Chickens on my counter, part deux

AKA:  The hens have landed!

Chicks on my counter

With the youngest's birthday this past weekend, we decided now would be an auspicious time to get our first batch of laying chicks.  If you've followed our blog in the last few months you will have noticed extensive debate about breed, number and gender of the our proposed laying flock.  Ultimately, we decided on 6 hens (no roosters) since 6 will probably fulfill most of our family's egg needs and won't be too crazy expensive to keep.  After finding a local (as in our hometown) source (Craigslist FTW!), we narrowed breed down to Buff Orpington and Cuckoo Maran since both breeds tend to be fairly docile and friendly and produce a decent amount of eggs.  Plus the husband loved the idea of the dark chocolate brown egg color of the Maran, and I love that the Buffs are a steady year round egg producer.  The boys just love that they make good pets.

We had a fantastic experience choosing our chicks.  The farmer we purchased from runs a little hobby farm that for him represents a true labor of love.  He happily showed us all of his hens and roosters of which he has nine purebred breeds, including a few more unusual kinds, and his set-up for insuring purity of each breed.   We observed his incubators and watched a newly hatched chick adjust to life outside the egg.  The boys were also entertained by his goslings, goats and piglets.

Chicken lovers

After our fun afternoon, the final result turned out to be a plastic tote full of chicks of three different breeds on my kitchen counter.  I think we've been here before.  On final count, we came home with three Buff Orpington (the golden yellow chicks), 2 Cuckoo Maran (the black and white chicks) and one Ameraucana (the brown striped chick) all 1-2 weeks old.  The Ameraucana was a last minute, spur of the moment choice, but she has rapidly become the boys' favorite.  Youngest has been mis-pronouncing her breed to everyone as "A-mary-juana" which has led to some explaining by us and the shortened name of Mary.  The rest of the babies are still waiting to be christened, but I'm sure once it's a bit easier to tell them a part, they'll soon be bestowed with appropriate titles.

Though the hens started on counter, they're now happily ensconced in a garage enclosure.  The husband is busily constructing a hen house which if I get my act together, I'll record the progress of its construction.

Stay tuned for more adventures with chickens as we've made our Cornish Cross order and will have more chicks arriving this week.