New Member

Butchers Wife

Chirping
May 14, 2021
66
138
83
I've learned almost every thing I know about raising birds from backyardchickens. I started with 6 chickens 10 years ago. My daughter had just passed away. Her distraught husband and their 2 little girls had just moved in with us from out of state. Back at home following the funeral, with family and close friends gathered, the conversation turned to one friend who had just received a letter from his local police department informing him that keeping chickens was entirely illegal within the city limits. On a whim I said I'd take them all. Kids, pets, something new to take our attention off our sorrows, it seemed like a good idea. And it was. The kids loved those chickens. We all did. And we loved the eggs. And of course we had to hatch some. And I learned all of that right here. I mean, I didn't even know what chickens ate or where to buy it. And we picked up those chickens first thing in the morning to save our friend from a fine that he and his young family truly couldn't afford.

That same year our 2 son's fiances moved in with us while they were saving for their weddings and honeymoons, and stayed on until they could afford their first homes. Multi-generational became multi-family as a 3rd son got divorced and he and his 2 year old son moved in with us, suddenly, in the middle of the night, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. But that's another story. Luckily everyone was gainfully employed, except me, I stayed home with all the littles. But my focus really became food security as it began to feel like I was feeding half the known world breakfast lunch and dinner, with 11 people living in a 4 bedroom house. So I got meat rabbits and quail. Learned all about them here too.

Everyone's married or remarried, and has families and blended families in homes of their own now. Which just means I cook my holiday meals for serious crowds now. And one son and his son are still with us. Grandson is 12 now and keeps us young. My Dearly Beloved is retired now so we downsized to a 2 bedroom house. Yes, 4 people/2 bedrooms but we're used to living this way. We bought the cheapest house we could find in the entire county. It was sold as a tear down. We didn't tear it down, we just gutted it to the studs inside and out and basically it's like a brand new house with super low taxes and no mortgage and, the best part, it's zoned agricultural! It's 2 and 1\4 acres on a south facing slope along the Brandywine River in central Chester County, Pennsylvania. And it's beautiful! It's not really enough land for cows or corn or a lot of things. But it is big enough for pheasants! Why pheasants? Why not. No one sells them within 150 miles of us. There used to be a guy, but he retired and sold off his game farm years ago. My Dearly Beloved dearly enjoyed hunting at that guys game farm in his younger days and asked me to hatch some pheasants to release here at our new home as we are surrounded by thousands of wild acres, wetlands, woodlands, horse farms, and even a vineyard not a half mile up our street. And we're in the middle of hunt country, horses and hounds chasing foxes and all that. So we thought we might as well raise enough to sell plus some to eat and some to release. So we bought a license for that and had a visit from the Game Warden. We like eating pheasant. Our neighbors do too. And don't even get me started on feathers. The feathers are worth more than the bird! Although they look so much better on the bird.

So we started with a batch of mail order chicks last year, and hopefully, we have learned every mistake. This year those 25 pheasant hens and 5 cocks are laying fertilized eggs. I have 500 in
Our homemade cabinet incubator right now. Dearly Beloved and I learned how to construct a small cabinet incubator by watching YouTube but we came up with our own design and made the thing actually work! by studying threads on backyardchickens. I'll definitely be posting details about that and my hatch rates.

And now we have ducks. Grandson had a dream soon after we moved here that was so vivid, and affected him so entirely, àthat he acted more like he'd had a vision. Totally out of character for the little video gamer who only goes outside under threat of punishment, he barely slept for 3 days straight while coming up with a business plan to raise ducks, sell duck eggs, buy more incubators, how much it would cost, how much money he could make, and basically he worked out how he'd become a millionaire by his 25th birthday, if only someone would buy him a dozen ducks! Dearly Beloved and I had just ordered our pheasants and had just begun building our vision for our new business built around our them. At first Grandson's big idea seemed like a big distraction, but over 3 days ending in his Road Map To Millionaire, plus he built a web site for sales! well, it's hard to say no to all of that and who am I to stand in the way of his greatness? So, It's pheasants and ducks for the win, Because we can.
 
You have a dream retirement and good for you for being so open to your family. I believe your grandson can succeed and I hope you can continue supporting his dreams. You have a perfect location to do a business and a family that is also interested. There is something extremely disconnected in places that make raising chickens and animals illegal. I hope you can continue your tradition for your family and it grows into a success for their future as well.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom