Good morning, I am new to BYC and (relatively) new to keeping chickens. After reading through numerous BYC threads that came up on my "How do I _" and "What happens if _" google searches I decided to join.
My husband and I moved out to a rural acreage two years ago fulfilling a longtime desire to become more self sufficient and grow more of our own food.
My small flock started started with seven RIR girls, purchased as day old chicks, about a year ago. This past spring we added seven Buff Orpingtons (whom. I. love!!) including a feisty little roo. Then, as an anniversary gift my husband gave me with seven more lavender orpingtons; most of whom...are..roos.
All our little orps are about 12 weeks and doing great. We enjoy them tremendously and I don't see us stopping with the buffs and lavenders.
We also raised and processed a small batch of jumbo cornish crosses last spring which was a wonderful experience and just recently bought a Brinsea incubator for the purpose of hatching some heritage meat breeds. Our first trial is due to hatch in about two weeks.
Everyone is housed in a combination of coops each with their own run; but they also spend much of their time free ranging on our acreage.
In addition to our birds we have four shih-tzus, a large garden where we grow heirloom veggies (naturally), and a pond; so we might perhaps welcome some ducks and geese at some point.
This is forum is a wonderful resource and I have already learned a lot.
My husband and I moved out to a rural acreage two years ago fulfilling a longtime desire to become more self sufficient and grow more of our own food.
My small flock started started with seven RIR girls, purchased as day old chicks, about a year ago. This past spring we added seven Buff Orpingtons (whom. I. love!!) including a feisty little roo. Then, as an anniversary gift my husband gave me with seven more lavender orpingtons; most of whom...are..roos.

We also raised and processed a small batch of jumbo cornish crosses last spring which was a wonderful experience and just recently bought a Brinsea incubator for the purpose of hatching some heritage meat breeds. Our first trial is due to hatch in about two weeks.
Everyone is housed in a combination of coops each with their own run; but they also spend much of their time free ranging on our acreage.
In addition to our birds we have four shih-tzus, a large garden where we grow heirloom veggies (naturally), and a pond; so we might perhaps welcome some ducks and geese at some point.
This is forum is a wonderful resource and I have already learned a lot.
