- Jun 28, 2011
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Kim, known to BYC members as igorsMistress, has been a member of our community since April, 2013. One of our BYC Friends, she is known for her friendliness and good advice.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hi, my name is Kim. As a kid I was born in the Midwest and lived on a farm. We had cattle, pigs and chickens. I can remember collecting eggs and going into the pen for Little Duke, a Black Angus, to give him his feed while my dad scratched his ears. Sadly, we moved to California when I was 8 and I hated it.
After my daughter was born I was living on a friends farm. Some guy with the most incredible green eyes walked in the house like he belonged there and stole both our hearts. We started a family and the last 28 years have seen us both struggle and triumph together. We have a mostly empty nest, but with 2 kids and 4 grandchildren there's always someone around.
Our sons kids, Hope and Skyler
Our daughters boys, Cam and Aiden
We lived in California for many years but when our situation changed and I needed to work, stay at home mom skills weren't in high demand. I managed to find a job and get a few years of experience under my belt, then found my current job as an insurance agent. I moved to Phoenix with the kids and my husband followed shortly after. Fast forward 15 years and I now work at home for the same company.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
One of my husbands coworkers began keeping chickens. In their neighborhood everyone has them and selling their extras wasn't feasible. Instead they shared with people they knew and we started getting these beautiful green and blue eggs along with every shade of brown imagineable. That's all it took, I wanted chickens. As is often the case, good things come to an end and they lost most of their flock.
My husband agreed it would fun to have chickens ourselves. Since our experience was pretty limited I started to research what would be involved and BYC kept popping up. I started reading and lurked here for 3 years. I changed my mind from yes to no several times, kept thinking what if this or that. One day we went to the feed store just to see what they had for chicks so we could "plan" and came home with 4 chicks. A week later we added 2 EE's, one of which was our first roo. Here they are in the coop.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
Chicken TV and having my morning coffee with flock are my favorite activities. I sit at the picnic table and talk to them all. My RIR loves to have her wattles scratched and everyone gathers round to preen and chat. Gardening is also fun. Watching them hunt lizards and crickets when I turn over the compost pile is always good for a giggle. Especially when a game of keep away ensues, although I feel kind of bad for whatever they're tearing apart sometimes.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Ruby and Scarlet were my RIR sisters. While Ruby was always the boss, she and Scarlet really shared the position. Ruby went broody last summer. No matter what I did she wouldn't stop. I'd read that RIRs don't go broody, especially hatchery girls, but she was absolutely not giving up.
I got her some eggs to hatch but temps were so hot, 118 on a few days. We put a mister in the coop and her eggs in the incubator until lockdown, then slipped them under her. Two eggs hatched, but one chick died within a week. Ruby had a look of bliss on her sweet face watching that little chick. She attacked me a few times because I took the sickly chick to clean it up and It was a while before she trusted me not to take the other.
Sadly, Ruby is no longer with us. I love this picture of her
Here's she is with her chicks. The one that lived turned out to be a roo. He's in the second pic, his name is Fugly. The third pic here is the flock including Ruby.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
One night Aiden went out to lock up the coop for me. My husband and I were showering and it was almost completely dark. Suddenly there was this blood curdling scream and both boys were in our room with terrified looks on their faces. Someone was knocking on the sliding glass door from the backyard! We went to investigate and found Fugly. He'd been locked out of the coop and came to let us know. He peeps in quite a lot.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
In addition to the chickens we have 7 Coturnix quail right now. We'll be hatching 4 dozen quail eggs in March and 15 chicken eggs for the Easter HAL this year.
We have a 12 year old Silkie Terrier named Midge. We also have a 1 year old Bull Terrier/American Pit Bull named Frankie and his 5 month old sister Abby. They share the same parents, Abbys litter was an oops. We're thinking about fish, we are debating between salt and fresh water right now.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
BYC has neen an incredible resource for information and support. I feel ready, in theory anyway, to handle whatever comes our way and know I have a place to turn for help if I need it. It's also a second home with wonderful and supportive people, some of whom I feel are friends even though we've never met.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/igorsmistress.202364/
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Hi, my name is Kim. As a kid I was born in the Midwest and lived on a farm. We had cattle, pigs and chickens. I can remember collecting eggs and going into the pen for Little Duke, a Black Angus, to give him his feed while my dad scratched his ears. Sadly, we moved to California when I was 8 and I hated it.
After my daughter was born I was living on a friends farm. Some guy with the most incredible green eyes walked in the house like he belonged there and stole both our hearts. We started a family and the last 28 years have seen us both struggle and triumph together. We have a mostly empty nest, but with 2 kids and 4 grandchildren there's always someone around.
Our sons kids, Hope and Skyler
Our daughters boys, Cam and Aiden
We lived in California for many years but when our situation changed and I needed to work, stay at home mom skills weren't in high demand. I managed to find a job and get a few years of experience under my belt, then found my current job as an insurance agent. I moved to Phoenix with the kids and my husband followed shortly after. Fast forward 15 years and I now work at home for the same company.
2. Why and when did you start keeping chickens?
One of my husbands coworkers began keeping chickens. In their neighborhood everyone has them and selling their extras wasn't feasible. Instead they shared with people they knew and we started getting these beautiful green and blue eggs along with every shade of brown imagineable. That's all it took, I wanted chickens. As is often the case, good things come to an end and they lost most of their flock.
My husband agreed it would fun to have chickens ourselves. Since our experience was pretty limited I started to research what would be involved and BYC kept popping up. I started reading and lurked here for 3 years. I changed my mind from yes to no several times, kept thinking what if this or that. One day we went to the feed store just to see what they had for chicks so we could "plan" and came home with 4 chicks. A week later we added 2 EE's, one of which was our first roo. Here they are in the coop.
3. Which aspect(s) of chicken keeping do you enjoy the most?
Chicken TV and having my morning coffee with flock are my favorite activities. I sit at the picnic table and talk to them all. My RIR loves to have her wattles scratched and everyone gathers round to preen and chat. Gardening is also fun. Watching them hunt lizards and crickets when I turn over the compost pile is always good for a giggle. Especially when a game of keep away ensues, although I feel kind of bad for whatever they're tearing apart sometimes.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
Ruby and Scarlet were my RIR sisters. While Ruby was always the boss, she and Scarlet really shared the position. Ruby went broody last summer. No matter what I did she wouldn't stop. I'd read that RIRs don't go broody, especially hatchery girls, but she was absolutely not giving up.
I got her some eggs to hatch but temps were so hot, 118 on a few days. We put a mister in the coop and her eggs in the incubator until lockdown, then slipped them under her. Two eggs hatched, but one chick died within a week. Ruby had a look of bliss on her sweet face watching that little chick. She attacked me a few times because I took the sickly chick to clean it up and It was a while before she trusted me not to take the other.
Sadly, Ruby is no longer with us. I love this picture of her
Here's she is with her chicks. The one that lived turned out to be a roo. He's in the second pic, his name is Fugly. The third pic here is the flock including Ruby.
5. What was the funniest (chicken related) thing(s) that happened to you in your years as chicken owner?
One night Aiden went out to lock up the coop for me. My husband and I were showering and it was almost completely dark. Suddenly there was this blood curdling scream and both boys were in our room with terrified looks on their faces. Someone was knocking on the sliding glass door from the backyard! We went to investigate and found Fugly. He'd been locked out of the coop and came to let us know. He peeps in quite a lot.
6. Beside chickens, what other pets do you keep?
In addition to the chickens we have 7 Coturnix quail right now. We'll be hatching 4 dozen quail eggs in March and 15 chicken eggs for the Easter HAL this year.
We have a 12 year old Silkie Terrier named Midge. We also have a 1 year old Bull Terrier/American Pit Bull named Frankie and his 5 month old sister Abby. They share the same parents, Abbys litter was an oops. We're thinking about fish, we are debating between salt and fresh water right now.
7. Anything you'd like to add?
BYC has neen an incredible resource for information and support. I feel ready, in theory anyway, to handle whatever comes our way and know I have a place to turn for help if I need it. It's also a second home with wonderful and supportive people, some of whom I feel are friends even though we've never met.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/igorsmistress.202364/
See here for more about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/905602/introducing-vip-member-interviews/0_30
). I'm glad we've gotten to know each other and found so much in common (thank you Mr. King & tea!). 
