Good day all. I have been reading the columns and forums here for some time, as a guest. I figured that it was time to join and say hello!
This may seem odd to say, but I love poultry! I grew up raising chickens, as well as geese, ducks, pheasants, and quail, for meat, eggs, and sale. That was on a very large farm, many, many moons ago. My partner and I are also animal lovers, and prior to the arrival of our chickens, we were the proud slaves to 6 parrots, 3 dogs, and a large aquarium of South American fish of various varieties.
For years, we have talked about getting chickens. When we left the burbs and moved farther into "the hills" 8 years ago, we kept saying we were going to get chickens some day, but oddly enough, it took moving into a home in East Nashville with only a 1/4 lot to finally decide that it was time for our own flock. We started building what we thought would be a "chicken tractor", but it was quickly dubbed the Cluk Mahal. It's not a monster, but it's definitely not movable! It's a 6'x12' run with an area to escape raccoons if they start reaching through the wire, as well as a raised, enclosed, and lockable 4'x6' with 2 corner nest boxes. All this for the 8 hens that we have dubbed the Rajkumari (Hindi for Princesses), who spend the majority of their time playing in the dirt under our back deck! We have 2 Delawares, 3 RIR, and 3 Barred Rocks, all between 13 and 16 weeks old.
How am I an outlaw, you might ask. (Probably Not) Well, we DO have a permit to keep chickens, but the max number is 6. There is also to be no free-ranging, according to the permit, but i don't really consider it free-ranging since we have an 8 foot privacy fence. As for the number of chickens, I look at it this way: I will be trading eggs (and fertilizer) for veggies from two inner city gardeners who always grow more than they can eat.
Pretty good deal, I think!
Anyway, just wanted to say hello, and I hope that everyone is enjoying their day!
Bill
This may seem odd to say, but I love poultry! I grew up raising chickens, as well as geese, ducks, pheasants, and quail, for meat, eggs, and sale. That was on a very large farm, many, many moons ago. My partner and I are also animal lovers, and prior to the arrival of our chickens, we were the proud slaves to 6 parrots, 3 dogs, and a large aquarium of South American fish of various varieties.
For years, we have talked about getting chickens. When we left the burbs and moved farther into "the hills" 8 years ago, we kept saying we were going to get chickens some day, but oddly enough, it took moving into a home in East Nashville with only a 1/4 lot to finally decide that it was time for our own flock. We started building what we thought would be a "chicken tractor", but it was quickly dubbed the Cluk Mahal. It's not a monster, but it's definitely not movable! It's a 6'x12' run with an area to escape raccoons if they start reaching through the wire, as well as a raised, enclosed, and lockable 4'x6' with 2 corner nest boxes. All this for the 8 hens that we have dubbed the Rajkumari (Hindi for Princesses), who spend the majority of their time playing in the dirt under our back deck! We have 2 Delawares, 3 RIR, and 3 Barred Rocks, all between 13 and 16 weeks old.
How am I an outlaw, you might ask. (Probably Not) Well, we DO have a permit to keep chickens, but the max number is 6. There is also to be no free-ranging, according to the permit, but i don't really consider it free-ranging since we have an 8 foot privacy fence. As for the number of chickens, I look at it this way: I will be trading eggs (and fertilizer) for veggies from two inner city gardeners who always grow more than they can eat.
Pretty good deal, I think!
Anyway, just wanted to say hello, and I hope that everyone is enjoying their day!
Bill
from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Congrats and good luck. 
