Bringing Home Baby

After months of thinking about chickens, they're here! And I'm terrified. They are so cute and tiny. I feel like a new parent all over again. Are they cold? Are they hot? Are they dying or just sleepy? Why are they doing that? Aaaccck.

We ordered the chicks from McMurray's Hatchery. The chicks are only shipped in bunches of 25. If they are shipped within 24-48 hours of hatching, they don't need any food or water for the journey. All 25 chicks fit into that little box! We ordered the chickens with another family and they kindly picked them up from the post office.

We'd setup our little chicken area in the laundry room with a brooder light, water, and baby chicken feed. They need to be at 95 degrees for the first week. Each week, you decrease the temperature by 5 degrees. So far, so good. They are happy, if dopey looking little ladies. Like all baby animals, they are mainly sleeping and eating.

We thought about ordering from a few other places but McMurrays seems very reputable and all the chicks look very healthy. We could also buy all females which solves the problem of what to do with the unwanted male roosters. I was very pleased to learn we didn't need a rooster for eggs. I don't want to be the problem children in the neighborhood.

These little ladies are part of the ornamental layers collection. McMurrays offers the variety pack which included more than 5 different kinds of birds. We selected 10, 5 to keep and 5 for another friend. We're very excited to see what breeds we got.

Right now, they are hard to differentiate. We have a few that have ornamental leg feathers and two with top hats. The chick in the picture above to the right appears to be a Phoenix or possibly a Dorking. We definitely have one Dominique. We probably also have a Sumatra.

I'm pretty positive the little girl to the right is a White Crested Black Polish. I'm not willing to bet at this point but we're going to try and keep one of each to have a variety. I can see why people become chicken fanciers.

I thought 5 was a lot, but now that they are here I want to keep them all! No matter the breeds, they should lay a variety of different colors of eggs. After 4 to 6 weeks indoors, they will be ready for the outside world.

Our biggest concern is getting them through the first few weeks healthy and happy. The dogs aren't very interested, but we're keeping the door locked just in case. Mr. J is very interested and has been talking about the baby chicks all afternoon and evening. Just so you know, baby chicks say "Cheep, cheep" and you can only touch a chick with one finger. He got very upset with his Mama when she picked up a chick. It's hard to have to explain the rules to these dopey adults all the time.