I knew I wanted to get chickens eventually. At the time we were living in a crowded suburban community while making plans to purchase acreage. Long story short, it was about 5 years. Meanwhile I read, lurked boards, chicken groups, talked to folks and anything pertinent to get info.Hi, first time chicken owner, I’ve got 4 red sex link pullets, and 4 chicks.
Is there a chicken breed underground that I’m unaware of? Like the Free Masons of chickens??
Before I decided to get chickens, I read EVERYTHING I could about them. And yall chicken ppl blow my mind with ALL the breeds and knowledge about them. Not just in this community. I went to the feed store just to buy another feeder. Ol man comes over “oh you got some me chickens huh. Well you need some bebop’s and floofloos, and maybe cross you some yummytums and plickados”. At one point I don’t think he was speaking English anymore. “What kind of chickens you got”? I was dumbfounded I said “mine are red”. I felt so.. ignorant. Seriously where/how do y'all learn about all these breeds? And why is it important? I feel like I’m missing something here. I want to be in the chicken know!
I admit when I get interested in a venture, I get totally OCD. Like an addict, I searched far and wide on chicken info. I bought books, magazines, earned about breeds, then about care, then I fell into the genetics trap. By the time we finally moved to 5 acres, I knew I was ready. Wrong!! 13 years later, I am still learning, this time by actually raising chickens. It has been an exciting journey. I now find that the more I know about chickens only confirms how much more I can learn. Yes, Chicken people attract other chicken people. Yes, I can usually identify a chicken breed by appearance. Every year new breeds are created or imported, so the learning never stops. And never ever get started on chicken math. Just sayin'. Welcome to the world of chickens.