Hi!
I've been lurking around the outskirts of the Backyard Chickens site for a couple of years, but only recently got brave enough to join and post. So here goes...
We're a 4H family. Although we live within small-town limits, we have farming family, so most of our livestock experience is in showing horses and dairy cattle - Guernseys, the biggest golden retrievers in the world! While searching for Guernsey info, my children found the Livestock Conservancy website. Guernsey cattle were listed as Threatened, along with a long list of other heritage breeds the world is in danger of losing to "progress." Among the critically endangered cattle, horses and other assorted livestock, my kids found chickens - lots of chickens! Critically Endangered Chickens. Go figure.
As it turns out, I had Nankins as a child, and never knew they were rare. Maybe they weren't, then. To us, they were just really sweet little banties. The stories started flowing, and we ended up HAVING to get some Nankins. It took us two years and a six hour drive to find them, but they were worth it! I'd forgotten how rewarding - and entertaining - chicken keeping could be.
We now have a small backyard flock of Nannies, with a token Silkie (who thinks he's a house rooster) and a handful of very tiny bantam peeps that we're pretty sure are Sebrights. Only time will tell. We've converted our wooden playhouse/sandbox to a coop/ run .. and we're off! Now, if I could only figure out what to do with the rooster in my back room...
I've been lurking around the outskirts of the Backyard Chickens site for a couple of years, but only recently got brave enough to join and post. So here goes...
We're a 4H family. Although we live within small-town limits, we have farming family, so most of our livestock experience is in showing horses and dairy cattle - Guernseys, the biggest golden retrievers in the world! While searching for Guernsey info, my children found the Livestock Conservancy website. Guernsey cattle were listed as Threatened, along with a long list of other heritage breeds the world is in danger of losing to "progress." Among the critically endangered cattle, horses and other assorted livestock, my kids found chickens - lots of chickens! Critically Endangered Chickens. Go figure.
As it turns out, I had Nankins as a child, and never knew they were rare. Maybe they weren't, then. To us, they were just really sweet little banties. The stories started flowing, and we ended up HAVING to get some Nankins. It took us two years and a six hour drive to find them, but they were worth it! I'd forgotten how rewarding - and entertaining - chicken keeping could be.
We now have a small backyard flock of Nannies, with a token Silkie (who thinks he's a house rooster) and a handful of very tiny bantam peeps that we're pretty sure are Sebrights. Only time will tell. We've converted our wooden playhouse/sandbox to a coop/ run .. and we're off! Now, if I could only figure out what to do with the rooster in my back room...
We are glad you joined our flock.
to have you join the family. Enjoy your time here at BYC! 
