EbolaFan
In the Brooder
I started keeping chickens about 2.5 years ago after my daughter's teacher got us interested in them. We live in an HOA in a small Northern Colorado town. We spent our entire first summer building a beautiful, custom coop for our girls. There isn't a thing I would change about it, but 2.5 years later...they don't live in it anymore...they live inside our house! We are only allowed 6 hens per HOA rules, but chicken math got ahold of us and now we have 9 hens and a rooster. We have 5 girls from our original starter flock: a silver-laced Wyandotte named "Luna", a buff Orpington named "Butters", a black Australorp named "Xena", a black Jersey Giant named "Tilly", and a blue splash Marans named "Blue". We have 3 girls who were hatched in our own incubator this past May: an American lavender Orpington named "Amethyst", and two English jubilee Orpingtons named "Victoria" and "Elizabeth". We also have a white bantam Sultan rooster named "Mustafa" and a white bantam Sultan hen named "Esma".
I LOVE my girls more than I like most people! We have a pet insurance policy on every single one of our chickens and will spare no expense to make sure they are healthy and properly spoiled! One of my absolute favorite girls, "Blue" just made poultry medicine history last month by being the first out of any bird species in the world to be diagnosed with a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). Basically, there was a hole in the vessels of her heart that was letting oxygenated and unoxygenated blood mix causing her heart and lungs to work way too hard and her to struggle to do most anything normal chickens do. On November 10th, a team of veterinarians from exotics, cardiology, and anesthesiology at Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital performed a risky surgery to block the hole between the vessels and establish normal blood flow to "Blue". It was a huge success and she is doing amazing now! The veterinarians plan on publishing a peer-reviewed paper about her case and also plan to present her case and the information they learned at a cardiology conference in Italy this coming year! I added it up just for fun last night to see how much we have spent on her care, and we officially have a $10,000 chicken! She is worth every penny to us though!
Outside of caring for my flock, I work nights as a Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. I love being able to help others provide world-class care for their pets and it is the perfect marriage between my previous career as a Certified Veterinary Technician and laboratory science! In my free time (Ha ha ha!), I enjoy crawling rocks or getting muddy in my Jeep Wrangler, camping, running, shooting, and crafting in many forms! I am married to a wonderful man who is a chemist and we have a pre-teen daughter who has some special needs and a very unique personality! We also have two cats, Icarus and Lucifer, and 3 Old Fashioned German Shepherds (straight backs not sloped) named Rubezahl, Wilhelmina, and Holle. It's a busy but full life with never a dull moment at our house!
I stumbled upon BYC quite a while back while looking for advice on a health concern I had with one of my hens. Don't know why I didn't join the group back then, but I guess better late than never! Thanks for having me and I look forward to getting to know you and your precious chickens!
I LOVE my girls more than I like most people! We have a pet insurance policy on every single one of our chickens and will spare no expense to make sure they are healthy and properly spoiled! One of my absolute favorite girls, "Blue" just made poultry medicine history last month by being the first out of any bird species in the world to be diagnosed with a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). Basically, there was a hole in the vessels of her heart that was letting oxygenated and unoxygenated blood mix causing her heart and lungs to work way too hard and her to struggle to do most anything normal chickens do. On November 10th, a team of veterinarians from exotics, cardiology, and anesthesiology at Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital performed a risky surgery to block the hole between the vessels and establish normal blood flow to "Blue". It was a huge success and she is doing amazing now! The veterinarians plan on publishing a peer-reviewed paper about her case and also plan to present her case and the information they learned at a cardiology conference in Italy this coming year! I added it up just for fun last night to see how much we have spent on her care, and we officially have a $10,000 chicken! She is worth every penny to us though!
Outside of caring for my flock, I work nights as a Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. I love being able to help others provide world-class care for their pets and it is the perfect marriage between my previous career as a Certified Veterinary Technician and laboratory science! In my free time (Ha ha ha!), I enjoy crawling rocks or getting muddy in my Jeep Wrangler, camping, running, shooting, and crafting in many forms! I am married to a wonderful man who is a chemist and we have a pre-teen daughter who has some special needs and a very unique personality! We also have two cats, Icarus and Lucifer, and 3 Old Fashioned German Shepherds (straight backs not sloped) named Rubezahl, Wilhelmina, and Holle. It's a busy but full life with never a dull moment at our house!
I stumbled upon BYC quite a while back while looking for advice on a health concern I had with one of my hens. Don't know why I didn't join the group back then, but I guess better late than never! Thanks for having me and I look forward to getting to know you and your precious chickens!
Hello and welcome to BYC, You found an Awesome poultry Forum to be a part of with many great knowledgeable members who are more then willing to jump in and help you with any questions you may have. 
Glad you joined. 
