The chicks arrive — let the party begin!

The post office called at 6 am — didn’t even know they were up that early!   We were informed of the arrival of our box of chicks, and to pick them up ‘around back.’ After retrieving the day-old baby birds, we went to work setting up their initial brooder:

Chicks under the heat lamp.

(1) five foot baby pool — bright pink!

(1) bag of red cedar bedding

(1) bag of starter/grower feed

(1) water dispenser

(1) feeder

(1) heat lamp

In a matter of minutes the little ladies were dashing about and exploring their new confines.  It was only a matter of minutes until they discovered the food and water.

We had ordered 25 birds from the Hoffman Hatchery, but only received 20:

Delaware on the left, Americauna behind, Naked Neck Turken on the right

(5) Black Australorps

(5) Naked Neck Turkens

(5) Delawares

(5) Ameraucanas

courtesy of Hoffman Hatchery

BLACK AUSTRALORPS — Black with greenish sheen. Excellent layer of brown eggs. Very good layer even in hot weather. Dual-purpose bird. AMERICANAS — Multi-colored birds that are excellent layers of blue and green eggs. They have beards, muffs, and tailheads but not tufts. DELAWARES — Docile white bird which is more decorative than solid white birds. Good layers of brown eggs. NAKED NECK TURKENS — Very good layer of multi-colored eggs. No feathers on the neck and only half as many on the body.