able to rent chickens to "try before you buy". It gives people a chance to get into backyard chickening and learn from us about their care and have help if needed during this transition. They have phone and e-mail support through the rental. We also make sure that the birds will go to a good home, I have refused renting them out because I didn't feel they would be cared for properly. It isn't about the money for me as much as the safety of our birds. I build the chicken tractors and raise the chicks. Once they start laying eggs, I schedule for a delivery. The new owners by pass the raising portion, which tends to be the hardest part and most people fear the safety of the chicks. I take that part away unless they request baby chicks, then we can help them with that as well by helping them get the proper equipment, etc. I try different breeds because they are all different, some are more skittish than others, and I try to get those less skittish for rentals.

One of our big things is always being here for our chickens. If someone adopts the chickens they can call us at anytime in the future and we will take the chickens back regardless of reason (they don't want to see them at end of life, they no longer lay eggs, etc). I had an adoption a few years ago, they called me this last season and were moving and their new place wouldn't allow them to have chickens. I went back and picked up their hens and brought them back home (I send them photos of the birds from time to time to keep them updated on their girls), they will retire here on the property until old age takes them. We have some hens here that are 6 years old, they don't lay eggs, but happily eat up all the yard bugs. This keeps a lot of chickens from being abandoned to parks and sides of roads, we work closely with the local animal shelters to make sure any chickens they pick up have a place to go. We also do chicken rescue, we have areas of our yard for quarantines as they come in, I have to do that anytime chickens come back from a rental that doesn't become an adoption. You can get more info about our franchise at Rentthechicken.com We are the CA affiliate.

We have a horse, burro, and some sheep on the farm as well. We also do animal rescues as needed. We currently have a Donkey we are fostering until the person who will be taking her can get out here to pick her up. We also take in animals when there are disasters in the area. 2 years ago I drove into the Loma fire and pulled a few horses out and kept them here until they could safely go back to their home. When I pulled away after picking them up the fire was 50 feet away from the back of the trailer, it took 5 hours to drive out of the mountains through back dirt roads as most of the roads were closed because they were now in the fire. It was a hard rescue but everyone came out safely.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D


I have followed BYC for a awhile now. I joined to respond to a forum post. I love the different sources of information from here and seeing a chicken community with a bunch of knowledgeable people.
 
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Wow, thanks for sharing your story, the job you're doing sounds incredible! I had no idea there was such thing as renting chickens. Your rooster Princess sounds like he was the best guy ever, I'm so sorry you lost him. But just look at the amazing path he set you on!
I hope you can become an active member here... you have so much to offer!
 
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?

I have been into backyard chickens for a little over 9 years now. My wife and I got into them before my daughter was born. We started off with 5 and loved them until we were forced to move and had to give them to a neighbor who also had chickens (new place did not allow for them), a few moves later we were finally in a house with a yard that we could have backyard chickens again. When my daughter was 3 we bought 5 new chicks and then took on a rescue, whom my daughter named Princess, who turned out to be a rooster. We fell in love with him, who remained named Princess, and instead of getting rid of him, we moved out to the country so that we could keep him. My wife and daughter had a facebook page dedicated to him "Princess the Rooster" Sadly we lost him this last season, reason unknown...he was fine the day before and went to sleep never to wake up, he was 5 years old. My daughter was devastated as were we all. The yard seems more empty without his presence here. We had him cremated and his ashes are in an urn until we find a nice place to lay him to rest.


(2) How many chickens do you have right now?

Our flock has grown, we now fluctuate between 80 to 150 chickens. Our flock fluctuates because of the farm business (see below for more info on the business). We moved out to the country and have an acre of land now.


(3) What breeds do you have?

We have a few different breeds. We get one breed and try them for a season to see how friendly they may be, We have had Red stars, Black stars, White Leghorns (most of them rescues), Buff Orpingtons, Black Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Red Laced Blue Wyandottes, Spangled Hamburgs, Welsummers, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Silkies, and white Crested Polish.


(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?

Seeing the different personalities of the chickens. Princess loved to swing with my daughter, he would sit in her lap and swing with her. A few follow us around like puppy dogs when we are in the yard. My wife has trained a few to hop on command.


(5) What are some of your other hobbies?

Building anything and everything. Always trying different designs for chicken tractors, feed stations, shelters, coops, brooders, etc.


(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.

We are part of the "Rent the Chicken" franchise. We help people get into backyard chickening. We offer chicken rentals. 9 out of 10 of our rentals become adoptions. We like the idea of being able to rent chickens to "try before you buy". It gives people a chance to get into backyard chickening and learn from us about their care and have help if needed during this transition. They have phone and e-mail support through the rental. We also make sure that the birds will go to a good home, I have refused renting them out because I didn't feel they would be cared for properly. It isn't about the money for me as much as the safety of our birds. I build the chicken tractors and raise the chicks. Once they start laying eggs, I schedule for a delivery. The new owners by pass the raising portion, which tends to be the hardest part and most people fear the safety of the chicks. I take that part away unless they request baby chicks, then we can help them with that as well by helping them get the proper equipment, etc. I try different breeds because they are all different, some are more skittish than others, and I try to get those less skittish for rentals.

One of our big things is always being here for our chickens. If someone adopts the chickens they can call us at anytime in the future and we will take the chickens back regardless of reason (they don't want to see them at end of life, they no longer lay eggs, etc). I had an adoption a few years ago, they called me this last season and were moving and their new place wouldn't allow them to have chickens. I went back and picked up their hens and brought them back home (I send them photos of the birds from time to time to keep them updated on their girls), they will retire here on the property until old age takes them. We have some hens here that are 6 years old, they don't lay eggs, but happily eat up all the yard bugs. This keeps a lot of chickens from being abandoned to parks and sides of roads, we work closely with the local animal shelters to make sure any chickens they pick up have a place to go. We also do chicken rescue, we have areas of our yard for quarantines as they come in, I have to do that anytime chickens come back from a rental that doesn't become an adoption. You can get more info about our franchise at Rentthechicken.com We are the CA affiliate.

We have a horse, burro, and some sheep on the farm as well. We also do animal rescues as needed. We currently have a Donkey we are fostering until the person who will be taking her can get out here to pick her up. We also take in animals when there are disasters in the area. 2 years ago I drove into the Loma fire and pulled a few horses out and kept them here until they could safely go back to their home. When I pulled away after picking them up the fire was 50 feet away from the back of the trailer, it took 5 hours to drive out of the mountains through back dirt roads as most of the roads were closed because they were now in the fire. It was a hard rescue but everyone came out safely.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D

I have followed BYC for a awhile now. I joined to respond to a forum post. I love the different sources of information from here and seeing a chicken community with a bunch of knowledgeable people.
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I have heard of rent a chicken. Nice!
 

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