drmaldonado57
In the Brooder
- Mar 19, 2022
- 3
- 23
- 21
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? Was raised on a farm, but it’s been quite a while and need to learn how people organically raise chickens today.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? Don’t have any yet. Will most likely be acquiring some within the next couple of years.
(3) What breeds do you have? I’m planning to get heritage breeds that lay various colors of eggs and thrive in a cold environment. (In southern Colorado)
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? When on the farm in my youth, chickens were a great source of food - eggs, meat. But they also have quite different personalities. We had one hen that had developed some sores from the roosters (we had raised the chickens from eggs and had yet to cull all but one of the roosters for meat) and the other chickens were picking at her sores. She had gotten so weak, she could barely stand. I picked her up, treated her wounds with that purple spray (was in the 70’s), fed and watered her and kept her in a small shed we had to store grain and tack for our other animals. I would check on her before and after school to refresh her water and feed and to treat her wounds. After about 3-4 days, she was quite a happy girl - named her Henny Penny, and would let her out to forage around the farm until I got home from school. She became attached to me and would meet me at the gate when she heard the school bus and walk with me back to the house. When I opened the shed door, she would hop up inside to get ready to sleep. One day, she met me at the gate and was really excited! She would run ahead “talking” and would look back over her shoulder to make sure I was following. She had never acted this way before, so I was a bit curious. She continued this way until we reached the house. But, we would normally just stop there and she wasn’t having it. She started “talking” louder and was more excited, so I figured she wanted me to follow her and I did. She continued again, as before, but seemed to get more excited by the moment as we reached a small piece of tin laying on the ground like a little pup tent. She went in one end and got REALLY excited and popped out the other end. I was a little confused, so I just watched. Seeing that I wasn’t getting it, she repeated this process a couple more times. Finally, it dawned on me that she wanted to show me something. When I looked under the tin, there, in the center, was a glorious huge egg!! And, she wanted me to have it!! Henny Penny officially was my pet chicken from that point and we finally figured out she was the layer of the double-yolked eggs we would get on occasion. Actually, she was pretty consistent with laying double-yolkers.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Gardening, seed saving, dehydrating, freeze drying, permaculture, reading, watching gardening, permaculture and animal husbandry videos, drawing with pastels, charcoal, crocheting, making herbal tea blends, medicinal tea blends, baking, cooking, etc.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. My Mom lives on the farm (Dad passed about 10 years ago) with my younger sister. Sis helps her as Mom is 82 now. They garden and preserve together and when Sis gets home from work, they take turns cooking and then watch their favorite shows and crochet or knit. My youngest sister and her partner live 3 hours away from Mom and Sis and they garden and preserve some, as well. I retired as a FT paralegal from a small law firm at the end of 2021. I still work remotely PT in probate/estate planning/guardianship and then have been getting my garden in shape for the ‘22 season. I am implementing more perennials in the garden and landscape. Currently, we don’t have any pets as our faithful companions passed after 12 and 14 years. But I have a pair of wrens nesting in some pots I have on top of my grill and the male sings to me whenever he sees me and we have a jam “session” until I can’t whistle anymore or I crack up because he changes the song making it more difficult. And, digging in the soil to harvest the sunchokes, I’m saving any worms I come across for the compost pile and to add to my raised beds. So, I guess you could say I have a wild pair of birds and worms as pets? We are planning to retire when my husband gets to the age where he can draw SS and we will sell this home, with its gardens and move to our property in Colorado. We have a barn now out there and can stay in the barn as it is well-insulated now until we get our house built. That’s when I plan to get chickens after building a mini earthship for them with a run around an acre garden. I will also be implementing our food forest out there as well as traditional raised beds for our food. Or, at least some of our food. It’s ambitious, I know, but I have faith that we will eventually have what we need and maybe some of what we want.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
I think I found BYC when researching about heritage breeds of chickens. I liked the site so much that I registered and have been getting the newsletter. I am trying to be patient before getting my “girls”. It’s not easy, but we have a plan and we’re sticking to it.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now? Don’t have any yet. Will most likely be acquiring some within the next couple of years.
(3) What breeds do you have? I’m planning to get heritage breeds that lay various colors of eggs and thrive in a cold environment. (In southern Colorado)
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? When on the farm in my youth, chickens were a great source of food - eggs, meat. But they also have quite different personalities. We had one hen that had developed some sores from the roosters (we had raised the chickens from eggs and had yet to cull all but one of the roosters for meat) and the other chickens were picking at her sores. She had gotten so weak, she could barely stand. I picked her up, treated her wounds with that purple spray (was in the 70’s), fed and watered her and kept her in a small shed we had to store grain and tack for our other animals. I would check on her before and after school to refresh her water and feed and to treat her wounds. After about 3-4 days, she was quite a happy girl - named her Henny Penny, and would let her out to forage around the farm until I got home from school. She became attached to me and would meet me at the gate when she heard the school bus and walk with me back to the house. When I opened the shed door, she would hop up inside to get ready to sleep. One day, she met me at the gate and was really excited! She would run ahead “talking” and would look back over her shoulder to make sure I was following. She had never acted this way before, so I was a bit curious. She continued this way until we reached the house. But, we would normally just stop there and she wasn’t having it. She started “talking” louder and was more excited, so I figured she wanted me to follow her and I did. She continued again, as before, but seemed to get more excited by the moment as we reached a small piece of tin laying on the ground like a little pup tent. She went in one end and got REALLY excited and popped out the other end. I was a little confused, so I just watched. Seeing that I wasn’t getting it, she repeated this process a couple more times. Finally, it dawned on me that she wanted to show me something. When I looked under the tin, there, in the center, was a glorious huge egg!! And, she wanted me to have it!! Henny Penny officially was my pet chicken from that point and we finally figured out she was the layer of the double-yolked eggs we would get on occasion. Actually, she was pretty consistent with laying double-yolkers.
(5) What are some of your other hobbies? Gardening, seed saving, dehydrating, freeze drying, permaculture, reading, watching gardening, permaculture and animal husbandry videos, drawing with pastels, charcoal, crocheting, making herbal tea blends, medicinal tea blends, baking, cooking, etc.
(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share. My Mom lives on the farm (Dad passed about 10 years ago) with my younger sister. Sis helps her as Mom is 82 now. They garden and preserve together and when Sis gets home from work, they take turns cooking and then watch their favorite shows and crochet or knit. My youngest sister and her partner live 3 hours away from Mom and Sis and they garden and preserve some, as well. I retired as a FT paralegal from a small law firm at the end of 2021. I still work remotely PT in probate/estate planning/guardianship and then have been getting my garden in shape for the ‘22 season. I am implementing more perennials in the garden and landscape. Currently, we don’t have any pets as our faithful companions passed after 12 and 14 years. But I have a pair of wrens nesting in some pots I have on top of my grill and the male sings to me whenever he sees me and we have a jam “session” until I can’t whistle anymore or I crack up because he changes the song making it more difficult. And, digging in the soil to harvest the sunchokes, I’m saving any worms I come across for the compost pile and to add to my raised beds. So, I guess you could say I have a wild pair of birds and worms as pets? We are planning to retire when my husband gets to the age where he can draw SS and we will sell this home, with its gardens and move to our property in Colorado. We have a barn now out there and can stay in the barn as it is well-insulated now until we get our house built. That’s when I plan to get chickens after building a mini earthship for them with a run around an acre garden. I will also be implementing our food forest out there as well as traditional raised beds for our food. Or, at least some of our food. It’s ambitious, I know, but I have faith that we will eventually have what we need and maybe some of what we want.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
I think I found BYC when researching about heritage breeds of chickens. I liked the site so much that I registered and have been getting the newsletter. I am trying to be patient before getting my “girls”. It’s not easy, but we have a plan and we’re sticking to it.
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