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

[ShrekDawg]

Just welcomed someone who is 83 years old. I'll have to get him to respond so that I am not alone in the 75 + bracket.

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

February 12th it will be four years. I lost my only child to a sudden death in 2003. I tried a lot of different things to move on and live again, and I'm sure it all helped a little. It wasn't until we bought a little property on a river complete with wildlife and a rain forest that I found some peace again. Chickens arrived about a year into this new life and saved mine. Still haven't gotten over the loss, but I have made friends with the pain and am able to live a mostly happy life. Maybe this is TMI, but it is directly related to having chickens for me.

I started with 6, 2 Australorps, 2 RIRs, and 2 Buff Orpingtons. Of that flock, I only have Lucy (avatar) left. Each one of those losses was heartbreaking.

At this time I have 8 hens, 3 BOs, 3 Australorps, and 2 RIRs. I also have 4 at nearly 5 mos, 2 Lavender Orpington pullets, 1 Lavender Orpington cockerel, and 1 Buff Orpington cockerel. The last two are a little trouble at the moment, but they are being given every chance to grow up here.

Here's a few pictures. First is Mad Hatter. Second is Alice.
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Third is Alice and Abby, fourth is Pippi Longshot (who owns my heart),
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And finally most of the hens, hanging out together at one end of the run while we trimmed trees at the other end.
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Pippi was the only chick hatched out in my incubator. I picked up Mad and the girls to be brooder mates for him. Here is my sweet Pippi's beginning:
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And finally, a video I've shared several times of one of my first hens who liked to give the benediction at the end of each day:

OMG I love the video!!

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

We started thinking about chickens years before we ever got any. We lived in a little house in the middle of the city with hardly any yard and went through an insane amount of eggs every week. When we finally started looking at houses to move, being able to raise chickens was one of the main factors. Almost a year after we moved, chick days cane to TSC and we were there to load up on babies first thing on the first day! I believe that we picked out 6 babies the first time, 4 EEs and 2 PR pullets. We also picked up 4 assorted Wyandotte chicks and 2 BCM from local breeders. We loved these chicks and they bonded so strongly to us. It was amazing! They were only 2 weeks old when we had our first crushing disaster. In a 5 minute window of unsupervision, our dogs broke in to the brooder and killed every single one of the babies. It was absolute heartbreak! We planned to wait a while before getting anymore but after a few days with lack of preeping, we went and got more. Of course with chicken math, we ended up with 15! We got EE's, silkies, BCM, OEGB and PRs second time around and this time we were super vigilant! We haven't been without them ever since. In fact, we've expanded and now have about 35 chickens (we've had WAY more!), 18 turkeys, 5 ducks and 2 geese and even had quail for a bit! Chickens have even helped me discover my crafty side.....I now make chicken tutus and sew hen saddles!

Eve, hanging out in the hammock with me

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Our sweetest and favorite hen from our original (surviving) chicks

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Ana (hen), broody extraordinaire and Ebony (duck), attempted ducking thief

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Sunshine and Lollipop

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Tutus and saddles!

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Thanks for sharing! The photos are great!

 

[David61]

So the way the poll is trending, if I make it past a year ill be sucked into this for the next 11-20 years. That's chicken math.

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

I've had chickens for about 10 years or so, except for the last two years, after I moved. I just got chickens again in June.

I had gotten pullets from a local hatchery before, a cross between White Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. Very nice chickens, great layers. But my husband passed away four years ago, and when I moved, I had to give the chickens away. One of the things I looked for in a house was a place where I could have a garden and chickens. This spring I put in a raised bed garden and coop, and am developing a permaculture garden that the chickens will be able to roam--some.

This time I got chicks, 7 different types. Buff Brahma, Wellsummer, Plymouth Barred Rock, Speckled Sussex, Silver and Gold Wyanndottes, Easter Egger (that interestingly looks almost identical to the Wellsummer, but lays a blue egg.)

I'm hoping that I've managed to build a predator-proof run. Time will tell. You can see the chicken run to the left of the coop. It runs the length of the garden fence. Permaculture garden is behind the coop.

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Thank you for these photos. You are an inspiration to me--you have no idea.

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

This Spring will be 10yrs for us with chickens. I had always wanted them & finally convinced DH that it would be a great homeschool project. We did all of our research, built a incubator out of repurposed items from around the house & ordered the eggs.

I wont lie, it was an exhilarating experience hatching them, but they were both cockerels & we aren't zoned for roosters. We kept them for as long as we could while we added hens to the flock. Our first pullets were Red Sex Links because we were traumatized over rehoming our beloved boys & we needed to be 100% positive the next batch would be hens. RSL were a great beginner flock, but a little boring to look at (no offense ladies.) We've branched out a bit since then.

We added ducks & quail 5yrs ago & that was the catalyst for me to finally stop stalking the pages of BYC & actually become a member.

We have only hatched one other time & that was an experiment to see if we could broody hatch a carton of eggs that we had bought. Only one hatched. Again, it was an exhilarating experience & again, it was a cockerel.

The difference in a chick hatched/raised in an incubator/brooder vs a chick broody hatched & raised is as different as night and day. If I could broody hatch a million chicks I would, but unfortunately my luck with hatching pullets is exactly zero.
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Woops! This got a little picture heavy.... The End.
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The photos are gorgeous!

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

The first time I had chickens, I had only two hens, gotten as adults from a friend. I had a tiny coop that came with the property we had, and I knew NOTHING about chickens. But I was lucky, so they made it. I got an egg almost every single day from Bossy, and one every other day from Tattoo.
I Loved them!!
That was a very long time ago.

Spring 2018, I decided to start a chicken family. Got ten chicks from the store, got a tiny little coop from the same store, and there we went. Instant love (addiction).
I tried to learn quickly. We free ranged, and ended up losing all but two by fall to hawks and dogs.

So we set out to turn an old barn into a chicken coop palace, and fence in a run. Determined that predators will not get my girls again, we no longer free range. I got more chicks, of course, and now have 17 hens. Recently added Boss, an EE rooster.

I’m still learning, and still making mistakes.
But I spend every minute I can down at the coop with my flock.
I simply cannot imagine not having them.
And I won’t not have them.

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I hear ya! I won't not have them either..it is an addiction, tho--you got that right!

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

Fall of 2019 was the beginning of my second year of retirement. A chance trip to Tractor Supply found me standing at the pen looking at baby chicks once again. I have been eyeing baby chicks for a few years. My dear husband had encouraged me to make the leap to become a chicken momma. I designed our coop and we both did the construction. We are strictly small time chicken folks. While the kind of birds we got are dual purpose, they are all pets. As time goes by I find there is so much to learn. This website has been an excellent source of information and encouragement! Thanks a bunch ladies and gentlemen!
I have added a few pictures of our little setup and the girls.

Yay for your PBRs. I've found them to be such sweet birds. I'm glad you have your birds for retirement...and wouldn't be surprised if you end up with more Thanks for the photos!

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

Yep!

 

[Mo'sMenagerie]

I've been raising mine 8 consecutive years.
There was a period in my childhood where I had 200 roosters... but they were technically my Mom's, I never took care of them. So I've had chickens maybe 10+ total years, but there is about a decade between those 200 roosters and my current flock.
I still have hens from my first set of chicks 8 years ago. The only way they show their age is their intelligence while free ranging. They watch the skies for hawks, stay away from the treeline, and put themselves away before the rest of the flock. They are the first to make the alert call if something seems wrong. It makes my roosters herd the rest back to the coop for safety.

It all started with my sister wanting to co-own some birds with me. I wanted ducks, she wanted chickens. This is rather hard to believe, but upon arrival of 15 ducks and 25 chickens, my sister discovered she was deathly afraid of birds. She couldn't even be in the same room without panicking at their every movement and noise. That left me to care for 25 unwanted chickens... it turns out I am not that much of a duck person. I fell in love with the chicks and bonded with them.
If I remember the breeds correctly, there were Anconas, Buff Brahmas, White Brahmas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and Buff Orphingtons.
There was a booboo with the order, I paid for sexed females and turns out I got 20 roosters and 13 drakes. I tried my best to keep them all, but I was a newbie and they started killing each other. I had to sell nearly all of them. (It never occurred to me then how mom had kept 200 roosters, I never tried my own rooster flock until 2018)

To this day, I have 2 of the original Ancona hens and 1 Fawn and White Runner drake.

As for pictures... I could crash the site with all the pictures I've taken of them throughout the years For now, have 1!

View attachment 2010721Here is one of the 8 year old Anconas. ❤

Whoo-hoo! Love reading about these older chickens! Gives me hope for my flock