The Chickens Are Here!

The chickens are here! And what a relief! They were supposed to be here yesterday. I called McMurray's Hatchery. The chickens left on Saturday. I called the Brewton post office. They told me the chickens would be dead on arrival because it was too hot to ship chickens and they had been in transit too long. I had a rough day worrying about those chickens yesterday.

My brother Larry suggested the chicks didn't make it to us yesterday because last night was chicken wing night at the post office. I am glad he was wrong, lol.

We set up a swimming pool for the chickens in the dining room. Right now the pool is a brooder. If the heat wave continues, we may have to turn it into a pond.



They appear to like chillin' out in the swimming pool.

Only one chicken died in transit. One other looked pretty weak when we opened the box. Now they all look pretty good.

We all have enjoyed just watching the chicks. And watching. And watching. It is getting ridiculous, but they are just so cute. Around here, we are big Stargate SG1 fans. In one episode the team travels to a planet with a fancy light feature. Everyone stands around and stares at it for hours. That is kind of how it is around here today. When Kurt finally tore himself away to go to work, I warned him he might find all of us still in the watching position and still in our pajamas when he came home.



We ordered 50 straight run Barred Plymouth Rocks, 10 Araucana hens and received one mystery rare breed chicken. We lost one of the Araucana hens in transit. I can't figure out which 9 chickens are the Araucanas. I can only locate 7 likely suspects.



The children have been dying to hold and pet the chicks.



Since we have mostly barred rocks, I let the children hold one of them each. Gregory seemed a bit nervous at first and his little guy got away. I managed to chase him down and get him back to Gregory though.

We all spotted the rare breed mystery chicken right away by his straight stance and golden feathers.



I think I figured out the identity of our little rare breed chicken. I think he/she is a Buff Laced Polish crested chicken. Gabrielle asked that we not eat the rare breed chicken even if he is a rooster. I'm not sure what we are going to do with him when he is all grown up.

Both children wanted to hold the rare breed little guy.



We had managed to catch him early on for Gabrielle to hold, but when it came time for Gregory to hold him, he escaped all of our efforts. I didn't want to stress him out too much so we gave up easily.



Gregory decided he would like to hold one of the Araucanas. He did and it immediately pooped/peed on him. LOL, we are on the fast track to farmer-hood.

Even Michael enjoyed the chickens once he got a nap.



Earlier, he seemed almost jealous of the chickens. I guess he thought we were paying too much attention to our new arrivals and not enough to him.



I worry Michael is going to grab one of them and squeeze it. Hopefully, he can't reach that far.



Michael looks pretty cute watching the chickens.

After a tough journey through the mail and a food and water feast, some of the chicks were ready for a good nap.



They are so cute splayed out asleep. They are so funny when they just drop where ever they are.



They fall asleep in the middle of the crowd without a thought. One even fell asleep with his head in the feeder. All in all they are very cute. We have to continually remind ourselves at least some of these guys are destined for the dinner table.