THE CHICKS ARE HERE! This morning the post office called at 7:00 am to let us know our chicks had arrived. Randy said he could here them peeping in the background.
Our chicks are here?!?!?! After being anxious all day yesterday I was surprised to find I wasn’t ready! I ran back and forth — plug in the brooder lights! mix some suger water! oh wait, I need socks!
I drove to the post office with the heat blasting to warm up the truck for the chicks. The man at the post office handed me a peeping box, which I opened up to find four compartments of little hopping fluffballs eager to jump right out.
When I got to the house Randy and Rookie were waiting at the brooder. I took out each of the chicks, dipping their beaks in water to introduce them to the concept of drinking. They huddled under the heat lamp and pecked at the paper towels we had laid down over the bedding.
The guineas were smaller, with chipmunk like coloring, and easy to spot, even though some of them had jumped their compartments during transit and were mixed in with the yellow cornish crosses. We recognized the coloring of the Barred Rocks from the ones we hatched, and I think we can assume the chestnut ones are the Rhode Island Reds, but others are a mystery!
80 in total, it occurs to me now that I should have counted them as I took them out of the box, because now it is simply impossible as they are all running around, pecking at feed, falling into the waterer, and otherwise being chicks. And this is about as long as I can stand it without going to check on them! I don’t think I will be getting a lot of work done today.
