@KsKingBee
Come say hello to Bill! He's been a member since September 2013 and comes to us from the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Come say hello to Bill! He's been a member since September 2013 and comes to us from the Flint Hills of Kansas.
1. Tell us a bit more about yourself. And is there a story behind your member name?
My name is Bill Vinduska and I grew up being a 'suitcase farmer' visiting and working our family farm in Marion, Ks on weekends with my father and sometimes the rest of the family. On holidays we would either camp out or stay with my grandparents who lived nearby who always had a wide variety of animals. I always liked the birds best and enjoyed helping my grandfather feed the chickens, ducks, and geese. My member name is a result of keeping bees since the 1990's and later meeting my wife who was also a beekeeper from OK. Okiequeenbee We have had up to 200 hives at one time but my interests have changed and due to health reasons my wife is the only beekeeper in the family now.
2. Why and when did you start keeping poultry?
We were horse people and always had horses even when we lived in the city. We had a small suburban property for the horses, sometimes a milk cow and I had bantams. I loved hatching out the bantams just to see what colors and patterns would develop.
3. Which aspects of poultry keeping do you enjoy the most?
LOL, obviously hatching and raising chicks. Once my folks passed on I was the only family member that wanted to keep the farm so my wife Candy and I sold my indoor shooting range I had been running for twenty years and bought the farm from my siblings. We built a new home and other outbuildings, including coops and pens. Here is where chicken math took over and it was caused by grasshoppers. We like to garden but with the overload of grasshoppers, ticks, and other pests of the garden we decided we needed a few guineas and of course chickens for bug control. What is a farm without chickens and a few of those damn guineas we love to hate?
Back in the 80's when I had bought my first home in the city I had a few backyard birds, chickens, quail, pheasants of various types, cage birds, and rabbits. That is when I had a visitor that would happen by to see what those strange noises were in my back yard. He was beautiful with a long train and such vivid colors! He was shy at first keeping his distance and playing peek-a-boo around the edge of the fence or behind bushes but he had a personality! How I wanted a friendly guy like that of my own but I just did not have the space. So when we moved to the farm my time had finally come.
My first peas we found at a small local community farm auction, that is when the learning about peafowl began. Like most people, we were ill-prepared when we got our first birds. Our pens were inadequate, we did not know proper nutrition or how to properly medicate peas, it was a steep learning curve. There are many aspects of keeping peafowl that differ greatly from regular farmyard birds that I ended up looking for help with here at BYC. I received lots of good information and some that were not so good but in the end, I became a much wiser person and I appreciate all of those that helped me along the way. And this is why I continue to contribute and help others, because of the people that helped me in my hours of need.
Now we have India Blues in eleven different color mutations and six different patterns as well as Spalding which are hybrids of the IB and the Green also in six different patterns. We have over thirty breeding pens and a half dozen grow-out and flight pens. We produce around 500 peachicks per year and absolutely love our Spring Creek Peafowl farm. We are developing two new colors and a yet-to-be-seen pattern which takes years of work but also keeps us in awe of the genetics involved, learning is growing and that is what we do here at Spring Creek Peafowl.
4. Which members of your flock, past and present, stand out for you and why?
My imprinted birds are my joy and sometimes my disdain. My first is SweePea, a beautiful Purple hen I bought as an only chick and hand raised. Another hen I bought, Penny, an IB Black Shoulder hen, someone else had imprinted and likes to rule the roost as all imprinted hens do. They are both friendly and love their raw peanuts as treats and like to be with people but are bossy bee-itches to other birds. When they get to raise their free-range chicks they teach them to be just as friendly as they are. I rescued an India Blue Black Shoulder cock only later to find out that he was also imprinted, Ron was a delight until the breeding season when he turned territorial. He claimed his breeding area and would not allow anyone else to be in his spot. Unfortunately, Candy claimed his area for her swimming pool, this turned out to her having to carry a stick when she was either in or around her pool or risk being flogged.
5. Beside poultry, what other pets do you keep?
We could not do what we do here without our livestock guardian dogs keeping the varmints at bay. Currently, we have a Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian that are excellent guard dogs. They also protect our Valais Blacknose Sheep. We also have a pair of swans and a flock of East Indie ducks on our pond. Of course our cats love to follow us through the pens wanting us to overturn the feed bowls and nest boxes for them to catch mice, they are great mousers.
@KsKingBee
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews.905602
For more information about the interview feature and a complete list of member interviews:
introducing-vip-member-interviews.905602
Good One!
