The Hipster Hens are at it again! They’ve pulled out all the balloons and confetti and are celebrating the 10,000th page view on Randy’s Chicken Blog that just happened Sunday afternoon. I started the blog and put up the very first post on March 1 of last year, so we’re nearing the first anniversary of this endeavor. I’m sure the chickens will all want to party again when March 1 rolls around, but what can I say?! They’re just party animals!
Since that first post, I’ve written 58 more – I’ve talked
about broody hens, baby chicks, sick hens, conflict in the coop, poultry
equipment, quite a bit about the cruelty of battery cages and efforts to get
rid of them, and I’ve branched out to talk about the woods around the coop and
the wild plants and animals that live there, I’ve discussed a few good books
about chickens, and I’ve talked about, well…life, the universe, and everything!
Along the way, I’ve seen a slow but encouragingly steady increase
in readership. Thanks to all of
you! Who are you? Well, thanks to the demographics info I get from Facebook and Google, I can tell you! Some of you are “fans” who have
“liked” the Facebook fan page – but many of you are casual readers. Most of my casual readers live in the US, but
a significant number of you are in France, and there are also quite a few of
you in Russia, Brazil, Canada, the UK, and Germany. Kudos to you international readers who have
used the “translate” button on the page to translate my posts into Spanish,
French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, and Danish.
Many of you US casual readers are clustered in the Twin Cities area, but
you are also in Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago
and well – all over!
And you Hipster Hen fans, I love every one of you, don’t you
know! Most of you are in the US
(Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, West Virginia, California,
Oregon, Florida, and yup – all over!)
Special words of appreciation to you international fans – Three of you are
in Australia, and one each are in Ireland, the Philippines, Serbia, Tanzania,
and Iraq. You know who you are! Thanks, mates! Go raibh maith agat! Salamat! Tak! Хвала! Shukrani! شكر
!
About three quarters of you are women 35 or older. I really appreciate your support. Tell all your male friends! Most folks who blog about chickens are
women. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m
not, btw, and more guys need to find out how cool chickens
are!
Topics of future conversation: I’m going to start building a
chick nursery inside of Coop 1 soon and will be getting ready for baby chicks
in June. I’ll also be putting together a
float for the local 4th of July parade – it will be pulled by my
trusty John Deere, driven by yours truly, and will be colorful, festive,
producing chicken themed music, and endowed with real live chickens! Beyond that, is there any topic in particular that you would like to hear about? Let me know!
Finally, I thought I’d end this post by highlighting the top
five posts to date. These are the posts
that have had the most page views up to this moment. Glad you liked them! Thanks for your support! Stay tuned for more!
Top Post: Poop (December 14, 2016).
Wow. Why did this take off? It’s basically some good practical
information on dealing with chicken manure – bedding options, using a poop tray
under the roost for easy collection, and some composting tips.
Second Place: Sweater Girls (November 1, 2016). So I found myself in the ridiculous situation
of trying to convince the Hipster Hens that it would be a good idea for them to
wear chicken sweaters. Pandemonium ensued.
Third Place: A Dog Story (November 14, 2016).
How my good friend, Bailey the
Labrador Retriever, came to be the Protector of the Hipster Hens here at the
ranch.
Fourth Place: Sometimes Hens Get Sick—Sometimes Hens Die (July 31, 2016). Two
hens get sick, one gets better and one passes on. Dealing with sick hens and nursing them back
to health and dealing with grief when one doesn’t make it.
Fifth Place: RIP, Bailey the Labrador Retriever (January 10, 2017). Sweet
Bailey moves on to dog heaven. More
about her life and her passing.
More to come, everybody.
Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment