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

[room onthebroom]

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.

Woops! This got a little picture heavy.... The End.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

I’ve had chickens for almost 19 years! Ever since I was born I had them

 

[Mimi13]

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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Well no worries on the “little picture heavy.”I loved it. You have beautiful birds.

 

[casportpony]

Well no worries on the “little picture heavy.”I loved it. You have beautiful birds.

So did I!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Me too! Beautiful pictures

 

[ValerieJ]

Well no worries on the “little picture heavy.”I loved it. You have beautiful birds.

x2!

 

[NanaKat]

Wow...let me count the years! So far I'm at 25 years raising chickens.
I began with a trio of chickens from my uncle's flock. He had breeders for his fighting game birds...now outlawed.
But my trio had lovely personalities and were very gentle. We lived in OKC and my neighbors did not mind having a crowing rooster in our city neighborhood. We had 1/2 an acre lot and my birds freeranged in our backyard making us early proponents of backyard chickens. Sadly a hawk took the rooster.y

When we moved to our farm, I still had the two hens and added 10 hens...a variety of breeds including a Silver-laced Cochin hen we called Lacey...and a Rhode Island Red rooster...named Rhody...not the most creative of names.

Over the next 21 years my flock has had a number of different large fowl because I wanted a colorful flock of egg layers.

I tried many breeds including Delaware, New Hampshire, Minorca (Buff and Black), Leghorn, Cochin, Marans, Orpington, Easter Eggers, Plymouth Rock, Buckeye, Polish, Sultan, Cornish, Jersey Giant, Wyandotte (Blue, Black, Barred, Columbian, BLR, Silver-Laced, White) and Sultan. Oh and the Naked Necks!

And I wanted good broody moms.
My husband thought I was nuts when I told him about chicken math....and my first incubator.
And then I got my big cabinet incubator...hatching 108 eggs per tray...

I almost became a chicken addict when I saw Bantams...
In Bantam breeds I've had d'Anvers, OEGB, Serama, Spangled Hamberg, Cochin, Rosecomb, Sebright, and Delaware.

Then I experimented with other poultry breeds including quail, pheasant, turkey, geese and ducks.



My flock now numbers 109 and consists mainly of my favorite the Columbian Wyandotte, a few Black, Blue and White Wyandotte with a couple of Cochin, two Orpington, some cross breeds and a huge Blue rooster named Barney ( Wyandotte X Australorp) and a duck named Daisy. Daisy is here because she was hiding on a nest when I sold the other 41 in the duck flock early this month.
Here are a few of my Columbian.


I'm one of seven breeders for Columbian Wyandotte registered with the Wyandotte Breeders of America. These birds are a Heritage breed bred for dual purpose (meat and eggs). I am pretty proud of my flock.....can you tell?

 

[ValerieJ]

Wow...let me count the years! So far I'm at 25 years raising chickens.
I began with a trio of chickens from my uncle's flock. He had breeders for his fighting game birds...now outlawed.
But my trio had lovely personalities and were very gentle. We lived in OKC and my neighbors did not mind having a crowing rooster in our city neighborhood. We had 1/2 an acre lot and my birds freeranged in our backyard making us early proponents of backyard chickens. Sadly a hawk took the rooster.

When we moved to our farm, I still had the two hens and added 10 hens...a variety of breeds including a Silver-laced Cochin hen we called Lacey...and a Rhode Island Red rooster...named Rhody...not the most creative of names.

Over the next 21 years my flock has had a number of different large fowl because I wanted a colorful flock of egg layers.
View attachment 2010281
I tried many breeds including Delaware, New Hampshire, Minorca (Buff and Black), Leghorn, Cochin, Marans, Orpington, Easter Eggers, Plymouth Rock, Buckeye, Polish, Sultan, Cornish, Jersey Giant, Wyandotte (Blue, Black, Barred, Columbian, BLR, Silver-Laced, White) and Sultan. Oh and the Naked Necks!
View attachment 2010266View attachment 2010267View attachment 2010272
And I wanted good broody moms.
My husband thought I was nuts when I told him about chicken math....and my first incubator.
And then I got my big cabinet incubator...hatching 108 eggs per tray...
View attachment 2010265
I almost became a chicken addict when I saw Bantams...
In Bantam breeds I've had d'Anvers, OEGB, Serama, Spangled Hamberg, Cochin, Rosecomb, Sebright, and Delaware.
View attachment 2010276View attachment 2010277View attachment 2010278View attachment 2010279View attachment 2010280
Then I experimented with other poultry breeds including quail, pheasant, turkey, geese and ducks.
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My flock now numbers 109 and consists mainly of my favorite the Columbian Wyandotte, a few Black, Blue and White Wyandotte with a couple of Cochin, two Orpington, some cross breeds and a huge Blue rooster named Barney ( Wyandotte X Australorp) and a duck named Daisy. Daisy is here because she was hiding on a nest when I sold the other 41 in the duck flock early this month.
Here are a few of my Columbian.
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That's a lot of birds!!! I think you need to keep that duck. She really wants to be with you!!

 

[Trimurtisan]

A'pollo was my first cockerel. Still my favorite bantam fella.

 

[ValerieJ]

A'pollo was my first cockerel. Still my favorite bantam fella.
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He's a handsome boy!