Too Shy

I think the new chicks are camera shy.  They just couldn't stay still enough for me to get a pic of their cute little faces today.

Frustrated,

Chicken Little

 

Our order of 5 Austrolorps has arrived!

Are these little girls not just adorable little balls of fluff?  I got the call today that I had a peeping package at the Post Office and left work early to be certain I would be there to pick them up.  The ladies at the PO were begging me to open the package, but I didn't want to stress the chicks.  Luckily, I was just a couple  of blocks from home, so I didn't have to wait long to get a peek at the babies.  When I opened the cardboard box, I had to giggle at the "nest" that they were shipped in.  It looked like a real nest!  I should have taken a pic when I first opened the box, but here's a similar pic courtesy of Serene Dwelling:

Right now, they're in a clear 18 gallon storage container on my kitchen counter where I can keep a close eye on them.  I put newspaper in the bottom, covered by clean pine shavings - from what I've read, you should never leave chicks on just newspaper because it's slick and can cause them to get splayed leg syndrome.) Their water and food dishes were improvised out of Rubbermaid container lids and I've got a heat lamp clamped onto my cabinets.  It's a toasty 90 degrees in the container and they seem quite content.

Peep! Peep!



It's Official: We're Getting Chickens

I'm so excited!  I just placed an order for 5 female Austrolorp chicks from MyPetChicken.com.   After much research, I selected MyPetChicken because they don't requite that you purchase a minimum of 25 like many other hatcheries (25!  Jim would kill me.)  In fact, their minimum is a more manageable quantity of 3 for my zip code. But the closest hatch date they had available is May 23rd, so I am going to have a hard time waiting for them to get here.

How cool is it that you can order chicks over the Internet from the comfort of your own home and have them delivered via USPS Express as soon as they are a day old?