Peeps

After weeks of anticipation, my chicks arrived yesterday afternoon! I am already very impressed with Sand Hill. They included two extra chicks in my order, a Buff Orpington and a Black Australorp. They were short on Buckeyes, so they picked Silver-Laced Wyandottes from my list of acceptable substitutes. The Wyandottes are Aaron's favorite of the breeds I picked, so that ended up working perfectly. They are also crediting the cost of the Buckeyes toward a future order.

Sand Hill called me on Tuesday night to let me know that the chicks had shipped, so early Wednesday morning I called the post office to see if they had arrived yet. They hadn't, so I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait one more night. What I didn't know was that our post office receives a delivery in the afternoon of things they would like to get off of their hands, such as boxes that make noise. Mom picked them up and than surprised me with them at work. She told me that it was funny to watch my face when I opened the car door because she could tell that I had heard the peeping but that it hadn't registered yet. She really did pull it off beautifully. I was incredibly happy and excited, and the last three hours of work seemed to crawl by - I couldn't wait to get home and spend time with them.

Most of last night was spent gently holding the chicks and observing their antics, but I did get Aaron to take pictures of me holding the different breeds. I'd like to photograph them every week so that I can see their progress - they grow so quickly!

Here are my Blue Cochin bantams. Whenever you breed two blue chickens, you get 50% blues, 25% blacks, and 25% splash. I have two chicks that are black, one that is a dark bluish gray, which I'm guessing will be blue, and two light gray-blues that perhaps will be splashes.My Black Australorps. I tell them apart by their yellow markings and the black on their beaks. They are darlings.Silver-Laced Wyandottes. These are the most fearless chicks that I have met. I call the chicken on the left Chickadee, and so far he is proving himself quite the bully. When I pick him up to scold him, he gives me a very confident look, and then he'll either sing to me or fall asleep. When he's out of the brooder he's actually quite sweet. I told him that if he can't learn to play nice, he's going to have a grand future in the culinary arts.My Speckled Sussex, the little chipmunks. I lost one chick last night, and it was a Sussex. It was much smaller than the others. I felt very sad when I found it. I buried it out under the apple tree.My Buff Orpingtons. They are very active and are by far the largest chicks, with such gentle eyes.
It's hard to believe how quickly these babies grow up - they already have feathers on their wings. I'm having so much fun getting to know them.