You see, I am actually a poultry health expert. And, I just thought it might be interesting for you to find out how I got involved in this very strange subject.
First, let me give you some background. I'm 56 (see - really not that old!), have five grown children, three sons-in-law, and six beautiful grandchildren (and still counting). I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and until a year ago, served as Chairman and CEO of an international specialty chemical company.
About sixteen years ago, I was reunited with my childhood sweetheart. This was a dream come true - well, almost. Only one problem. My "sweetie" was living in the woods of Wisconsin and had vowed never to return to Illinois. Of course I was living in - you guessed it - Illinois. To cut to the chase - love prevailed and Mike agreed to move back to Illinois so we could marry. One catch - I had to move to the country. So we bought a little farm (now for sale so we can get back to Wisconsin), with all of the trappings of country living - you know, barn, silos, and coops. (If you're hearing the theme song from "Green Acres", you get it.
One day, Mike decided there was still too much country girl in me. (Not fair - I do love Farm and Fleet!) Since he raised "banties" years ago (these are tiny chickens - very cute), and had all the "stuff", he thought it would be a great idea for me to experience hatching my own little bantie eggs in a table top incubator (yes, in the house). Now he's thinking that two to three little banties running around the back yard and providing us fresh eggs for breakfast would be cute. Well, as usual with everything else I do, I jumped in with both feet and went CHICKEN CRAZY!
Long story short (I know, too late), I soon discovered that chickens get sick, need to be vaccinated and treated, and, they do die. Two problems - one is that most people I know who have chickens love them as much as their dogs and cats. The other is that there's no such thing as a "Chicken Vet". Well, there's Poultry Research Veterinarians, etc., but that's another story.
I lost a few birds and was heart sick. Tears abounded. I tried everywhere with no luck. Then I became friends with one of those PR Vets, and he pointed me in all of the right directions. Soon, I had every veterinary text book that could be had for poultry health and research, and combined that learning with standard texts on traditional veterinary care for dogs and cats (it also helped that I had a horse and vetted her too). Soon, the Vet friends I had were beginning to call me when they had a client with a sick chicken, turkey, duck, whatever - if it was "poultry" - I got the call.
Eventually, I had a following as "KJ Theodore" of Shagbark Bantams. I had a five year waiting list for my bloodline of Belgian d'Uccles, Call Ducks, and the Malaysian Serama (world's smallest chicken), and I wrote monthly poultry health articles for the Poultry Press - the "Fancier" newspaper. (A "fancier" is someone who raises fancy poultry for showing - yes showing - just like dog shows!)
Well, all that ended when I became Chairman and CEO of my company (it's that pesky little "full-time and loyalty" clause). I gave most of it up. I didn't even look at my Shagbark site for about 6 years (and it still gets 4,500 hits a month from all over the world, and, I still get daily poultry health email questions from all over the world as well). Well, I'm back!
Even though I'm pouring myself into my new boutique on Etsy, Poladora, I am going to go back to writing occasional new articles for the Poultry Press and for my Shagbark site. My son is going to help me give Shagbark a new look and provide even more resources for poultry enthusiasts all over the world, and we'll keep the "backbone" strong so the site rarely, if ever, goes down. This is my contribution to the Fancy. I will forever be grateful to my followers for their support and the motivation I needed to learn so much about such a wonderful little creature. And here I thought all chickens were the same...
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