Hi!
My husband Mark & I (Amy) acquired some hens & a rooster from a friend. We had 1 black osterlorp, 1 buff orpington, 1 RI red hen, 1 RI red rooster & 3 RI red/buff orp mix hens. I work at a small animal vet & Mark is a dispatcher for a local trucking company & part-time wanna be farmer. We have a habit of rescuing creatures in need. Our oldest pet is a schnauzer of 15 yr. hard of hearing & doesn't see well, he wears a diaper in the house because of Cushings disease. Our 4 yr. old German Shepher mix was rescued from the Grand Canyon when he was 8 weeks old. He is quite a conversation piece/souvenier. We also have a 3 yr. old Cocker Spaniel who was born with a front leg out of place. Add to that 5 indoor cats, each with a story of how they came to live with us. We have one outdoor feral cat & just today adopted another feral cat from the local Feral Cat Coalition, so she would not be euthanized. We'll see how that goes....
All was well with the chickens for about 6 months. We are new to this & unfortunately are learning some things the hard way. The rooster liked the black one WAY too much & she ended up with a naked backside in spite of an apron. So we gave her back to our friend. Just last week the buff one had a tumor rupture below her rectum & at the vets recommendation, we euthanized her. We went on vacation & while we were gone (family members stayed at our house) a raccoon (we assume) killed 2 more. So we have 2 laying hens left & 1 rooster. Mark had gotten some buff chicks this spring. They are big enough now to join the others but aren't laying yet. We'll see how this goes....
We can use all the help we can get.
My husband Mark & I (Amy) acquired some hens & a rooster from a friend. We had 1 black osterlorp, 1 buff orpington, 1 RI red hen, 1 RI red rooster & 3 RI red/buff orp mix hens. I work at a small animal vet & Mark is a dispatcher for a local trucking company & part-time wanna be farmer. We have a habit of rescuing creatures in need. Our oldest pet is a schnauzer of 15 yr. hard of hearing & doesn't see well, he wears a diaper in the house because of Cushings disease. Our 4 yr. old German Shepher mix was rescued from the Grand Canyon when he was 8 weeks old. He is quite a conversation piece/souvenier. We also have a 3 yr. old Cocker Spaniel who was born with a front leg out of place. Add to that 5 indoor cats, each with a story of how they came to live with us. We have one outdoor feral cat & just today adopted another feral cat from the local Feral Cat Coalition, so she would not be euthanized. We'll see how that goes....
All was well with the chickens for about 6 months. We are new to this & unfortunately are learning some things the hard way. The rooster liked the black one WAY too much & she ended up with a naked backside in spite of an apron. So we gave her back to our friend. Just last week the buff one had a tumor rupture below her rectum & at the vets recommendation, we euthanized her. We went on vacation & while we were gone (family members stayed at our house) a raccoon (we assume) killed 2 more. So we have 2 laying hens left & 1 rooster. Mark had gotten some buff chicks this spring. They are big enough now to join the others but aren't laying yet. We'll see how this goes....
We can use all the help we can get.
