justfourhens
In the Brooder
Hello everyone. I’m in Northern MN and just starting out. I have semi-traumatic chicken experience from when I was a child laborer on a farm (not really, but it felt that way - my babysitter made me collect about 100 eggs for sale at the farmer’s co-op every morning before school because I was small enough to climb in the coop) and got aggressively pecked and charged at, subsequently going to school covered in marks every day. Now I’m a trauma therapist (for actual traumas), so do with that what you will 
.
Having resisted chickens for 30+ years since, my husband finally made me cave. We bought four Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks yesterday to fill a barely used coop we bought off FB Marketplace earlier this week. The seller of the coop was from another state originally and didn’t think to reinforce it against Minnesota bears, so a black bear ate all his four-month-old hens in broad daylight while he sipped coffee feet away, blissfully unaware. Evidently he went outside later, saw the scene, disassembled the coop, and walked away from chickens forever. And now it’s stacked in our driveway.
We are much more predator-aware, having lost some beehives to bears the first day we got them years ago. You can run a bear off with a pitchfork at 11 pm using only the lights from your pickup while you’re wild with rage, but I do not recommend this. So our first priority is predator reinforcements.
My username (justfourhens) is to try to remind me to stick to the plan, but I am aware that’s not realistic. Within an hour of having them home I was physically restraining myself from going back for more. The easy justification of chicken math is insidious - why not get ducks, too? Ridiculous. It’s been a rough 24 hours holding myself to the plan. I feel helpless against the chicken pressure already.
Thanks to all for sharing your wisdom. Happy to be here.
.Having resisted chickens for 30+ years since, my husband finally made me cave. We bought four Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks yesterday to fill a barely used coop we bought off FB Marketplace earlier this week. The seller of the coop was from another state originally and didn’t think to reinforce it against Minnesota bears, so a black bear ate all his four-month-old hens in broad daylight while he sipped coffee feet away, blissfully unaware. Evidently he went outside later, saw the scene, disassembled the coop, and walked away from chickens forever. And now it’s stacked in our driveway.
We are much more predator-aware, having lost some beehives to bears the first day we got them years ago. You can run a bear off with a pitchfork at 11 pm using only the lights from your pickup while you’re wild with rage, but I do not recommend this. So our first priority is predator reinforcements.
My username (justfourhens) is to try to remind me to stick to the plan, but I am aware that’s not realistic. Within an hour of having them home I was physically restraining myself from going back for more. The easy justification of chicken math is insidious - why not get ducks, too? Ridiculous. It’s been a rough 24 hours holding myself to the plan. I feel helpless against the chicken pressure already.
Thanks to all for sharing your wisdom. Happy to be here.
Glad you joined.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
