Hello Susan,
You have been "reading" on a great list....full of informative facts, opinions and experience. I think members of this list vary from homesteaders who raise and eat their chickens to hobby chicken fanciers who dote on theirs like little Princesses. I think I fit somewhere in the middle.
I am retired from an accounting career and got a proverbial insect up my derierre seven years ago. We moved our family from the D.C. suburbs to Spotsylvania County, VA......rural and rich with Civil War history. Bought a ten acre parcel of former timberland and proceeded to build a farm. We hired a local builder to build the house and local farmers to clear the pines and plant pastures. DH bought his first tractor in Spring 2007 and still takes pride in his ORANGE tractor.
Our pets accompanied us, of course. No cats (last one died at age 18) and four dogs (three Border Collies and BCx). Moved into the house in Dec 2006 and our first livestock to join us were four 8 week old "Pygmy" goats. They turned out to be Pygmy X goats and they range in weight from 95 to 135 pounds. That breeder saw a sucker coming.
We added chicks in April 2007, also. Day old straight run bantam assortment. We have a few of them left.......one bantam cochin hen by the name of "Little Miss Fluff Butt". Each year we add more and we have an estimated 50-60 chickens now. We started raising Guineas a few years ago, too. Then turkeys. I guess we still have about 30 Guineas, having sold over a hundred since last year. I hatch their eggs and incubate them AND I order day olds in early Spring. I have also incubated heritage turkey eggs and we currently have five left, having processed three in November. I sold two this year for $75 each and one was a Thanksgiving dinner and the other is for a January feast. I also sell eggs.
Did I mention we added alpacas to our farm in October 2008? Started with four and we have bought, bred and added more. I think we have 25 now.
Our most recent endeavor has been miniature dairy goats. Mini Nubians to be specific. We are expecting our first kids any day now. Unfortunately, our cute little buckling got to the girls by accident and our doe is younger than I would want to be expecting, so we are keeping a close eye on her. I am anxiously anticipating milking her! Three of our Does are registered and our blue eyed spotted Buck is registered. Two of our Does are not registered but should provide ample milk for the family. My goal is to have enough milk for our needs and enough left over for selling some and making cheese.
We also added two Great Pyrenees to our farm in January 2009 and then two Anatolian Shepherds in March 2010. Our most recent canine addition is "Sirius Black Magic" a smart alecky mini Aussie who shadows our 14 year old BC and is learning the ropes of being a good farm dog. He is already moving goats for us at the age 17 weeks!
Sorry this is so long and drawn out. I got excited to learn of another "retiree" researching chickens and delving into areas unknown. I am 58 and some of my friends think I am out of my mind for starting this farm and creating so much work. It IS work, but it is the kind of work that leaves you feeling like you have accomplished something and are "one with the land".........sounds hokey, but is a good feeling.
My dh and I processed our turkeys and have decided to pursue raising heritage birds for those who want "real turkey" for the holidays. We will also process chickens. Never EVER thought I would be looking at knives and trying to ascertain if they were sharp enough to do the deeds we require of them!
Welcom to the fold..............
Laura
R Half Pint Farm
Spotsylvania, VA
On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 11:46 PM, susan traynor
<s.dogtrain@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been a member of this list for awhile now and have not posted.
I refuse to use the term "lurker" cause to me that is just creepy!
Prefer to say I'm a "reader" on this list trying to learn. You see, I
don't even have chickens yet, though if future days are going to be
anything like today and yesterday, guess I could start today instead
of planning on this adventure in the Spring of '13. If I only had a
coop! Which is coming. It was 62 degrees F here today which is about
the same as yesterday. Weird weather we're having.
Retired, widowed since '10, used to live in Chicago and was a burn out
after teaching for 30 years in the public school system first as a
fine arts instructor till funds were cut, and then as a reading
specialist. I switched to dog training as a vocation using Operant
and Classical conditioning.
Attended a Bob Bailey workshop in Hot Springs AK chicken training
camp to fine tune my mechanical skills. That was fun and frustrating
all at the same time. "You want to spend WHAT to go to Arkansas to
learn how to train chickens when we don't even have any?" said my
husband. Yes, I wanted to go to make me a better trainer. We had
cats and dogs at the time that were trained but I wanted to be a
better trainer.
Later expanded out to rats, gold fish, a cria (baby Llama) and a
couple of Zebras on the farm where I took the Border Collie for
herding lessons. I had agreed to get my then 11y/o daughter a dog of
"her own" to raise, train, and run on our Flyball team when the dog
was old enough to compete.
A Border Collie from working line parents living on the Near North
Side of Chicago? Must have been out of my mind.!! Any wonder that
that dog wanted to chase cars, kids running, etc, etc, etc. Fixed
that by getting her out on legal herding though the 3 hr round trip
commute to our lessons was made worse during road construction season.
Hey, I had allowed the problem so it was up to me to fix it.
These days I live on 30 acres in southwestern MI with plenty of room
to do just about anything I can afford to do (which is getting less
and less these days and fear it will get worse. Merrill Lynch tanked
my money money market account that I was counting on for retirement
savings/living but have to go with the flow as it is now). Organic
gardening and cooking are among my favorite hobbies. Get my raw milk
from a town north east of me and make my own cheese, kefir and yogurt
as well.
Still thinking Chickens because I like eggs and could use some help
with tick control. Lots of whitetail deer here so lots of those pin
size little bitty black ticks.
Just wanted to introduce myself and admit that I don't have anything
to contribute on the subject of chickens but sure want to learn all I
can before jumping uninformed into a new species where I have no base
of knowledge.
Have also been "talking" chicken and guineas with a couple of long
time friends so a strange question and post will soon follow.
Pleased to meet you all.
Susan Traynor in Niles, MI
"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves."
Edward R. Murrow
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