** UPDATE on @BantyChooks 04-21-24 **
It's been several years since @BantyChooks member interview was first posted; let's catch up with Lewis!
Well, it’s been quite a few years since I did my original interview. Since then, almost nothing is the same. Unfortunately, I no longer have chickens. I got married, and moved to Europe with my spouse, which is an ongoing process. I’m already making plans for a new flock once we have a place to live that doesn’t measure dirt in terms of plant pots.It's been several years since @BantyChooks member interview was first posted; let's catch up with Lewis!
I recently completed a degree in engineering and now work mainly in the research sector. My interest in birds has turned more academic, and I am taking a few continuing education courses in ornithology because I am passionate about the subject and I think it’s worthwhile to learn. I have made it sort of a challenge to myself to see as many bird species as I can across as many different countries as possible, with my latest addition being wild flamingos in Spain. I am particularly fond of the wagtails I saw in Japan and another subspecies in the UK, but they are fast little birds and difficult to take pictures of. Below are some photographs of some other birds I saw that weren’t so slippery.
Left to right: A gull and a jackdaw near Dover, England, pigeons in Japan, a Muscovy duck in Spain, and ostriches in Poland.
I do find myself being forced into a redirection of my chicken hobbies, as even when I finish my move it will be almost impossible to continue my efforts with breeding Chanteclers to the SOP. As much as that pains me, I may have to let them go and move on to some other breed or purpose. That will depend mostly on what breeds are available around me, due to high import costs and restrictions that make it almost impossible to move birds across country borders. Either way, the chickens will return—and I’ll finally have normal tasting eggs again.
