Hello All! Well, here goes. Stumbled onto this website quite by accident and I am really glad I did. I'm getting back into the chicken game after a LONG absence and finding BYC is going to be so useful! My story: not much to tell. I'm 47 years old and I live in Kansas. As a kid a neighbor lady - almost a surrogate grandma, Maude was her name - raised chickens for both eggs and meat - probably leghorns - anyway, they were all white and layed white eggs. She taught me lots. Then I became a teenager and other things got in the way and chickens got left behind. In the last few years I have really missed the taste of Maude's fried chicken plus the great eggs she gave my family. To me the chicken you buy is so tasteless. I understand all of what you buy is Cornish X but still, it's sure different when I have control of their food. So anyway this past spring I thought what the heck? I went to a local farm store and purchased a bunch of baby chicks. Some Cornish X plus a hodgepodge including barred rocks, R. I. reds (I had one clerk call them that and another call them "production reds...I'm new to this game but I guess there is a difference between R. I. and production reds?), some aracaunas (which I understand are more accurately called easter eggers), and couple of what I think might be silver leghorns. I had both male and female Cornish X but I think I have only one hen in the rest - one of the silver leghorns. The ones not Cornish were sold as males mostly with maybe a stray female in the batch I was told. I bought them for eating. It's going great - I've processed the Cornish since they grow as they do, the others are coming along more slowly. I've learned the easter eggers will never get too meatly - no problem - I sure enjoy having them around. Rasied them in the basement in big Rubbermaid 100 gallon tanks, built a coop and when it was warm enough I moved them outside. I live in teh country and they have free range. I love to see them chasing and catching bugs and rejoice that every bug they consume is one that won't pester my garden! They have really made me a happier person. And it's nice to have tasty chicken again. Now I'm going to start to raise some laying hens. I have TONS of questions about that but will address them in other forums on BYC. So, that's my story. Looking forward to reading and learning!
