Well after much discussion with my wonderful wife, we decided it would be fun to own some chickens. Neither one of us has ever raised chickens before. So while working midnights I start doing internet searches on raising chickens. I come across a very small site at the time called "Backyardchickens", it may have been small but the knowledge of the members was amazing. I start reading everything I could possibly find on raising chickens. I read for almost a year before taking the plunge and registering here. Its now the dead of winter and I am still convinced chickens are the way to go. But what to order? When to order? How many? Who to order from? Once I again I turn to my information highway. My wife and I did some research on breeds that are cold hardy, and easier to handle. We decided on Buff Orpingtons, which lay a large brown egg and are considered docile. Or as I've read before the Golden Retriever of the chicken world. But we couldn't just have one breed, and my wife isn't really keen on brown eggs. So I said we could also get a few white egg layers. But it seems the choices for white eggs is more limited. I checked websites, asked around. We finally decided on California whites, which is a cross from a California grey rooster and white leg horn. They make a very pretty white bird with some black spots. They also produce large white eggs. We decided to order through Cackle Hatchery. We only wanted around 10 and Cackle's minimum is 15 so that was one of the main reasons for our choice. I ordered early in the season, had to call a few times to get through but once I did the rep for them was super nice. She made the ordering process smooth and easy. I received a hatch date of April 9 and ship date of April 11. After hanging up the phone I asked myself what are we doing. Well I had just over a month to get ready for babies.