Life and Death in Chickenland

We have been ready for the arrival of our chicks for weeks.Val waited until the gazebo was converted before she ordered them, so we would not be caught flat-footed and not have proper accommodations ready when they arrived. The gazebo is officially our pottery studio/chicken brooder. The place looks rather homely, but it's well insulated and cozy. We built an enclosed space for the chicks with some discarded insulation panels and hung a heat lamp over it. A couple sacks of bedding and chick feed, and we were ready.
The chicks were scheduled to arrive on the 15th. No chicks. This morning the post office called and Val rushed down at 6:30 to pick them up, fresh water in a jar and dishes. We lost 13 of them. Chicks have reserves, but they were a day too long in transit. All the silkies expired. Val had ordered a couple dozen ornamental layers for the fun of it. Ornamentals are chickens with top-knots (called Polish chickens), feathers that look like fur, that sort of thing. Silkies not only look furry, but they love to sit on eggs, and we figured maybe we'd hatch our own next spring. Here are some of the casualties.

We still have a good number of the little cheepers, though, and they turned pretty chipper after they got warmed up and a little water in them. So here are some more cheerful pictures:

Joshua is comparing a White-Crested Black Polish to one of our eggs. Beka is holding one of the ornamentals on the right. It's hard to tell what the white chicks will grow up into. Might be a Sultan. Might be a White Cochin. Val can tell you better than I can.

The McMurray hatchery is good people. They have hardy stock, and this is the first time we have sustained losses in transit. Val talked to them, and on Thursday she's supposed to call back with a final live count, and they'll replace the lost ones. They don't like to ship fewer than 25, though. So Val is going to add some Rhode Island Reds to the order. That's her favorite breed—they are friendly, and good layers. 

Before long, I'll have a web site up with a camera you can aim. The URL will be homegrownhens.com. But it's not up yet. I have to wait for the camera, and for the ISP server to post the site, or whatever it does. It'll start with a WordPress blog format, but I'm working on a full-fledged site with flash and links to suppliers, and lots of advice.

Come pay us a visit and you can see them for yourself. We'll have so many  that we'll be offering some for sale. After they get big enough to travel.