Hi everyone!

Hi everyone,

My name is Nathalie and i’m from The Netherlands (you know, that little country where Amsterdam is).
I’m 47yo and live with my youngest son (Nick, almost 21yo) with my hb and his son (Niels, 21yo). My oldest son (24yo) lives on his own, but visits us regularly :D

Chickie, our first chicken
About 4 years ago, our first chicken showed up in our front garden.
I didn’t know anything about chickens, but gave her some bread and water (it was october and cold outside).
Then she followed me into our house..
I called Animal Care(?) and asked them what to do.
This lady told me they could come the next day to pick her up and take her to an animal farm (she said it wasn’t that urgent, because it didn’t concern a cat or dog.. :confused:)
So, i told her not to bother, and i could take her myself.
Then, i signed up at a dutch chicken community to learn more about chickens.

I didn’t quite know what to do with her, so i took her outside in our back garden and she sat down on the garbage bin.
Because it was so cold, i put a blanket around her..
The next morning she was still sitting there with the blanket, so cute hehe

I was like, well..she’s not going anywhere! She’s gonna stay here with us.
So, i took our dog’s bench, and put hay in it.
After putting her in there, she immediately layed an egg:eek:
We also bought food for her.
A week later we bought her a coop.
We didn’t know her age, a man from the pet store told us she had to be about 1yo.

At that time, we still had our dog called Bono (boxer dog), she and Chickie were litteraly One. They loved eachother, they were always together.
When Bono died last year, Chickie mourned for days! She sat by him and litteraly cried, didn’t eat (unless i gave it to her) and didn’t move away from Bono’s side.
Bono died in july 2017 at the age of 12.
Chickie has lived with us for more than 3 years, unfortunately she died last summer :(

Diva
When we had Chickie for about a year, Diva walked into our lives about the same way as Chickie did.
Only this time a neighbour found her (she is the same breed as Chickie, i think they called Layer in english).

Breading eggs and rooster
When my son had his internship at Primal Time Museum (where they also have chickens walking around) his boss asked me if i’d like to try and hatch eggs.

Long story short: i started hatching eggs last year/summer, and i got 14 out of 14(!) guinea fowls!
Found nice new homes for them (unfortunately we don’t live on a farm, so we couldn’t keep them)
After the first hatch, i hatched again 2 times (bought a bigger breeder) and now i have 5 -6 weeks old- little guinea fowls (already have found them a new home) and i have 3 -8 weeks old- guinea fowls i’m gonna try and keep for myself.

I also kinda adopted a little rooster -ok, he wás a little rooster:gig-

Favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens
I found out i love to watch our chickens; i love how they act and how each one has their own character.
Since we have a rooster; i think it’s amazing to see how he takes care of Diva, as in, see that she gets to eat first and call her when he finds food..

Other hobbies

I’m a self taught MakeUpArtist.
I love to experiment with makeup, from daily makeups to a little more extreme makeups.
Also special fx makeup every now and then.
I only put makeup on myself, but thinking of extending my horizon(?) a little bit.

Another hobby of mine is music: i love to listen to music but also singing!
I don’t sing that well, but i try haha.
Doing music videos on this Karaoke App, which is worldwide.
You can sing with other people and be in the same video, as if you’re there together.
I also love watching movies, all kinds.

More about me
I already told you a little about my family when i started this (very long!) intro..
I work for a Health care business.
As in, i help people with their households, doing groceries for and with them but mostly it’s just being there for them.
I have an irregular work scheme, one week i work more than the other.

How did i get here?
Well, like i was telling earlier, at first i signed up on this (dutch) chicken community, but found that sometimes people weren’t that umm very nice when others asked questions or telling their stories.
Like you all know how difficult it can be sometimes when you first start raising chickens etc, and yeah, also make (beginner)mistakes. To be honest, i found it difficult to tell all of my stories or ask them about stuff..
I found you thru Google, yes, i was searching info about breeding and hatching and bumped into this community.
I had not heard of this community before, but i’m glad to have found it!

Nathalie
Welcome to BYC!
:yesss:We are glad you joined our flock!

This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

Coop Ideas:
Chicken Coops
BYC has an APP

Current contest:
Official BYC Mini Contest - Creative Eggs & Eggshells
 
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So glad you happened to find us! This site has been really helpful for me... lots of great information and friendly people here. I think we all take pride in welcoming new members and helping them get on the right track if they need it.

Sounds like you definitely have a way with your birdie friends and you'll fit right in around here. What breed is your little rooster? Is he really big now? We all love hearing about animal stories and sharing our experiences.

Don't forget to check out the other social forums as well!
Pictures and Stories of My Chickens
Random Ramblings
Games, Jokes and Fun


And a favorite thread Chicken Shaming to lighten the Mood


Oh, and I recently discovered this section (even though it's been there forever)
Sponsored Content, Contests and Giveaways
you never know what you could win!

There, that should keep you busy for a while!
 

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