Official BYC Poll: How Long Have You Been Raising Chickens?

[casportpony]

I was in a bombing in the middle east and my wife and I wanted something to do for me. Since I was raised on a farm we thought raising chickens would be the ticket and sell what we do not use.

We started out with 10 hens and now have up to 40 and raise our own chicks by either letting a hen sit and we use an incubator for the other 60 or so.

I would sit down there in the wheelchair for hours on end and watch the critters and laugh at all the silly things they did. Helped my depression a lot.
Now that I am out of a wheelchair I go down once in a while to sit and watch them. We raise new chicks every year and the old ones go to the butcher and eat all of them with soap or other dishes.

This year was the worst for critters and got away with 11 of them. View attachment 2010720
We started off putting them in a 10'x20' pole shed and it has morphed into a chicken palace with fenced in runs with a roof over the top. Thank goodness for my Brother in Law helping us all the time. In the winter my wife takes care of them all the time not wanting me to fall, but on good days I go down to sit and watch again in the warm sun.View attachment 2010711View attachment 2010719

You have a beautiful flock!

 

[oldhen2345]

Welcome to BYC!

Sitting in the sun and watching chicken TV is my favorite past time. If the weather is warm and the sun shining, just bet you can find me in the chicken yard. Friends and family laugh at my camera pictures- it is mostly chickens and dogs- with occasional pics of them. LOL. It is the greatest stress relief.

 

[Kiki]

Sitting in the sun and watching chicken TV is my favorite past time. If the weather is warm and the sun shining, just bet you can find me in the chicken yard. Friends and family laugh at my camera pictures- it is mostly chickens and dogs- with occasional pics of them. LOL. It is the greatest stress relief.

You better get outside today because I think it's going to start raining this evening and all day tomorrow.

 

[Vickschicks8]

View attachment 2009564​

How many of our peeps are really new to raising chickens and how many are old-timers?

In addition to answering the poll, please reply with some fun details, like:

What got you interested in raising chickens?
Did you ever "take a break" and not have chickens?
What breeds did you start with, how many, and do you have any pictures to share?

 

[Vickschicks8]

My favorites are feather footed. I love hatching chicks and trying different breed crosses.

 

[SWES]

I bought four baby chicks in October of 2013. Of the four only one, Sweetie, is still with me. She is six years old and is still laying. Sweetie sleeps in a dog cage in the house. She is the queen of the flock and goes out every morning and spends they day with the flock telling them what to do and pecking at them, then at dusk she is at the back door ready to come in for a snack and go to bed. She took over these duties after her sister Rocky passed away a couple of years ago and took up residence in the "Queen's quarters" where Rocky stayed for a couple of years before she left us.

Rocky Sweetie

 

[ValerieJ]

I bought four baby chicks in October of 2013. Of the four only one, Sweetie, is still with me. She is six years old and is still laying. Sweetie sleeps in a dog cage in the house. She is the queen of the flock and goes out every morning and spends they day with the flock telling them what to do and pecking at them, then at dusk she is at the back door ready to come in for a snack and go to bed. She took over these duties after her sister Rocky passed away a couple of years ago and took up residence in the "Queen's quarters" where Rocky stayed for a couple of years before she left us.

Rocky Sweetie
View attachment 2010750View attachment 2010751

I'm curious, where do the rest of the chickens sleep? How fascinating that she wants to come in the house to sleep.

 

[Beccackle]

Started keeping chickens in May 2019; unfortunately it was a rocky start when my flock was diagnosed with Marek's disease. From 12, we're down to 4: a rooster, 2 robust egg-laying hens and one remaining and lonely bantam roo.

 

[jsr5]

kWe have been raising chickens for a little over 3 years now. Wife wanted to sell eggs I wanted a sustainable food source so I built a coop and run for first couple dozen Barred Rocks and Roadisland Reds (love my little red hens from remembering the little book that was read to me as a child) Anyway a few months after that I saw and just had to have my Nashty Hobitses. My little feather legged Bantams. And I flat fell in love with the whole bird thing much to my suprise. Those first bantams were a Black cochin roo named Baby Huey, Two Mille fluer D'Uccles Love those cute quirky girls One was an escape artist so was named Houdini and for some reason I'm having a brain issue on the others name. Two red cochins or so I thought till I noticed one doesn't have feather legs. Sunshine is my girl with the feather legs The other got her name from when they were brooding on our Bathroom Buddy (short for Poop Buddy) always had to jump up on the brooder to talk with me when I was doing my business. Two silies that both turned out to be roos (bummer) one was a mottled color brown mostly and got named Chewie after the stars wars character. The other was jockingly named Karen after my wife when young because he was so noisy wife changed his name to prince after he started crowing. A red Cochin Roo named Ping because when little in the brooder hed just be standing there maybe bounce a little then explode into movement not stoping till he ran into a mate or the wall. Goofy roo And one porcelin Duccle Roo (yeah I got rooster slammed) I was lucky that the roos all got along well except for Huey who was put out of the hobitses coop and he just loved chasing after the big girls and they didn't mind him. He was soooooooo cute chasing after the big girls.Anyway I am completely smitten and over the last three have put in another coop and am working on a run just for my littles. They mix well with the big girls But I had to expand so just built a new coop. Im a little more fastidious about my coop so I do often have big girls come there to lay or even stay a few days Love my birds can't imagine life without em now.

 

[JScott]

As a kid, I spent summers on my grandfather's farm where he raised RIR's. Eight years ago, at age 60, I decided I wanted chickens like "Bapa" had. The ones I got from the hatchery didn't look much like Bapa's so I've been selectively breeding to get more "true-to-breed" (bigger, darker) birds. I'm having a great time and supplying kids and grandkids with eggs and memories.