Baby Chicks!

Nothing makes me feel quite like baby chicks do.  I just love picking them up from the hatchery or the post office and settling them in.  These have been here nearly a week, and I'm late in putting up a post about them.  I have 36+ chicks.  I lost count because I had so many helpers (my very excited children) when I was taking them out of the box, but I know I ordered 35, plus I got a free rare chick, from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  We don't know what kind of chick the rare one is, so we'll just get to see how it grows.  You can see the oddball in the upper right corner of the picture.  It's the brown one.

Ten of these little ones are Delaware chicks for my mom.  They are yellow with a little bit of black on their heads.  They will grow white feathers with tips of black at maturity.  My mother wanted new chicks, but didn't think she had a place to brood them.  So, I'm brooding hers for her, and she'll take them from me when they are feathered out.  The remaining 25 are White Leghorn chicks, well-known for being the best white egg producing breed available.  They are completely yellow as chicks, and will grow all white feathers at maturity.  I hope to be able to keep up with my customers' demands with younger, more productive chickens.  Right now I joke that I'm running a chicken retirement center!  Time for those old ladies to be sent to the freezer.  Next year I'll get more brown egg layers, and the batch after that, I'll replace my Araucanas (green egg layers).  I like to see a variety of colors in my egg cartons.  It just makes me happy.