Mail order chickens

A farmer’s son was returning from the market with the crate of chickens his father had given to him, when all of a sudden the box fell and broke open.

Chickens scurried off in different directions, but the determined boy walked all over the neighborhood collecting the birds and returning them to the repaired crate. Hoping he had found them all, the boy hesitantly returned home, expecting the worst.

“Pa, the chickens got loose,” the boy confessed sadly, “but I managed to find all twelve of them.”

“Well, you did real well son,” the farmer beamed. “You left with seven.”

This is obviously a joke I found on the internet, but it’s how I feel with 14 chickens. And now they are big enough they are little Houdini’s trying to escape.

Fluffy chicks

We weren’t even going to get chickens until this summer, but to be honest, I didn’t really want to wait much longer.

Michael has been working on the chicken coop for about three weeks now. It would have been easier to buy the cute one at Sam’s. But we wanted to use one of the historic outbuildings to house our chickens. The inside has new wood and chicken wire to keep any varmints out.

A friend recommended Hoover’s Hatchery to us. They have a variety of birds, as well as free shipping.  I wanted friendly birds that would be good layers too. The final list was Tetra Browns, Dominiques, Light Brahmas and Americanas.

She's in heaven.

Loving on these baby birds.

The online hatchery give you options on if you want male, female or surprise. You can also pay extra for vaccinations and beak trimming. For around $50 bucks we bought 15 hens with vaccinations. Hoover’s sent an email telling me when the birds would arrive. I called the post office to give them a heads up. They, however, said it wasn’t their first rodeo and would call me immediately when the birds came.

The chicks arrived very early in a little box. The brooder was warm and ready to go. We dipped their beaks in the sugar water. They were alert and chirping, except one. And in the end she didn’t make it. She was weak and never really warmed up.

They arrived early in the morning!

Getting them in their new home.

We switched out the sugar water to apple cider vinegar with mother to aid in preventing pasty butt. Later that day, I inspected and wiped their bottoms. And that was my last time. Something about it raunched me out, and I didn’t really like the birds. Michael took over.

Playing with the birds.

Do you see that side eye? She's my favorite. 

Birds have always made me nervous. Their pointy beaks and crazy eyes just give me the willies. But after two weeks, I am starting to understand why people love chickens.

We can't tell them apart yet so the yellow ones are Banana, black ones are Dolly and the striped ones are Cash.

We’re holding them more and learning their personalities. Some of them perch on our fingers. The Americana’s are my favorite, and the Dominques are feisty. The Brahmas think they are tough and the Tetra Browns discovered their wings first.

So sweet.

So fiesty. This one is hanging out on the feeder.

This one has a red head so we call her Lucille Ball. 

I am really surprised how quickly they are growing. Bailey is really curious about them. We let her smell them, but if she gets to close the chicks give her a warning peck.  She gives them a quizzical head tilt but keeps going in for more.

Bailey checking it out. 

Smelling the bird. Getting her nose pecked. 

But much like the farmer’s son in the joke, I feel like we are going to keep adding to our flock. Give me a Silkie!