Too. Much. Cuteness.

Yippee!! Our 4-week old juvenile chicks arrived today. I am not sure I can handle this much cuteness in one location. Add these little chirpers to our too-cute-to-handle LGiT Atlas, and it is almost too much to bear 🙂

I had stopped by the Post Office Monday after I got notification that they had been shipped just to give them a heads-up on what was coming. Karen called me this morning just before 6:00 am to let me know they were in.

Aside: We originally planned that these would be our first chicks. Back when I ordered them, I had no idea I would be gifted a livestock guardian with two chickens, and I certainly never dreamed I would have also already added 4 more pullets! So, today, what were to have been our FIRST chicks actually DOUBLED the size of our flock. My how life twists and turns!

I was curious to see how easy it would be to wake the boys this morning! As anticipated, they rolled right out of bed. Amazing what a little chick anticipation can do for the get-up-and-go 🙂

We loaded up and headed to the Post Office. I’ve never gone to the back entrance before. We rang the bell, and Karen was there ready with our peeping box!

Soooo very exciting! All 6 little ladies were chirping happily away, and we could see that the box was divided into quarters with the 3 Rhode Island Reds in one corner and the 3 Buff Orpingtons in the opposite corner.

Since it was only a 5 minute drive, I opted to just take them on home instead of opening the box to water them while still at the PO.

When we got home we opened the box in the garage since it was a bit warmer, and gave them some water and food. I was so pleased to see how healthy and happy they looked.

To be honest, I was really a bit concerned since it was a full two days since they shipped. The day-old chicks have the benefit of the nutrients they absorb from the yolk just before hatching to help them in the shipping time, but what about the 4-week old ones? I’m a little ashamed to say I never thought to ask!

Not to worry… it turns out the folks (Claborn Family Farms) that raised and packed the little chicks to send to us put cucumber slices in with the chicks to peck on and keep them hydrated for the trip. How smart!!

After giving them some time to settle down a bit inside, we took them out to their new temporary digs: the CamperCoop. Jerry got the finishing touches done while we were at karate last night (feeder and waterer hung, roosting pole secured, door latch working) so it was ready for new residents.

Atlas, needless to say, was extremely curious about all this new chirping and – oh, what perfectly play-sized little noisemakers! But, he only pawed at the sides once or twice before finding his way back to his sled and getting scratches from the humans.

As my mom said, “more chickens, ho hum.” I think he’s starting to figure out more of his place in the farm.

 

I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly this day went with our new additions. We got all of our school done AND had time to get Atlas to his next booster appointment and weigh in. He has added 10 pounds since his last visit. At 11 weeks old, he is weighing in at 36.4 pounds!

Jackson modified an old changing table rail to make a cute ladder to the roosting pole, but the chicks seem more content to huddle in a pile for warmth at this point. We added some wind breaks to one of the coop corners to give the little ladies a place to get out of the wind and stay warm. They ate an entire quart feeder container of starter grains today.  Amazing!!

Here is a gallery with some more farm photos from today’s excitement. Just click through to see them all.

I would love to hear how you are liking our adventures. This is my fun way to keep a journal, and I hope that you find it amusing, helpful, or at least somewhat entertaining. Leave me a comment, and subscribe if you like so you’ll get a notification as we make updates (I’m not even going to try to promise any sort of scheduled posting — it has everything to do with what we have going on and when I can steal some time to type 🙂