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

[drstratton]

We started raising chickens about 23 years ago, mostly for our children and discovered how fun it was to have chickens in the yard! We always had Banty's! Our first flock was 25 as that was the minimum amount you could order. Then we decided to hatch some chicks so that our children could experience it! We lost our last flock of Banty's to roaming dogs a few years ago. We decided we were done! Then our world changed and that changed us! We have 16 chicks in the brooder, we will be picking up 3 breeding rabbits for meat hopefully this weekend and will be getting pigs again in 2 weeks. So a big change from done to full speed ahead! We are expanding our chicken pen so that they can safely free range...sad that they won't be able to just roam in our yard like they used to!

Chicks in the Brooder!

Full view of our garden, chicken and rabbit area!

Our Coop!

Getting ready to install an outside nesting box to make more room on the inside for our larger chickens!

 

[emMAyTeeTee]

Do you remember the title of the original book you used?

Not of the top of my head. I do know where to find it. My library is mostly packed up from when I moved from the city. I will have to dig that out as I want to read it again. The book was about two inches thick, the same format (size) as Margaret Mitchell's 'gone with the wind '. It's a cotton cloth bound hard cover, the pages are a fine quality, thin, linen parchment and rather glossy for its age. It is scattered with pen and ink illustrations.
It's a rich sherwood green, the cover. I'll have to have a look for it in the daylight.

 

[emMAyTeeTee]

Sorry what are you asking

I think that's a quipe about life being better, slower down under (in Australia and New Zealand). Lol

 

[Manhen]

I think that's a quipe about life being better, slower down under (in Australia and New Zealand). Lol

@Jedstar : Really its just math. 3 years down under, in the denominator, is 1/3. A little off target, but there it is. How is the fire recovery going I wonder?

 

[Peaflowertea]

Day 3 here.
Last night we marked the chicks with colored zip ties. I’m concerned about clipping them off as they grow, but I bet every new hen mom is afraid to hurt the chicks their first time around.

 

[aart]

Day 3 here.
Last night we marked the chicks with colored zip ties. I’m concerned about clipping them off as they grow, but I bet every new hen mom is afraid to hurt the chicks their first time around.

Pretty easy with the right tools....and changing them out before they get to tight.
This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/leg-banding-with-zipties.68075/

 

[Erba]

I'm 2 1/2 years into my chicken ownership contract. Some said it's a bum deal, but I was not put off by the negativity. So I invested and invested and am still investing....returns have been meagre due to wildlife theft and my own carelessness, but the eggs and meat payback is slowly but steadily growing. Of course the chickens are oblivious to all this, and are probably laughing themselves all the way to the feeding trough...

 

[FrozenFlock10200]

I just started today! I have 16 Black Australorps. Can't wait to get the coop finished for them

 

[BudgieKing15]

I raised chickens for 3 years from early 2015 to 2017. I now have baby chicks again!

 

[Bean15]

I started off with 2 Pekin ducks and 2 Khakis about 3 years ago, and then decided to hatch their eggs. we ended up getting 4 Pekin x Khaki cross ducklings from that hatch, and then a few months later, TSC had 3 baby mallards that they tried to pawn off on us. (no one wanted the poor things) We gave in, and added the 3 to our flock. once they got older and flew off, we thought, "why not try some chickens?". We started off with 6 TSC chicks, 1 EE, 2 gold laced wyandottes, 1 buff polish, 1 Sapphire Gem, and lastly, a Midnight Majesty Maran. Quite the variety! our EE ended up being a roo, (which was sad, we were really hoping for a blue egg hen!) but he's probably the most docile and friendly rooster you'll ever meet. He won't hesitate to jump into your lap or snuggle up and sleep in your arms. This year we decided to buy 3 more chicks to add to our mixed flock, 2 Barred Rock, and 1 Copper Maran. They were EXTREMELY hard to get, especially with all the chick hoarding that seems to be going on during this covid-19 thing. We'll hopefully be expanding the coop soon. Excited to see how it goes!