Chick magnet
The moving in has commenced. Smallville’s starting to look more like a home now, isn’t it?
Robyn gets the prime real estate in the computer room.
Our antiques go well with the style of the house
I leaned back into my chair and winced a little at the twinge in my lower back. Given that I seem to be in a little (sometimes a lot) pain every day, I guess it’s about time to go to the doctor and find out what I’ve screwed up in my body now. My prediction? A spinal disc.
Getting old sucks.
My cell phone rang, interrupting my woe-is-me moment. I fished it out of my pocket and glanced at the ID. The number was from the next county. Hmm. A pre-seven-am call on this particular day from this particular location could only mean one thing. Eagerly I flipped the phone open.
“Hello?”
“Is this Fred?”
“Yes it is.”
“Fred, this is Charlie at the Smallville post office. I wanted to let you know your chicks just arrived.”
I tried not to dance a jig, bum back or no.
“Okay, I’ll be right out there to get them,” I said. A thought occurred. “Oh, I’ll bet you’re not open yet, are you?”
“We’re not, but just come to the front door and I’ll bring them out.”
The drive out was interminable, what with every other driver on the road seemingly vested in keeping me from my destination. Finally, though, I crossed the last highway and pulled into the post office parking lot. Another customer was just going in the door as I practically skipped up. I could hear a cacophony of cheeping as I entered the building.
The other customer was at the window to the back, talking with the, um, post office guy, who looked mildly surprised to encounter someone who wasn’t me (I’d stopped by on yesterday to make sure they had my number). The postal worker took a check from the customer and disappeared into the darkness of the back. The cheeps continued.
“I can hear my package,” I said.
“You get some birds?” the customer asked, turning.
The postal worker reappeared with some stamps and handed them over.
“Chicks,” I said.
“Really? I didn’t know they sent them like that, through the mail,” he said. He opened the door to leave.
“They sure do,” I replied, thinking how could someone from the country NOT know that hatcheries ship tens of thousands of chicks all over the country every day?
The postal worker turned and reached out of sight. The cheeping intensified to a roar. He produced a box and set it on the counter, then picked up a card and set it before me.
“You need to sign this,” he said.
I signed the card and told him I needed to open the box with him present, in case there were fatalities en route and I needed to notify the hatchery. He pulled out a pocketknife and sliced through the bands encircling the box.
There was a single fatality, a cute little Ameraucana. That was particularly saddening because Ameraucanas were the ones I wanted most, as they lay blue and green eggs, the latter which go quite well with ham.
Fortunately, the hatchery had actually shipped thirteen chicks (there was an extra Buff Orpington included), so I still got the number I paid for.
“What kind are they?” the postal worker asked.
“I got three each of Ameraucanas,” I said, and pointed to an Ameraucana chick. “Buff Orpingtons, Jersey Black Giants, and Barred Plymouth Rock.”
He nodded.
“What kind of chicken was that one from the cartoons? Foghorn Leghorn,” he asked.
“He was a White Leghorn,” I said, for I am a chicken guru now. “They’re kind of flighty and like to get out of fenced areas. I ordered heavy birds that shouldn’t be prone to escape.”
My knowledge of all things fowl rendered him nearly speechless.
That, or he dozed off.
I took my box of chicks and left. At the house, I started the brooder lamp and took each chick out, one by one. The first item of business was a quick beak-dip into the water, so they’d understand the whole drinking concept. It was quite humorous to watch them, because post-dip, they’d sit there and blink a couple of times, then tip their heads back and swallow.
Then they started pecking at the feed and chirping.
As it turns out, the 125-watt lamp I bought for the brooder only kept the area directly under it warm enough, and as a result all the chicks stayed clumped in a pack right under it. A quick trip to the co-op and five bucks solved that problem in the form of a 250-watt lamp.
The chicks are already generating laughs. They fall asleep at the drop of a hat, no matter what they’re doing. They’ll be walking along and just tip forward in a heap, little butts sticking up in the air. Then, when another one walks on them they cheep, hop up, and resume whatever they were doing. Several fell asleep with their heads in the feeder. I need to get some marbles for the waterer so none drown.
But enough of my drivel. How ’bout some pictures?
The grand opening of the box at the house…
…with Mister Boogers supervising.
Checking out the new digs.
Tommy and Sugarbutt were a little freaked out.
After his initial puffed-tail-ness, Tommy very much liked sniffing the fool out of the chicks.
Note how they’re clumped in the above pictures.
And with the stronger lamp, they start to mill about.
It was hard not to squeeze them to death.
A meeting at the watering hole.
Golden yellow / tan are the Buff Orpingtons
The two multicoloreds near the center are Ameraucanas
Black with white underbellies are the Plymouth Barred Rocks
Solid blacks are the Jersey Black Giants
More squeezable goodness
Oh! I just want to pet them and squish them and love them forever!
So cute! I hope these are just for egg laying and not for dinner!
“I could hear a cacophony of cheeping as I entered the building”
SO CUTE.
This is very exciting! Ive never known anyone who raised chickens before. Cant wait for all the updates.
Right now, they are the cutest things EVER. Too bad they grow up to be ugly and dinner. lol
They are adorable! Be sure to wash your hands before and after touching anything in the brooder. My husband was an AG major in college, and he had a class on where they had to maintain and moniter the growth of the chicks. Infection was a major concern- (for the chicks)- Good luck!!!
Oooh! They’re so cute it’s almost painful.
Have you ever seen the Dirty Jobs where they’re sexing the chicks? That’s all I can think of when I see these pictures — Mike Rowe squeezing the poop out of them.
However, the thought of them falling asleep randomly makes me giggle uncontrollably. It reminds me of my cat how likes to climb to the top of her cat tree and fall asleep sitting up.
Ohh little babies!! That makes me want to run out and raise chicks too!! Can’t wait for the updates and pictures that will be coming in the months ahead.
How exciting! A friend of mine in college raised chicks for some class. She raised them from eggs. Consequently, because she was the first thing they ever saw, they thought she was mom. And followed her around the campus in a neat, little line.
Maybe you could train your chicks to follow one of the cats…!
Well, maybe not.
Enjoy!
Adorable chickies!
And your furniture looks like it belongs in your new house.
Your cats look like, “Mmmmmmm…. a tasty treat!”
Yes, I too hope they are not for dinner. If they are, I’m not sure I could handle following this site and watching the growth and development of the little suckers only to notice one went missing between lunch one day and breakfast the next.
Awww I hope the best with your chicks. When’s breakfest with fresh eggs start? Fall or Spring?
Cute! I had Barred Rocks, Auracanas, Banties, and Polish Cresteds growing up (most were pets.) And yes, they’ll drown; chicks aren’t very smart at first, as you’ve noticed. A Banty Rooster and some muttley hen just walked by my front yard, as a matter of fact, but I”m not claiming them.
I want a chick!! The kind that turns into a chicken, that is!
Heh,the chicks falling asleep reminded me of me! Now that it’s allergy season here,I too tend to fall asleep with no warning.
It scares my cockatiels when I’m holding their large food dish with them perched on the rim,and all of a sudden the whole thing starts to pitch and lean,but fortunately they wake me up with their cries of alarm before I actually dump the whole kit and kaboodle.
I was going to email you a warning to put marbles in the water dish,but I stopped myself and said,”Aw, Fred reads up on facts before he starts projects.”
Good on you,Fred!
You’re an official Bird Daddy now. Let’s see how long it is before you catch yourself wandering store shopping aisles while absent-mindly practicing the various chicken clucks and sounds.
I myself tend to practice whistling new tunes to teach my feathered kids.
I sure do like the way you have chosen wide and very white crown moldings to set off the various rooms. Very classy!
We have chickens and I love when you walk into the post office (in a very small PA town) and all you can hear are the chicks peeping. We ordered bees once and that did not make the postmaster very happy. He wanted them out of the post office IMMEDIATELY! Have fun, you’ve got a nice selection there.
Oh they are so cute! I also saw the Dirty Jobs episode with the poop squeezing! Where did you get them? I have been thinking about getting chickens for awhile (we have a small farm). Will they need a fenced in area when they are old enough to go outside?
Too cute!
They remind me of my childhood. My grandpa bought 100 chicks every year (to raise and eat) and I went with him every year to pick them up. I don’t remember going to the post office though - it was more like a farm supply place. I would sit beside the boxes in the back seat of the car on the way home.
Ah, the memories.
Hope you guys have fun raising these ones!
They are beyond adorable and so fun to watch/hold. I’ve helped raise chicks and while they are adorable and all, they STINK!!!! UGH! I have a strong sense of smell and it about killed me to be near the coop. I hope you don’t have an issue with scents because chicken stench is overwhelming.
They grow super fast. You’ll be surprised. I the look of love fancy chickens, they are so beautiful.
I once met a man who sexed chicks for a living. It still makes me giggle like a child when I think about it.
How are the cats reacting to the chicks?
oh my gosh, those are so freakin cute!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh I love baby chicks! Are you going to get ducks too?
I especially love the buff one, gorgeous (as far as chickens go!)
Please don’t tell us when you wring their necks for I will have this picture of them in my head, young and fuzzy.
Thanks Fred, I didn’t know I cared about birds until the past 2 entries.