Last week I shared that we were planning to get baby chicks, and two days later we brought them home! I can’t believe that we now own seven chickens… boy did that all happen quickly! Our first priority was to find babies. I easily found chickens that were several weeks or months old- but my kids really wanted to raise our chickens from babies. Thankfully a friend connected us with a hatchery, and we were able to get 7 baby chicks from her!
After deciding on our breeds last Wednesday, I sent her the list. Everyone picked “their chicken” and I passed it along. The next day she said we could come anytime- and there you have it. Thursday we were driving out to go pick up our baby chicks.
They are so cute! My kids are so excited- and I think they are at great ages for chicks. ( my oldest are all about to age up and be 12, 10 and 6… the 2 year old is excited but he isn’t too involved, and I am not letting him hold them yet, just give little pets with one finger) I spent the first night sleeping restlessly, worried they would get too hot by the heat lamp- but they of course were fine. It’s kind of like a new mom who checks her baby’s breathing all night. We’ve never had such teensy baby animals to care for- they’re just a few days old.
We have 3 chickens that will lay blue eggs, 3 that will lay brown eggs, and 1 that will lay cream. We tried to get a mix of chickens that were both decent layers, but also friendly for kids- since they’ll be kind of like pets too. It’s interesting to see their little personalities coming out after just a few days!
Our chicken breeds are:
- 1 Lavender Orpington (Finley’s chicken who is name Lavender Violet)
- 2 Sapphire Blue Super Layers (Gabriel’s chickens named Daisy & Dandelion)
- 1 Mosaic (Elijah’s chicken named Molly)
- 1 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (Matt’s chicken named Polly short for Palascinta aka Pancake)
- 1 Brown Orpington ( she was a freebie, and is Theo’s chicken named Annie)
- 1 BBS True Ameraucana (she’s my chicken and her name is Sweetpea)
I tried to get photos of each of them right when we brought them home, but didn’t quite get them all. They have changed so much in just under a week- and have grown full on wing feathers since getting these photos.
I am finalizing the design for our coop. We will include an enclosed run to protect the chicks from predators- as there are a lot of dogs, foxes and cats around here. Hopefully the snow will melt soon so we can get to work, as they will outgrow their brooder box in just a few short weeks!
Are you a chicken owner? I felt like I took a little crash course in chickens… setting up their brooder, dealing with pasty butt, and changing bedding twice a day! It all happened so quickly. I’m going to share more on our brooder box, as it’s been working great, and was a quick set up.
I hope you are doing well. I have moved through waves of feeling stuck and scared with our world shutting down due to Covid-19, to now just daily or hourly having to talk to God about his goodness and love for us as his kids. That hasn’t changed! As surely as I check in on our chickens each day, every morning making sure their needs are met- he too does the same for us.
Blessings on you today,
-Miss ash