Hello!
My husband built me a chicken coop for my birthday back in 2013. I started out with four red stars and named them Eeney, Meany, Miney, and Big Moe. I've never had chickens myself, so it was quite a learning experience. My girlfriend and I would sit outside for hours when we first got them, drinking wine and watching "chicken TV." They were so interesting!
We have five acres and I've always let my chickens free range, so over the years, I've lost quite a few to predators (bob cats, coyote, hawks and just recently, SNAKES!) We've had enough of losing our flock and we've build an 'aviary' (and I use that term loosely) to protect them while we're at work.
Right now, we have 7 hens, one rooster, and five 3-week old chicks (we had 6 chicks, but a snake got into their area and killed one last night. I am sooo over loosing chickens to predators!) In our flock, we have our rooster; a 3 year old Rhode Island Red named Annabelle (he hatched the night we went to the movies to see Annabelle, so the name just kinda stuck), a Blue Andalusian hen named Blue (we kill the namings, yes?), a black Chochin named Alice the Goon (she went broody and hatched 5 eggs - very sad story. The other chickens just had to get into her nest box and crushed 4 of the chicks. We felt so bad for her that we went to Tractor Supply and bought 5 Ameraucana chicks for her to love and moved them all into the greenhouse, away from the other adults. She's a great mama to them all!), 2 Ameraucana hens named Gazette and Pink, 2 Rhode Island Red and Blue Andalusian mixed hens that we hatched, named Ginger and MaryAnn, and one hen that we got at our local farmers market that I have no idea what she is, but we call her Black Face.
Our home also includes three Old English Mastiffs, Tootsie, Poppy and LugNut, all rescued and fostered and adopted through #Mastiff Rescue of Florida. We also have 4 Peacocks and 4 Peahens, all just slightly domesticated through generous feeding. They are beautiful birds, but they are messy and destructive of all my landscaping.
That is basically it. I have lurked on BackYardChickens for years. I appreciate all the insight that I get from this website. It answers a lot of my questions and gives me hope! I'm looking forward to many more years of learning.
My husband built me a chicken coop for my birthday back in 2013. I started out with four red stars and named them Eeney, Meany, Miney, and Big Moe. I've never had chickens myself, so it was quite a learning experience. My girlfriend and I would sit outside for hours when we first got them, drinking wine and watching "chicken TV." They were so interesting!
We have five acres and I've always let my chickens free range, so over the years, I've lost quite a few to predators (bob cats, coyote, hawks and just recently, SNAKES!) We've had enough of losing our flock and we've build an 'aviary' (and I use that term loosely) to protect them while we're at work.
Right now, we have 7 hens, one rooster, and five 3-week old chicks (we had 6 chicks, but a snake got into their area and killed one last night. I am sooo over loosing chickens to predators!) In our flock, we have our rooster; a 3 year old Rhode Island Red named Annabelle (he hatched the night we went to the movies to see Annabelle, so the name just kinda stuck), a Blue Andalusian hen named Blue (we kill the namings, yes?), a black Chochin named Alice the Goon (she went broody and hatched 5 eggs - very sad story. The other chickens just had to get into her nest box and crushed 4 of the chicks. We felt so bad for her that we went to Tractor Supply and bought 5 Ameraucana chicks for her to love and moved them all into the greenhouse, away from the other adults. She's a great mama to them all!), 2 Ameraucana hens named Gazette and Pink, 2 Rhode Island Red and Blue Andalusian mixed hens that we hatched, named Ginger and MaryAnn, and one hen that we got at our local farmers market that I have no idea what she is, but we call her Black Face.
Our home also includes three Old English Mastiffs, Tootsie, Poppy and LugNut, all rescued and fostered and adopted through #Mastiff Rescue of Florida. We also have 4 Peacocks and 4 Peahens, all just slightly domesticated through generous feeding. They are beautiful birds, but they are messy and destructive of all my landscaping.
That is basically it. I have lurked on BackYardChickens for years. I appreciate all the insight that I get from this website. It answers a lot of my questions and gives me hope! I'm looking forward to many more years of learning.