I owe my veterinary career to a chicken from the circus and a barnyard hen. Over a decade ago my family made a big decision and bought an old abandoned 40 acre farm. We weren’t farmers by any walk of life but had a lot of love to give to animals and wanted a place to do that with. Like most people who move to a farm, one of the first animals on our mind to get were chickens. Rumor traveled around town that we had bought the farm and not too long after purchasing it, we got approached by a person who ran a small animal rescue asking if we would adopt some chickens that were brought to her. Fast forward a few days and we are bringing home a collection of chickens from various rescue situations including an amazing Rhode Island Red hen named Emmy and a sassy Dark Brahma named Gertie. It wasn’t long until I fell head over heels for these creatures and I ended up spending my days as a homeschooled kid doing my schoolwork in the chicken coop with them. My barnyard hen, Emmy, was the first one to make me fall in love with these birds given her curious nature. She was always so inquisitive about what I was doing with my schoolwork and wanted me to play. As time went on, naturally something would come up with one of the birds. Back when we first started with chickens, the backyard chicken boom hadn’t begun and we couldn’t find a vet that would directly help us with our beloved pets. I couldn’t bear sitting around and doing nothing as one of my animals suffered and I became obsessed with learning everything I could on what could go wrong with these creatures and why. Little did I know this would spark such an interest in veterinary medicine. I was fascinated by all the pathology and physiology that goes with the learning curve and was relieved to see my animals get better with new treatments. As time went on, we ended up finding a veterinarian who would look at our birds as well as our other farm animals. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to ask to shadow him and after that there was no going back. I loved the science, education, the variation in cases – it seemed perfect. I have always enjoyed challenges. I like to be active all the time - always working on a project of some sort in the back of my mind. I felt so confident and content in my decision to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine after shadowing. Most importantly, I learned that I could make a difference by doing this work and that it was a job that I would genuinely love to do forevermore. Having worked tirelessly over the past 9 years to further my knowledge base of farm animal medicine and backyard birds, I am hoping to utilize my unique skill set to help give advanced care to my future patients. I know that in the area where I live and hope to work that there is huge demand for farm animal vets. The trends are shifting to more and more individuals keeping farm animals as pets but many vets have not been taught advanced care techniques for these species. I hope to use my experiences and passion for these creatures to provide the highest level of care possible for my patients and be able to solve complicated issues giving my patients and their loving owners the opportunity to spend more quality time together.