@Ponypoor
Come say hello to @Ponypoor! She's been a member since May 2021 and comes to us from Ontario, Canada.
Come say hello to @Ponypoor! She's been a member since May 2021 and comes to us from Ontario, Canada.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
Greetings everyone; I am known as Ponypoor. The story behind the name 'Ponypoor' is from long long ago.
As a child I was absolutely horse crazy, always wanting a horse. I was told by my parents that when I got a job and made my own money I could get my own horse..... well at the age of 17 that is what I did, my parents were not thrilled, but since I was paying for the horse they couldn't really say anything.
This first horse led to many others, and once email became mainstream I created my email with the name 'ponypoor'; at that point I truly was 'ponypoor' hahaha!. It has stuck for over 20 odd years
2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
Long ago one of my horse-friends had chickens, and they laid all sorts of colours, and all sizes - bantam sized eggs, large eggs... all sorts! I remember my Grandmother would never eat those eggs from those free range hens, with the odd coloured eggs.
Which was confusing to me because my Grandmother always wanted me to get hens - growing up in Newfoundland (yes my family are Newfoundlanders - salt of the earth people) everyone kept hens, cows, sheep and goats for food. When she was living with us she always wanted me to get hens.
But I refused to get any, I told her they were noisy, messy, I had enough work with the horses and working a full time job. Life was stressful enough without adding to the mix. Of course I regret not getting hens now, and I have to say if I had know how much fun chickens were back then, I would have sold all the horses and went into chickens!
Now, skip ahead many many years, to my niece getting hens back in 2019, and this really made me look twice at getting chickens. But my lifestyle was not overly conducive to keeping chickens, I still had 4 elderly horses and with my work in the Oil and Gas industry, working all over the country, being called away for months at a time, it just wasn't feasible. The horses themselves had to be boarded out when I was away as it was impossible to find anyone willing to come do chores at my place - so who was going to come to my place to take care of any chickens I bought?
Then Covid hit and I was home, and figured I would retire (sort of) - and one day I was doing the worst thing a person can do - surfing Kijiji for Silkie chickens. And there they were 2 chicks for sale. Next day I hopped in my truck, drove over and bought them home. I knew one was likely a Roo so he was call Stanley, the other I figured was a hen so called her Roxanne. I was right Stanley was a Roo, but Roxanne was also a Roo!!! Who knew
hens could crow (teeheehee!).(Stanley is the black, Roxanne is the red)
Well after a week I was hooked, so I hopped in the truck and went and brought home 3 more Silkies (thankfully all three turned out to be hens!).
(The McNugget Triplets: Curly, Henny Penny and Fluffy)
About the time that Roxanne and Stanley were 5 months old, both were killed by a fox; I had a steep learning curve that evening with regards to predation, and have never forgiven myself. But I still had 3 others to care for.... and more on the way little did I know!
More chicks arrived curtesy of my Niece who hatched 7 of them for one of her classes at school (she is a teacher), she asked me to 'raise them up till they were older' - that's code for 'Aunt Kelly please keep my chicks for ever'.
And that was followed by my Cousin bringing me her three mature hens 'for the winter while I move to the Great White North, I don't want bears to eat them' - that's also code for 'please take my chickens forever'... And I gladly did take all of them
Of dear - then chicken math really took hold, and I decided Hey! Wouldn't it be fun to have Henny Penny (one of the 3 silkies I bought) hatch some eggs? And of course there were Roos in that batch of eggs my Niece hatched out haha! so I had fertile eggs!
Enter BYC - I needed a reliable site that I could gain information from with regards to hatching chicks; ok well Henny would hatch them, but I needed to know what to look for and BYC was the place I found, to start me with this next step in keeping chickens. So I selected 4 eggs, popped them under broody Henny, and 19 days later, all four eggs that Henny Penny brooded over hatched - I have lost count by now of the chickens I have... (well not really it was 14).
(Henny Penny and her brood - 2 pullets Rose and Dorothy, 2 roos unnamed).
But, unfortunately all the Roos had to go, they were fighting, attacking my mother and the kids, rough on the hens - so go they went, sadly I have to say.
And peace reigned.... But... Well of course we can't have Chickens without a Roo now can we? So that lead to my (with great trepidation) getting Mr P - and what a splendid choice I made - all the ladies love him (especially Wee Marty his special lady friend), he is so quiet, and good with the gals, such a charming fella with his 80's punk rock hair-doo, I am just so happy I lucked out with him.
And that's were we are at the moment - though there are more to come, because you know you just can't fight Chicken Math!
(Mr P and Dorothy one of the chicks Henny Penny hatched)
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
I just really enjoy, watching them scratch around; they squabble, fight, make up, play, snooze together - they are just like 2 year old kids - always on the go! So much so that when I am out in the wilds of northern Canada at work I sometimes just log onto my barn cams and watch them running around the barn - sometimes I have to yell at them over the cameras when they get squabbling (of course they ignore the 'disembodied voice'); this yelling makes my co-workers roll their eyes at me.
All this makes me very sad that I didn't get hens for my Grandmother when she wanted them, she would have loved just sitting and watching them like I do now. One day when I get more chicks (OK so that's going to be April 14th, I have 5 Dark Brahma and 5 Bielefelders on order hahaha), I am going to name one after my Grandmother.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
These are like your kids, how can you pick just one? They all have those little quirky things that make you laugh, and yes, cry. But one of them is just such a cutie pie and this one time makes me chuckle every time I think of it. Curly (one of the three Silkies I first bought), decided one day that she wanted to join in, on an online Teams meeting I was holding - one of the rare times I got to work from home, my office is in the barn, and the chickens and horses enjoyed my being around.
Well up onto my desk Curly hopped, of course everyone in the meeting stopped talking when a chicken joined on the camera, then the Safety lady working on the project piped up 'Oh is that your little Frizzle you were telling me about?' (she has her own chickens - Light Brahmas). Anyways I could see 8 guys sitting at the table just roll their eyes - likely thinking 'women and their pets'!
(Curly checking out my online meeting)
5. What was the funniest poultry related thing that has happened to you in your years as an owner?
Well of course that would likely be when Curly jumped up on my desk during the meeting
6. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
In addition to my chickies, I have my horses of course (3 old gals in their 20s now). They all enjoy the chickens, I think that they enjoy watching their shenanigans as much as I do; and I know for certain the chickies enjoy sharing evening feed with the horses!
(Reenie my Thoroughbred enjoys sharing supper with the chickies)
I also have a Kitty: Miss Georgette Bootsie, who has mixed feelings about the chickies (she is afraid of them!).
7. Is there anything you'd like to add?
I would just like to add that I have been enjoying the BYC site, the people whom I have met, and those that have given me their invaluable knowledge have been wonderful. Everyone has been kind and patient with my questions, I have enjoyed wonderful laughs, and also sadness; I have been made to think deeply about more than just chicken 'things'. Who knew that my getting 2 wee little Silkie chicks would lead me to being a crazy chicken lady!
(The whole gang enjoying Mount Poopmore, digging up who-knows-what!)
@Ponypoor
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews
supervising your meetings. 
She knows who's really running the show there. Thanks for sharing your story!
