Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[MissLaura]

Life is busy! In the last 2 years we've raised 3 rounds of heritage turkeys, for a total of 100ish. Currently have 14 laying hens with 1 roo and have a batch of approximately 19 that will start laying this summer. We had started with 15 guinea but we are down to 2 but that is OK because they are such bullies! We've had our share of predators and very little sickness, thank goodness. My husband was recently diagnosed with a large cancerous tumor in his stomach and abdomen so we are on hold for new projects. We have 10 acres with a vegetable garden, herbal tea garden and we were in the process of starting market flowers. But those things will wait. I'm very thankful for this community, it has helped me on many occasions.

 

[KLC321]

Thanks for checking in! I've been wanting to take a minute and tell the story of "Little Guy." He came to us as an extra chick in our order. He had a gullet outside his body and it had exploded. He was a special chick to me and I asked on this site for help and the community responded! Here is a before photo and a photo from now - 4 years later! Thanks BYC community!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Hi there! Thanks for reaching out. We are still happy chicken tenders, continuing to learn and enjoy our flock. Currently we have 15, 14 hens and a roo of mixed breeds. Lost one of our americauna hens a couple of days ago we think to a raccoon. We have a pretty good fortress set up to protect our crew but they don't always cooperate and find a way out and into the arms of a predator, or a predator will find a weakness in our armor and take full advantage. But they have to eat too, and we do our best and learn as we go.

First pic shows our rooster Randy and a couple of his favorite ladies, second picture is of our dearly departed hen before she made her fatal escape, third picture is three of our more dominant girls all trying to lay in the favorite nesting box while I'm trying to clean out the coop. So much fun to keep this crew, and sure do enjoy their delicious eggs! Happy to be part of this community too. Have a great day everyone!

Welcome back! I hope you have no more losses and everyone is happy and healthy!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Hello,

I received your message and am happy to report things are going very well. We went from having a flock of pets to becoming a registered chicken rescue with the assistance of the Director of the Avian Program at Cornell University. We rehab sick, neglected, failure to thrive, improper hatches, and the unfortunate purchases made without thinking it through. Our YouTube channel, Murray's Home For Wayward Chickens has approx 250 subscribers now, and we assist people with treating illness and injury, in addition to posting comical videos of the shenanigans that occur with having several house chickens.

Hope you are well! Thank you for the update request.

Heather DeVito

That is absolutely incredible! I would love to do something like that, but unfortunately I do not have the time or space for it. I do have chickens that are on the special needs side, though. One half-blind hen, one half-blind rooster, and one rooster with a deformed leg that he cannot walk on. And I saved a wry neck duckling but it sadly died. I would never give up trying to help these birds, they need all the love!

 

[man_of_fishers]

Chugging away here. Just sort of have a good system down, so I’ve not needed to check in as much. We hover anywhere between 25 and 50 chickens. 50 was too much, so I try to keep it down to 20, and I should honestly consider keeping it around 10, but chicken math, you know!

My newest challenge is beekeeping, which makes chicken farming seem like elementary in comparison. I say that in a good way, I love how easy and reliable my girls are in comparison to the bees.

I still lose chickens to hawks and raccoons from time to time, but that’s something I’ve come to live with. An automatic door and leaving my feed inside the coop instead of in the run has gone a long way to resolve most issues.

We get so many eggs that we sell a lot and give away as much as we can. It’s still not enough to break even, for anyone wondering.

 

[Kiki]

Chugging away here. Just sort of have a good system down, so I’ve not needed to check in as much. We hover anywhere between 25 and 50 chickens. 50 was too much, so I try to keep it down to 20, and I should honestly consider keeping it around 10, but chicken math, you know!

My newest challenge is beekeeping, which makes chicken farming seem like elementary in comparison. I say that in a good way, I love how easy and reliable my girls are in comparison to the bees.

I still lose chickens to hawks and raccoons from time to time, but that’s something I’ve come to live with. An automatic door and loving my feed inside the coop instead of in the run has gone a long way to resolve most issues.

We get so many eggs that we sell a lot and give away as much as we can. It’s still not enough to break even, for anyone wondering.

The Honey Factory <<other beekeepers.​

 

[SprinkleDesserts]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Life has been busy with a slow-growing homestead. I now have over 30 ducks and chickens. lol

 

[Jill Baine]

Thanks for checking in! We have learned a ton since 2020 when we got our first chicks! We started with a handful of bantams and expanded our flock in 2022 once we had the hang of it. We added a black Australorp, 3 blue Australorps, 3 Black Stars, and 3 Barred Rocks. We used windows and doors from the attic of my grandmother's historic house to build a bigger coop that now houses 10 full-sized chickens and 2 bantams. We homeschool, so it has given us so many opportunities to grow and learn together!!! We built a raised bed garden the same spring that we built the coop and have been learning about composting too! This spring, we have no building projects, but are learning innovative ways to keep the chickens out of the garden.

 

[AlderCreekFarms]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Hi there, been a while and a lot's happened both in the world and our lives!
Anyhoo, we aren't raising quail anymore. The chickens we had were all mysteriously killed by a critter during the day while we were at work. All in one day. So we stopped with all of it until we could build a proper house and run for them, which we just finished. We have a brand new set of 6 red sex links and 2 silver laced Wyandotte chicks we just took out of the bathtub and put in the chicken house. We are excited to have them again!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hello! I’m on here all the time so nothing really to report except I’m hoping to start the garden soon! We’re just buying plants this year cause we only really need a few and it was just too much with the seeds and everything. I usually started like 20 or 40 or some high number of each thing and then couldn’t plant them all so it just makes more sense to buy plants this year. My dad’s idea and I agree. But yeah. Great idea Nifty!!!