northerngracema
In the Brooder
Hello! Long time listener, first time caller. We have a small farmstead in the North Quabbin area of Massachussets. We are maybe a little beyond "backyard" in the sense that we have a full size barn, two additional coops, and plans to build another. We're not a commercial operation though and pretty much still function at a "backyard" scale. The farmstead is also a leftist political project, and while I'm not here for political debate I figured I may as well be up-front about that because all of our online presence is quite open about that. If you're interested in that sort of thing and also want lots of cute rooster pictures you can check out our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northerngracema/
Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
There are several of us here on the farmstead and poultry experience ranges from 2-5 years, all non-commercial, so we are still pretty new to this.
How many chickens do you have right now?
18, but six weeks ago it was 27 so it's been a rough summer. We have one flock of 9 hens and a rooster, with 4 pullets being introduced gradually. We also have a bachelor flock of 4 roosters which we are planning to add to over time. We will be breeding some of them in with the girls but we also hang out with them a lot because they free range. We incubate in spring and fall so we are finalizing plans for our fall hatch now.
What breeds do you have?
* Black Copper Marans
* Cream Legbar
* Isbar (Silverudds Blue)
* Rhode Island Reds
* Some blue-laying hybrids / easter eggers / olive eggers
What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
Just learning about chickens, especially social dynamics, has been really awesome. Also really appreciate being a part of those flock social dynamics. It's very different from the experience of having like, cats or dogs.
What are some of your other hobbies?
Our land is heavily forested so we geek out a lot on forest conservation, food forests / permaculture, and learning about native plants.
How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
This summer has been a shitshow of flock bullying, predators, and mites / rashes. Having gone through rather a lot of Vetericyn lately (as well as a few other products), we have lots to report back, so the first thing I'll do is go through and add on to some of the threads about sanitizers. Have appreciated the wealth of experience here as we've been dealing with issues.
Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
There are several of us here on the farmstead and poultry experience ranges from 2-5 years, all non-commercial, so we are still pretty new to this.
How many chickens do you have right now?
18, but six weeks ago it was 27 so it's been a rough summer. We have one flock of 9 hens and a rooster, with 4 pullets being introduced gradually. We also have a bachelor flock of 4 roosters which we are planning to add to over time. We will be breeding some of them in with the girls but we also hang out with them a lot because they free range. We incubate in spring and fall so we are finalizing plans for our fall hatch now.
What breeds do you have?
* Black Copper Marans
* Cream Legbar
* Isbar (Silverudds Blue)
* Rhode Island Reds
* Some blue-laying hybrids / easter eggers / olive eggers
What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
Just learning about chickens, especially social dynamics, has been really awesome. Also really appreciate being a part of those flock social dynamics. It's very different from the experience of having like, cats or dogs.
What are some of your other hobbies?
Our land is heavily forested so we geek out a lot on forest conservation, food forests / permaculture, and learning about native plants.
How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
This summer has been a shitshow of flock bullying, predators, and mites / rashes. Having gone through rather a lot of Vetericyn lately (as well as a few other products), we have lots to report back, so the first thing I'll do is go through and add on to some of the threads about sanitizers. Have appreciated the wealth of experience here as we've been dealing with issues.
