@Nisana Miller I use the Egyptian Fayoumi as an example of lots of things in my writings. To the point I think I should start using another breed as an example bc it gets repetitive. Lol

@Nisana Miller Yes they are. One of the oldest breeds too. :)

@Nisana Miller My biggest controversy is that I do not like silkies. Sorry! I had a flock of 10 I bought as day olds back in the early 2000s and I never got the first egg, because I gave them away. Not a fan. I love big chill heritage breeds. I don't know if I have one favorite but typically the American heritage dual purpose birds are my favorite.... and then I am snobby about their lineage. #selfadmittedpoultrysnob

@Nisana Miller Yep. There are some I appreciate, but don't really WANT. Lol

@Nisana Miller Yeah that is a bit of a drive! Lol maybe one day we can take this sort of thing on the road. We got this idea because we feed the dumped domestic breeds at this park in the winter and as spring comes in, people bring their kids. The kids don't know better and chase the birds, and we find ourselves educating them anyways. This class is just a bit more organized way to do what we already were doing. :)

@Nisana Miller Turkey poultry sure are cute! I love how they act all big and bad fanning out lol

Boy do I understand the struggle. When I was just starting out with chickens, I started with 7 Delawares. I had built them a 4x8 coop and a run attached. I think about that coop all the time. For one, my building skills then were 0. I used a 4x8 pallet for the "foundation" and put walls up and a simple slanted roof. The "human door" was just a 4x4 piece of wood that swung open. I remember how I had no clue how big to make the chicken door. I had never seen a full grown chicken outside of the county fair and even then I was a kid last time I did see one. LOL That is crazy to think about now! The coop was inefficient and also a pain to clean. I had to hunker down to scoop bedding out and the perches went left to right the two long walls so half of the coop was REALLY hard to get with a shovel. The run itself was a weak excuse of a fence. It wasn't long before I just left all the doors open all day. They were going to get out anyways. I say all this because that was 20 years ago. In the years inbetween I have struggled with many challenges and there were times that having the chickens actually saved me from hunger. I hate eating eggs, but during the recession, I had to eat eggs a few times. I had eggs to feed my other pets when times were rough. When I had an industrial accident and found myself struggling to just get out of bed, the chickens forced me to do one simple thing twice a day. Now, that said, (lol) I have since moved and my current set up is one where I can leave for a few days and the perches now hinge so I can lift them out of the way, there is autodoors, and real windows I can open and close... much more efficient. So, while I understand the struggle of a bad (or at least imperfect) start, you will have to search your soul if it's worth it to you. That shorter coop can be replaced. You could slowly build one big coop that solves all your problems, bc now you know more of what you want and what you don't. I'm rambling a bit, it happens when I sit at a desk instead of being on my phone. Sorry.

@Karla Andrew I feel you on the cows. I have been wanting some, but my life is busy enough with the chickens and geese. As the ducks went away we stopped replacing them. The quail the same. I like the quail but now I know I do not have the heart to eat them. We had goats in the past, but same there... just not for our life. We are both in healthcare and both teach our specialties in healthcare too. It's just a lot. Of course we have cats and dogs and 2 conures in the house too. LOL! It's a zoo! You talk about your son's class animal... let me tell you. I had frogs growing up, different kinds. I seen a teacher put an ad on fb years ago (like 20 or more now) that she got these two frogs for her class and didn't expect them to live through the year. She was looking to give them away, tank and all. So I took her up on it thinking they had 2 or 3 years tops.... Don't you know I had those frogs for 12 years more! LOL Needless to say, the tank got broke down and put in the barn. No more frogs for me.