Into the hatching trays

BA

As 2017 comes to a screeching halt, it's time to look back at all of the changes I've made over the last year. This is a personal post, not necessarily related to the birds.

In 2015 we downsized to five breeds. Due to some personal family issues I had to cut back on the flock and made the decision to sell out the majority of the birds. Keeping only a select few of the favorites, and holding the tears as the remainder went to their new homes. Selling down was supposed to help, bring me to a more manageable number. I struggled with the idea of getting back into pigs, back into goats. Animals I love but hold no spikes on my heart. They did not grip onto me, they did not speak to me. I did not find myself enjoying the time I spent with them. I began to loath them. They took away time I could be spending with the birds. Birds who were more and more neglected as the months rolled into years. Eventually the last of the remaining birds were sold and I found myself without chickens, quail, ducks, or any other kind of bird.

Throughout the next two years we would suffer a series of losses both large and small, eventually landing me back at square one. Lost and without poultry. Being without poultry was something I had great difficulty with. I have had chickens in my life, in great numbers, since I was a young girl of 8 years old. I never pictured a day in my adult life where I would have a farm that didn't crow. A night where I didn't dash outside at the sound of birds squawking to make sure there was no predator problems.Days that didn't end with buckets full of eggs and incubators full of the next generation.

I struggled. I struggled mentally and physically walking by the now empty cages and dreaming of what once was. Watching years of hard work fade into nothing but a memory. My heart begged for a second chance.

Early in March, I made the rash decision to purchase some cute little fuzzy butts from TSC. So it began, yet again, the first of a series of events that would place me back in the breeding world. I quickly realized that the empty, lost feelings that had been clouding my overhead was actually remorse. I had let another person get between me and something I loved. It was time to change that.

Within a matter of weeks the goats and pigs were gone. Coops were refurbished and given touch ups. Birds began to fill them up again.

Today, there is over 20 breeds of chickens on the farm and several more cooking in the many incubators running in my living room. Yet again I find the farm buzzing with life. Every week we have new chicks running around. Broody hens raising little ones, eggs shipping out across the country, or eggs from my own birds.

It's an overwhelmingly comforting feeling. I finally understand that poultry of all shapes and sizes are the main hold in my life and I will never again place myself in a situation where I will go without. I love watching the birds, and educating the public on their well beings. Teaching young minds about the art of poultry keeping and the rare birds that find their home on our small farm.

The breeds I have decided to go forward with are similar to the ones I've kept in years prior, with only a few new breeds added to the mix.

I plan on making my first public appearance with the chickens in what will be 3 years since the last poultry show KCR has adventured out to at the March 10th Fancy Feathers Poultry show in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Until then, I am going to move the Black Australorps into the hatching trays.

We hope the 2018 season will be eventful for all our fellow poultry keepers, and we hope to see you at the next show or poultry swap! Keep an eye out for our next blog post, where we will highlight the benefits of using grit with caged birds.

Happy Hatching,

Kate

#chickens #poultry #chickenkeeping #farm #farmlife #farmblog #chickenblog #poultryblog #rarebreedchicken #rarepoultry #exhibitionpoultry