sunstruckpebbles
In the Brooder
- Jul 9, 2020
- 10
- 19
- 26
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
As I am underage, my parents gifted me four chickens on my birthday, about five or six years ago (I don't remember what age I was, haha). They were mostly crosses, but I remember that we had one purebred Australorp in the mix as well as two beautiful Barnevelders; along with those was an absolutely gorgeous silver laced Wyandotte cross - she looked like a silver lace, but had brown smudges here and there. We immediately loved the experience of having them and, over the next couple of years, acquired a few more! Of course, we lived in suburbia at the time so unfortunately we weren't allowed to have a rooster nor own more than six chickens, so we were a little restricted with our flock - we moved to a rural property three years ago, though, and they've flourished. They have a much larger run now so everything inside isn't totally demolished, haha, but they mostly choose to go out and roam across our land during the day so it's pretty quiet in there
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
About twenty or thirty; I haven't counted!
(3) What breeds do you have?
We don't have any purebreeds apart from three Barnevelders (all descended from our first chickens!), so there's a bit of everything in everyone - we have Buff Orpington, Plymouth Rock, Welsummer, Wyandotte, etc.. We've also got a bit of Rhode Island Red somewhere in there, along with New Hampshire, but we're more a fan of heritage breeds so we try to limit the introduction of more commercial type chickens into our flock. I'm hoping to post some of our lovelies on this site eventually to see what the community thinks they might have in them, since I'm not too sure myself!
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I just love observing chickens, honestly, and I think that's my favourite thing about owning them - that, and learning new things about them every day. They're super cute at times, and also do the most unexpected things, so they're pretty crazy animals!
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I enjoy creating digital art, writing fiction, and drawing! Not much else, as those take up most of my time
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
My parents and I live on nearly fifty hectares in Tasmania, Australia! We currently have in our family a beautiful black cat (one that we actually discovered as an abandoned kitten on this very land before we moved in, and she's a very weird and unique animal to match!), a flock of sheep (that doesn't actually belong to us... They just randomly arrived here, and no matter who we went to or contacted, there was no owner for them. Strange, but at this point I'd hate to give them up because they're wonderful pets), and we're hoping to soon allow a new member into our household - a dog! I absolutely love them and have been persuading my parents to get one for the longest time, haha. We've researched a ton and think we're ready to give a home to a beautiful Australian Kelpie pup for sale near us in about August
Neither my parents nor I are employed, as the former are currently self-retired and, again, I'm underage - however, we're kept busy by all the stuff that's needed to be done around here! We're currently in the process of building a house (we're living in a temporary tiny house right now), and we're also working on our greenhouse as we'd really like to get it done before spring so that we can have tomatoes this year. After those, we can finally focus on relaxing, gardening, and exploring the forest reserve on our land!
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
Today I stumbled upon a thread that shows various chicken crosses, each contributed by a different member of the community, and I immediately recognized that there's a lot I can learn from a place like this! The community seems super friendly and helpful, and it'd be nice to talk with some other people about chickens, because nobody I know actually gets them and it gets a bit frustrating at times. They're really underrated! I'm really excited to join everyone here in discussing these amazing animals and hopefully finding out more about them
I've attached a picture of my cat; she loves hanging out and exploring with me I've also got a couple pics of Stormy, my favourite chick (well, he's nearly a pullet now) of the litter (?) which hatched back around the end of 2019 (whoops, I've forgotten when exactly). Unfortunately, the mum - and our oldest chicken at the time, as well as the smartest (she was smart, though for some reason she chose to make a nest outside of the run, where predators could get her) - was killed by a quoll in the night. It was really devastating to head to the chickens and see the chicks running around all upset with only feathers remaining of our beloved girl 
Anyhow, I took care of the little fellas, taking them out for many hours each day (they were surprisingly high maintenance) and hunting down grasshoppers and ant eggs for them. There were nine in total, and they were all still intact when we let them leave our house and join the other chickens in the run, though since then three have been taken by hawks and so we're left with six. Anyhow, Stormy's the lovely dark grey, red, and white one!
I've also got an image of our current rooster, the big orange boy! Unfortunately, he's got quite bad legs - we'll be replacing him soon as he isn't awful, but not exactly the ideal rooster either in terms of personality and all.
Sorry that this has dragged on - I tend to ramble I don't doubt that I'll be having a great time here with the wonderful community, and I'm excited to get involved! Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day
As I am underage, my parents gifted me four chickens on my birthday, about five or six years ago (I don't remember what age I was, haha). They were mostly crosses, but I remember that we had one purebred Australorp in the mix as well as two beautiful Barnevelders; along with those was an absolutely gorgeous silver laced Wyandotte cross - she looked like a silver lace, but had brown smudges here and there. We immediately loved the experience of having them and, over the next couple of years, acquired a few more! Of course, we lived in suburbia at the time so unfortunately we weren't allowed to have a rooster nor own more than six chickens, so we were a little restricted with our flock - we moved to a rural property three years ago, though, and they've flourished. They have a much larger run now so everything inside isn't totally demolished, haha, but they mostly choose to go out and roam across our land during the day so it's pretty quiet in there
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
About twenty or thirty; I haven't counted!
(3) What breeds do you have?
We don't have any purebreeds apart from three Barnevelders (all descended from our first chickens!), so there's a bit of everything in everyone - we have Buff Orpington, Plymouth Rock, Welsummer, Wyandotte, etc.. We've also got a bit of Rhode Island Red somewhere in there, along with New Hampshire, but we're more a fan of heritage breeds so we try to limit the introduction of more commercial type chickens into our flock. I'm hoping to post some of our lovelies on this site eventually to see what the community thinks they might have in them, since I'm not too sure myself!
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I just love observing chickens, honestly, and I think that's my favourite thing about owning them - that, and learning new things about them every day. They're super cute at times, and also do the most unexpected things, so they're pretty crazy animals!
(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I enjoy creating digital art, writing fiction, and drawing! Not much else, as those take up most of my time
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
My parents and I live on nearly fifty hectares in Tasmania, Australia! We currently have in our family a beautiful black cat (one that we actually discovered as an abandoned kitten on this very land before we moved in, and she's a very weird and unique animal to match!), a flock of sheep (that doesn't actually belong to us... They just randomly arrived here, and no matter who we went to or contacted, there was no owner for them. Strange, but at this point I'd hate to give them up because they're wonderful pets), and we're hoping to soon allow a new member into our household - a dog! I absolutely love them and have been persuading my parents to get one for the longest time, haha. We've researched a ton and think we're ready to give a home to a beautiful Australian Kelpie pup for sale near us in about August
Neither my parents nor I are employed, as the former are currently self-retired and, again, I'm underage - however, we're kept busy by all the stuff that's needed to be done around here! We're currently in the process of building a house (we're living in a temporary tiny house right now), and we're also working on our greenhouse as we'd really like to get it done before spring so that we can have tomatoes this year. After those, we can finally focus on relaxing, gardening, and exploring the forest reserve on our land!
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
Today I stumbled upon a thread that shows various chicken crosses, each contributed by a different member of the community, and I immediately recognized that there's a lot I can learn from a place like this! The community seems super friendly and helpful, and it'd be nice to talk with some other people about chickens, because nobody I know actually gets them and it gets a bit frustrating at times. They're really underrated! I'm really excited to join everyone here in discussing these amazing animals and hopefully finding out more about them
I've attached a picture of my cat; she loves hanging out and exploring with me
I've also got a couple pics of Stormy, my favourite chick (well, he's nearly a pullet now) of the litter (?) which hatched back around the end of 2019 (whoops, I've forgotten when exactly). Unfortunately, the mum - and our oldest chicken at the time, as well as the smartest (she was smart, though for some reason she chose to make a nest outside of the run, where predators could get her) - was killed by a quoll in the night. It was really devastating to head to the chickens and see the chicks running around all upset with only feathers remaining of our beloved girl Anyhow, I took care of the little fellas, taking them out for many hours each day (they were surprisingly high maintenance) and hunting down grasshoppers and ant eggs for them. There were nine in total, and they were all still intact when we let them leave our house and join the other chickens in the run, though since then three have been taken by hawks and so we're left with six. Anyhow, Stormy's the lovely dark grey, red, and white one!I've also got an image of our current rooster, the big orange boy! Unfortunately, he's got quite bad legs - we'll be replacing him soon as he isn't awful, but not exactly the ideal rooster either in terms of personality and all.
Sorry that this has dragged on - I tend to ramble
I don't doubt that I'll be having a great time here with the wonderful community, and I'm excited to get involved! Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day 
So glad you decided to join! 
Make yourself at home here.
