BYC Member Interview - Debbie292d

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It's very nice to learn more about you @Debbie292d . Sounds like you've had a lot of interesting jobs.

Your silkies are gorgeous. Your pups, Josie and Maggie are adorable. Does Maggie have a tail? I cannot imagine how loud those macaw are. I have an Amazon parrot and she's loud enough. Those beaks are really big too.
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
It's very nice to learn more about you @Debbie292d . Sounds like you've had a lot of interesting jobs.

Your silkies are gorgeous. Your pups, Josie and Maggie are adorable. Does Maggie have a tail? I cannot imagine how loud those macaw are. I have an Amazon parrot and she's loud enough. Those beaks are really big too.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!

Maggie is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, and their tails generally get left on. We would have left hers on anyway.

The macaws are quiet for the most part unless they hear us talking in the kitchen or outside the window, then the screaming starts from Julio, and Sophie's yelling "Shut up," a hundred times. If one of us walks in, silence. But we do have a solid oak door on my office where they are, and that helps. Their beaks can break a Brazil nut, so a finger would be easy. They don't bite but I've had a finger pinched a couple of times. I learned don't try to handle them when they're tired. ☺️
 
N F C said:
@Debbie292d


Come say hello to @Debbie292d who has been a member since July 2021 and comes to us from Wisconsin.​



1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
My member name is an old work ID. I’m retired from Green Bay Police Department in Wisconsin by about 7 years now. I was known on police radios as 292D, but many officers would say our first names with the number, so I was Debbie 292d. I then started using it as my username for everything ever since.

Prior to working for police, I spent a decade or so arresting shoplifters and employee thieves for Target Stores throughout Colorado and North Dakota. After that is when I landed at the police dept. When I retired from police, I then worked PT a year and a half for a Domestic Abuse/Sexual Assault Center. I also had picked up a gig typing transcribing reports for police departments from home. Down the road, I was subcontracted to remotely type asylum hearings for the Federal Immigration Courts. Since retiring from the second job, have been doing that full-time ever since. That allows me more time on BYC and with my pets as I take a lot of breaks when I type. ☺️

I have two adult sons and one 20-year-old granddaughter. The “hubby” I speak of later has been my other half for 15 years or so.


2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
We had raised meat chickens when I was growing up, to the tune of about 200 per year. I and a couple of my sisters took care of all of our animals and helped on cull day. We also had rabbits, ducks, guineas, pigs, sheep, Angus cows, and a Shetland pony.

Fast forward about 50 years. My hubby (domestic partner) and I bought a place out in the country when I retired.
View attachment 3695346

Michael was not familiar with country life, or animals, but when he met me many years ago, he also fell in love with my cats, dogs, macaw parrots, and chinchillas, which are all mostly rescues, and after several years, agreed to buy this place with me. When we moved out here, he put his foot down about no room for a horse, but we did have an agreement that, there will be chickens!

I had studied for months about chickens before choosing which kind to buy, when someone asked if we’d take her remaining three silkies as a fox got the rest. When she brought them out here, I was sold on silkies being the breed(s) we’d raise. There were two hens and rooster. We didn’t have a coop yet, so they slept in our garage. We had no run and I was afraid to let them free-range yet so they had to be moved around in our portable run by day, and back to the garage by night. (Josie, the border collie watching over them.)
View attachment 3695347

We then bought an Amish garden shed. Hubby (electrician) built a chicken coop on one end and wired underground electricity from the pole to it, so we can heat it to 40F all winter. Here is a link to our coop if you want to see more of it.
View attachment 3695349

Then he built a brooder as I had started hatching silkie eggs. I love it because I don’t bend over to tend to chicks anymore.
View attachment 3695351

Our flock grew from those three to 21. I had purchased eggs on eBay a couple of times to get new genes in the flock and would let a broody hen hatch them. Jump ahead about six years when I when I decided to get into breeding fancier ones, so bought 7 chicks from local breeders this past March 2023. We then bought fencing and hardware cloth and now have two pens with heated waterers and hutches hubby is currently making for them in each. I plan to put a rooster and three hens out there in February or March, depending on the weather. Those eggs I will save for hatching/selling.
View attachment 3695352


3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
It’s so peaceful and relaxing to just watch them. My office is at the end of the house facing the coop. My desk is in the corner, so out the right, I watch the chickens and wild birds, and on the left, I can see the coop, garden, and chickens. The chickens free range and move about our two-plus acres making gorgeous moving yard ornaments. I also enjoy walking outside and they come running and some follow me around.

Ultimately though, hatching chicks in the incubators is the most fun thing of all. I truly think I’m addicted to it.


4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
It’s hard to pick but Marsha is a bit slow and ditzy, so usually daily I have to find where she wound up after being let out of the coop and put her with her mates. She’s got a playful personality too as she sometimes hops like a rabbit to follow her siblings rather than run or walk.
View attachment 3695353
View attachment 3695354
Credit @2ndTink for making Marsha look classy.


5. What was the funniest poultry-related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
A couple of months ago, one of my gorgeous chocolate silkie hens, Charlotte, had gone into the garage. My hubby was on the other side of the garage not paying attention but heard a ruckus and she had not only stepped in his waste oil pan but started flapping around in it so got herself drenched. He grabbed her and ran her to the house and yelled for me. I grabbed the Dawn and we “shampooed” her many times. When she wasn’t greasy anymore, I blew dried her dry and she still kind of stunk like oil. We kept her in the house overnight. The next day I let her out to join her friends and she’s been fine ever since. It’s probably the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time, but at the time, it was a little bit scary.
View attachment 3695355
View attachment 3695356


6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
Two dogs, three cats, a chinchilla, aquarium fish, and two macaw parrots.

This is Josie, a border collie. She’s one reason we can free-range our chickens as we live bordering a forest. Here she was guarding a momma silkie out free-ranging with baby chicks. Usually, you can find her near the chickens until one of us comes outside, and then it’s frisbee time.
View attachment 3695357

Maggie is a corgi. She has some weird talent of spotting hawks. She will look straight up in the air and bark at them. They don’t generally come close because of a 125’ tower in our yard that has three sets of three guy wires coming down across about half of our property. We also have giant wind spinners on the edges of our property to help.
View attachment 3695360

For cats we have Stella, Lily, and Oscar. Oscar was rescued about 8 years ago. He doesn’t leave the house. I think he thinks if he walks out the door, he’ll be on his own again. Stella was adopted from the Humane Society about six months ago as a “barn kitten.” She learned to protect the chickens very quickly. Even while she was confined to the house her first week, she made her home on top of the brooder. A few weeks later, a camera picked up a skunk running along the edge of temp coop with Stella following it from a distance.

Lily is the main mouse-catcher. She’s the product of a feral batch of kittens someone had, and she quickly became a part of our family a couple of years ago. When not busy catching mice, they come into the house to relax.
View attachment 3695363

The Blue & Gold Macaw parrots are Sophie, whom I’ve had since a baby about 20 years ago, and Julio, a rescue we adopted about 5 years ago. They each have their own cage against the wall behind my desk. It’s hard to talk on the phone near them as they think you’re talking to them. Sophie says 100’s of things. When I show her the chicks in the brooder, she’ll say, “Oh wow.” Then, “Here kittie, kittie.” I have to teach her what a chick says yet. This is one of them when Lily was a kitten and I had left the door open.
View attachment 3695364

Many years ago I rescued a pair of Chinchillas that weren’t being cared for. They bred a few times and we sold the babies to the pet store. We still have the male, Trey.
View attachment 3695367


7. Anything you'd like to add?
I really am “living the dream” to be out here in the country, semi-retired, and raising these gorgeous chickens. We have learned so many things over the years. There’ve been some mistakes, but we rectify them so everyone’s happy again. BYC has been a Godsend for many aspects from coop and brooder ideas to learning how to ferment among many other things along the way.

I’ve loved being a part of BYC, especially when I can help cheer someone up, answer a question, make someone smile, or welcoming new members. As part of my transcription job, I’m constantly researching things, so when someone on BYC asks a question that I don’t know, I research it as now I want to know too. Usually, the best source of information is right here at BYC.

There are some things that we did from the start and still do that I know some might not agree with, such as heating our coop, using diatomaceous earth, horse pellets, etc., but that’s one of the things that sets BYC apart from social media poultry groups is mostly everyone is respectful, and nobody judges. I wouldn’t try convincing anyone our way is better; it’s just our way has worked for us. We heat our coop for me mostly, so the water and eggs don’t freeze as the coop is a distance from the house, and the FG DE I started using with Sophie 20 years ago, long before we got chickens. It keeps the pantry moths and fruit flies at a minimum in the parrot cages and the ants out of our house.

We've come a long way from those first three silkies about seven years ago. I’ve seen some crazy things people do for their chickens and sometimes I want to try that too. The latest was I saw a chicken swing posted by a new member. Hubbie said he’s going to make them one. We learn, we grow, and our chickens are happier for it. I enjoy being a part of the best group of chicken lovers in the world.



@Debbie292d

For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews​
Click to expand...
What amazing achievements, in your work life, your beautiful home and these wonderful animals ❤️

It was an absolute pleasure reading your story and I'm very pleased to meet you.
 
N F C said:
@Debbie292d


Come say hello to @Debbie292d who has been a member since July 2021 and comes to us from Wisconsin.​



1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
My member name is an old work ID. I’m retired from Green Bay Police Department in Wisconsin by about 7 years now. I was known on police radios as 292D, but many officers would say our first names with the number, so I was Debbie 292d. I then started using it as my username for everything ever since.

Prior to working for police, I spent a decade or so arresting shoplifters and employee thieves for Target Stores throughout Colorado and North Dakota. After that is when I landed at the police dept. When I retired from police, I then worked PT a year and a half for a Domestic Abuse/Sexual Assault Center. I also had picked up a gig typing transcribing reports for police departments from home. Down the road, I was subcontracted to remotely type asylum hearings for the Federal Immigration Courts. Since retiring from the second job, have been doing that full-time ever since. That allows me more time on BYC and with my pets as I take a lot of breaks when I type. ☺️

I have two adult sons and one 20-year-old granddaughter. The “hubby” I speak of later has been my other half for 15 years or so.


2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
We had raised meat chickens when I was growing up, to the tune of about 200 per year. I and a couple of my sisters took care of all of our animals and helped on cull day. We also had rabbits, ducks, guineas, pigs, sheep, Angus cows, and a Shetland pony.

Fast forward about 50 years. My hubby (domestic partner) and I bought a place out in the country when I retired.
View attachment 3695346

Michael was not familiar with country life, or animals, but when he met me many years ago, he also fell in love with my cats, dogs, macaw parrots, and chinchillas, which are all mostly rescues, and after several years, agreed to buy this place with me. When we moved out here, he put his foot down about no room for a horse, but we did have an agreement that, there will be chickens!

I had studied for months about chickens before choosing which kind to buy, when someone asked if we’d take her remaining three silkies as a fox got the rest. When she brought them out here, I was sold on silkies being the breed(s) we’d raise. There were two hens and rooster. We didn’t have a coop yet, so they slept in our garage. We had no run and I was afraid to let them free-range yet so they had to be moved around in our portable run by day, and back to the garage by night. (Josie, the border collie watching over them.)
View attachment 3695347

We then bought an Amish garden shed. Hubby (electrician) built a chicken coop on one end and wired underground electricity from the pole to it, so we can heat it to 40F all winter. Here is a link to our coop if you want to see more of it.
View attachment 3695349

Then he built a brooder as I had started hatching silkie eggs. I love it because I don’t bend over to tend to chicks anymore.
View attachment 3695351

Our flock grew from those three to 21. I had purchased eggs on eBay a couple of times to get new genes in the flock and would let a broody hen hatch them. Jump ahead about six years when I when I decided to get into breeding fancier ones, so bought 7 chicks from local breeders this past March 2023. We then bought fencing and hardware cloth and now have two pens with heated waterers and hutches hubby is currently making for them in each. I plan to put a rooster and three hens out there in February or March, depending on the weather. Those eggs I will save for hatching/selling.
View attachment 3695352


3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
It’s so peaceful and relaxing to just watch them. My office is at the end of the house facing the coop. My desk is in the corner, so out the right, I watch the chickens and wild birds, and on the left, I can see the coop, garden, and chickens. The chickens free range and move about our two-plus acres making gorgeous moving yard ornaments. I also enjoy walking outside and they come running and some follow me around.

Ultimately though, hatching chicks in the incubators is the most fun thing of all. I truly think I’m addicted to it.


4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
It’s hard to pick but Marsha is a bit slow and ditzy, so usually daily I have to find where she wound up after being let out of the coop and put her with her mates. She’s got a playful personality too as she sometimes hops like a rabbit to follow her siblings rather than run or walk.
View attachment 3695353
View attachment 3695354
Credit @2ndTink for making Marsha look classy.


5. What was the funniest poultry-related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
A couple of months ago, one of my gorgeous chocolate silkie hens, Charlotte, had gone into the garage. My hubby was on the other side of the garage not paying attention but heard a ruckus and she had not only stepped in his waste oil pan but started flapping around in it so got herself drenched. He grabbed her and ran her to the house and yelled for me. I grabbed the Dawn and we “shampooed” her many times. When she wasn’t greasy anymore, I blew dried her dry and she still kind of stunk like oil. We kept her in the house overnight. The next day I let her out to join her friends and she’s been fine ever since. It’s probably the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time, but at the time, it was a little bit scary.
View attachment 3695355
View attachment 3695356


6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
Two dogs, three cats, a chinchilla, aquarium fish, and two macaw parrots.

This is Josie, a border collie. She’s one reason we can free-range our chickens as we live bordering a forest. Here she was guarding a momma silkie out free-ranging with baby chicks. Usually, you can find her near the chickens until one of us comes outside, and then it’s frisbee time.
View attachment 3695357

Maggie is a corgi. She has some weird talent of spotting hawks. She will look straight up in the air and bark at them. They don’t generally come close because of a 125’ tower in our yard that has three sets of three guy wires coming down across about half of our property. We also have giant wind spinners on the edges of our property to help.
View attachment 3695360

For cats we have Stella, Lily, and Oscar. Oscar was rescued about 8 years ago. He doesn’t leave the house. I think he thinks if he walks out the door, he’ll be on his own again. Stella was adopted from the Humane Society about six months ago as a “barn kitten.” She learned to protect the chickens very quickly. Even while she was confined to the house her first week, she made her home on top of the brooder. A few weeks later, a camera picked up a skunk running along the edge of temp coop with Stella following it from a distance.

Lily is the main mouse-catcher. She’s the product of a feral batch of kittens someone had, and she quickly became a part of our family a couple of years ago. When not busy catching mice, they come into the house to relax.
View attachment 3695363

The Blue & Gold Macaw parrots are Sophie, whom I’ve had since a baby about 20 years ago, and Julio, a rescue we adopted about 5 years ago. They each have their own cage against the wall behind my desk. It’s hard to talk on the phone near them as they think you’re talking to them. Sophie says 100’s of things. When I show her the chicks in the brooder, she’ll say, “Oh wow.” Then, “Here kittie, kittie.” I have to teach her what a chick says yet. This is one of them when Lily was a kitten and I had left the door open.
View attachment 3695364

Many years ago I rescued a pair of Chinchillas that weren’t being cared for. They bred a few times and we sold the babies to the pet store. We still have the male, Trey.
View attachment 3695367


7. Anything you'd like to add?
I really am “living the dream” to be out here in the country, semi-retired, and raising these gorgeous chickens. We have learned so many things over the years. There’ve been some mistakes, but we rectify them so everyone’s happy again. BYC has been a Godsend for many aspects from coop and brooder ideas to learning how to ferment among many other things along the way.

I’ve loved being a part of BYC, especially when I can help cheer someone up, answer a question, make someone smile, or welcoming new members. As part of my transcription job, I’m constantly researching things, so when someone on BYC asks a question that I don’t know, I research it as now I want to know too. Usually, the best source of information is right here at BYC.

There are some things that we did from the start and still do that I know some might not agree with, such as heating our coop, using diatomaceous earth, horse pellets, etc., but that’s one of the things that sets BYC apart from social media poultry groups is mostly everyone is respectful, and nobody judges. I wouldn’t try convincing anyone our way is better; it’s just our way has worked for us. We heat our coop for me mostly, so the water and eggs don’t freeze as the coop is a distance from the house, and the FG DE I started using with Sophie 20 years ago, long before we got chickens. It keeps the pantry moths and fruit flies at a minimum in the parrot cages and the ants out of our house.

We've come a long way from those first three silkies about seven years ago. I’ve seen some crazy things people do for their chickens and sometimes I want to try that too. The latest was I saw a chicken swing posted by a new member. Hubbie said he’s going to make them one. We learn, we grow, and our chickens are happier for it. I enjoy being a part of the best group of chicken lovers in the world.



@Debbie292d

For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews​
Click to expand...
Lovely to hear some background! Wonderful interview.
 
bruceha2000 said:
Nice to meet you Debbie, very interesting interview and life to date.

I have a question: Why does Josie look black and white in the first picture but brown and white in the second?
Click to expand...
I never noticed that before. In that first picture, it must be that she's in a shadow. Also, that picture is when we first got chickens so it was taken two iPhone models ago, at least. She truly is brown and white though. Here's one with her next to Marsha for comparison. ☺️
 

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