Chicks!

 Between possums, raccoons, sickness, and an occasional unexplained disappearance, our adult chicken population is down to 2 (Little Blackie and Symphony).  So it is time to start a new flock!  William and Vera are learning entrepreneurial skills by spending their own money to buy the chicks and all their supplies.  They are taking care of the chicks (with a little help of course), and then they will sell the eggs (Mommy and Daddy will be customer #1) to pay back the expenses and hopefully make a profit.

 The arrival of our chicks was wrought with tragedy.  19 chicks were shipped from Ohio (Did you know that many people who get chickens have them sent through the mail!?  There are many more breed options this way.)  When the box arrived the next day there were only 4 living chicks.  Both we and the company were shocked.  The only explanation we could come up with was that the chicks were accidentally placed in an unpressurized airplane cabin.  The 4 that were still alive were only barely alive, but after a few days they were acting much more like normal chicks.

The following week another set of 15 replacement chicks was sent.  Even though it took a bit longer for them to get to us, they must have caught the right plane because they all arrived healthy, happy, and peeping like crazy.

 It didn't take long to acclimate the one-week-olds with the new chicks.  The new chicks brought quite the bully with them, so thankfully the bigger chicks were able to put her in her place.  Seriously, these gals get their pecking order started on day 1!

A ping pong ball, mirror, and branch are helping to keep the gals entertained (and keep bully from pecking everyone).  In the past we've used a large cardboard box for the chick coop, but this year we didn't have any large boxes so Justin made this chick house from our massive piles of scrap wood.

 William is having fun naming all the chicks, but he wasn't thrilled that I made him sit down with a pile of chicks on his lap... since, they do poop a lot.  Thanks for bearing with me, William!  I'll get those jeans in the wash in a jiffy!

 Due to our re-shipment of chicks, we didn't get the exact breeds of chicks we were hoping for (we have 3 blue/green layers but were hoping for 6, for example),  but we are thankful for lots of happy little chickies that are keeping us all entertained!

 Their home is in our basement since they make quite a mess kicking up dust.  Once their feathers grow in we will give them some playdates with Little Blackie and Symphony so they can get to know each other before joining forces in the outdoor coop.

 This is Floppy, one of the original 4 chicks.  We are pretty sure she is the head honcho even though, as her name suggests, she was the most floppy, near-death chick upon arrival of that first sad delivery.  Now she enjoys running around on top of the branch in their little home and holds her head high.  She is one of our Easter chickens, the blue layers.

I will now attempt to tell you the names (and breeds in parenthesis) of all the chicks in the picture above!  From left to right:

Floppy (easter), Stilts (ancona), Sunflower (leghorn), Penny (red), Storm Cloud (dominique hiding in the crook of William's arm), Tiny (easter), Chestnut (red), Red (red), unnamed red chick, Little Buff (buff orpington - not so little), Goodie (australorp), Dot (silver laced wyandotte), Queen (cream legbar - an expensive blue layer, and the only chick Mommy and Daddy paid for), Stella (buff orpington), Kaylee (ancona), Bully (dominique), Sunny (leghorn), unnamed red chick. ... and somewhere is another red chick.

The kids really wanted Daddy to name one of the unnamed red chicks, but all he came up with was Red number 2 or Frankenstein, and they didn't approve.

We are enjoying life in chick world!