Alright so ive finally made time and i am here with my story.
I grew up in the city, hadnt ever been around chickens. No one in my immediate family had grown up with chickens except my grandmother who was a country girl but she went away to Jr college at 17.
I did not like birds. When young i was interested in my Aunts Macaw but he bit me real good on the webbing in between my fingers as i tried to hold him once and that was that.
In 2013 i was taking care of my grandma who had dementia and then had a stroke that chair bound her. During this time i had an uncle who had chickens and grandma raved about the fresh eggs. I didnt eat eggs but i noticed the difference in his duck eggs in my baking. When we lost her on Easter of 2014 it really broke me. We had always been close and i felt very much that she could've actually Lived Longer if id been given the help i had begged for.
I didnt leave my house for a month, would hardly leave my bedroom. I had always had reptiles and amphibians and i cruised CL alot where id recieved 2 fishtanks during my time with Grandma. Well i found 2 hens and a rooster for free. I had a lean to shed i thought my ex could easily convert and we decided to get them.
It actually got me outside, everyday, feeding and watering, collecting eggs and then making them more comfortable. I still dont eat chickens eggs but the ex did and he loved having them, he had them with his grandmother as a young boy.
To this day i credit those first birds with the beggining of my healing. I want to thank @aart and @ValerieJ for giving me the strength to share this with your own stories.
Of course chicken math happened and then my BYC acct came about
addiction to hatching began and 100s of chicks i hatched in my tabletop incubators. From the start id bought a book and knew if i was going to hatch i would Have to have an outlet for all those extra boys. So i taught myself what to do and later how to do it, with that book.
I had to take a hiatus after playing with those birds but they started something that i hope never ends. My home flooded and i lost 34 of around 100 birds and then i got married and had a little one, all in three years we suddenly had made a big family. I still always kept 3 bantam hens.
The uncle called me up one day, he had 13 CX who needed someone to raise them right and do the deeds. I took them, this was about one yr since my sell off in early 2017. I rasied em up but didnt have a proper coop or anything so hurried up and put em off to freezer camp then continued my mostly hiatus.
Oct of 2018 the friend who i had sold off to wanted to sell off and give me first dibs. The littlest was about a yr old so i said ok, took on a breeding flock of blue laced red wyandottes and my same old pair of Svart Hona with a couple extra hens just because chickens
Wasnt long before i started
for quail again. Id had terrible stock back in the day but knew the meat was exquisite. Id enjoyed the little birds, gotten them from 5 diff peoples stock and raised 3 generations, but that was 75% of my flood losses. lost every one of em, small birds in small cages. Just like getting those nice chickens i wanted to do it right started researching quail breeders and learned James Marie Farms is only an hour away 
Now i am an NPIP certified poultry breeder with several projects going
i have around 60 birds that i overwintered and had 127 eggs alive in the incubator as of Tues 
My first birds
First that i raised from chicks
My egg collection about a month before the flood
My first hatch, 21 ducklings
My hona
My wyandotte roo and blue hen
Now some coturnix
And one button
I grew up in the city, hadnt ever been around chickens. No one in my immediate family had grown up with chickens except my grandmother who was a country girl but she went away to Jr college at 17.
I did not like birds. When young i was interested in my Aunts Macaw but he bit me real good on the webbing in between my fingers as i tried to hold him once and that was that.
In 2013 i was taking care of my grandma who had dementia and then had a stroke that chair bound her. During this time i had an uncle who had chickens and grandma raved about the fresh eggs. I didnt eat eggs but i noticed the difference in his duck eggs in my baking. When we lost her on Easter of 2014 it really broke me. We had always been close and i felt very much that she could've actually Lived Longer if id been given the help i had begged for.
I didnt leave my house for a month, would hardly leave my bedroom. I had always had reptiles and amphibians and i cruised CL alot where id recieved 2 fishtanks during my time with Grandma. Well i found 2 hens and a rooster for free. I had a lean to shed i thought my ex could easily convert and we decided to get them.
It actually got me outside, everyday, feeding and watering, collecting eggs and then making them more comfortable. I still dont eat chickens eggs but the ex did and he loved having them, he had them with his grandmother as a young boy.
To this day i credit those first birds with the beggining of my healing. I want to thank @aart and @ValerieJ for giving me the strength to share this with your own stories.
Of course chicken math happened and then my BYC acct came about
addiction to hatching began and 100s of chicks i hatched in my tabletop incubators. From the start id bought a book and knew if i was going to hatch i would Have to have an outlet for all those extra boys. So i taught myself what to do and later how to do it, with that book. I had to take a hiatus after playing with those birds but they started something that i hope never ends. My home flooded and i lost 34 of around 100 birds and then i got married and had a little one, all in three years we suddenly had made a big family. I still always kept 3 bantam hens.
The uncle called me up one day, he had 13 CX who needed someone to raise them right and do the deeds. I took them, this was about one yr since my sell off in early 2017. I rasied em up but didnt have a proper coop or anything so hurried up and put em off to freezer camp then continued my mostly hiatus.
Oct of 2018 the friend who i had sold off to wanted to sell off and give me first dibs. The littlest was about a yr old so i said ok, took on a breeding flock of blue laced red wyandottes and my same old pair of Svart Hona with a couple extra hens just because
chickens Wasnt long before i started
for quail again. Id had terrible stock back in the day but knew the meat was exquisite. Id enjoyed the little birds, gotten them from 5 diff peoples stock and raised 3 generations, but that was 75% of my flood losses. lost every one of em, small birds in small cages. Just like getting those nice chickens i wanted to do it right started researching quail breeders and learned James Marie Farms is only an hour away Now i am an NPIP certified poultry breeder with several projects going
i have around 60 birds that i overwintered and had 127 eggs alive in the incubator as of Tues My first birds
First that i raised from chicks
My egg collection about a month before the flood
My first hatch, 21 ducklings
My hona
My wyandotte roo and blue hen
Now some coturnix
And one button
my tiny chickens. So much more interaction as with the rabbits.
and a cockerel was making too much noise early in the morning. In spring was my first chicken math. I needed to expand the coop for more chickens and made a walkin run to give my flock enough space.
...
