Backyard Brahmas!!

[Bruins]

If you could take a picture. One with both chicks would be extra helpful.

This is my buff brahma. She has always had longer feathers than all the chicks I purchased . She is about 1 week old.

 

[Bruins]

If you could take a picture. One with both chicks would be extra helpful.

This is my dark brahma . She has much less wing feathers than the other they are supposed to be the same age . 1 week.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

So I need to tell you a story....a funny story......I think. After I left this thread my sweet hubby Ken said to me, "Well, you could check a few of the hatcheries and see if they have any left...the weather is nice enough now." (Last year's chicks arrived a day late and in 19 below zero weather) So I hemmed and hawed and finally went to MPC where I've shopped before. They just happened to show "limited availability" on Buff Brahmas. A click on that revealed that they had like 9 left, if I read what that number meant correctly. Boy, I turned into the Happy Clicker! I'd noticed the availability date shown was April 27 or some such. Okay, I can live with that - the Littles I have now have been living in the coop since day one and doing fine, so they should be able to be fully integrated with the rest of flock by then. I mean, right now the only thing that's been between The Bigs and The Littles since their first week here was a wire pen, and they are out among the flock all day long most days. So I proceed to the next step. PRESTO...up pops a message that says there is an earlier available ship date....April 6th. Um, April 6th? As in tomorrow April 6th? Woohoo.....I'm doing my happy happy joy joy dance all over the kitchen. I ordered every single one they had, which, as it turns out, was actually only 8. I click "proceed". I enter all the information they ask for, then hit the chicken check out line. The only shipping method available is, of course, express mail. That turned out to be about 2 bucks more than I paid for the chicks, which included ordering all girls and having the Mareks Vaccine done. Chicks - $44.00 Shipping 46.93. I stopped dancing. Ken said, "Aren't there other hatcheries?" Well, yeah, but I'm sure shipping is about the same, but he convinced me to look anyway. I closed the MPC order without completing it, then wandered around to see what I could find. No good. Went back to MPC, clicked on Buff Brahmas and it said, "Sold out." What???? I was just sick, but that shipping was pretty steep. I just looked up at him and said, "Well, in that short amount of time they sold out." On a whim I clicked on my shopping cart and there they were, still waiting to be adopted!! I was the one who made the SOLD OUT thingy pop up because I had them all hidden in my shopping cart. So, crazy or not, I paid that ridiculous shipping fee and I don't much care who knows it, so there!! Now, if these little boogers get here and I have more fuzz on my legs than they do I'm going to be one unhappy lady!

I am sure that all will be fine. Thank you for sharing. Personally, I loved the story.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Blooie I'm the same way. I always get excited until I get my shipping total. Hope you get your babies safe and sound.

 

[bumpercarr]

Loved the story....I've never ordered chicks from a hatchery, but I would guess it is the same as ordering anything else. Frequently they have a time limit on your shopping cart, about an hour I think and then they'll empty it. Otherwise, they will stay in there until you finish the order or delete the items in the cart. It keeps the site from having more orders than they have availability. I'm so glad that you went back and got them!

In my experience (limited though it may be) darks are probably the slowest growing out of any of the varieties. They just mature slowly I guess, I don't really have an explanation. One note of interest though is that they sexually mature at about the same time as my partridge. Sometimes a little earlier. But, they are definitely slower to grow and slower to feather out.

Let us know how your chick experience goes. Should be a fun time for you!

 

[Blooie]

My Buff Brahmas have shipped! Just got an email from MPC - I'm so excited. Now if only the post office will do a better job than they did last year......and if only these have feathers on their legs! Back to doin' my happy dance! (So don't worry, folks, that wasn't a earthquake!)

Edited to add: Oh, pshoot! I need to get out there to the run and boot the Littles from the pen, put a fresh towel on the heating pad, and get ready for the Littlest Littles! What the heck am I still doing on the computer??

 

[speckledhen]

Then 1/4 of the huge shipping container was packing peanuts, because each box was divided into quadrants. I'm not worried about the cockerel....I knew the Buff Brahmas were supposed to be straight run - I just also expected them to BE Buff Brahmas.

So I guess the hatchery is the one who owns this mistake. I physically saw each chick come out of those boxes - I'd been waiting for them to arrive all day and I waited behind that yellow tape for my turn to choose my chicks - and I saw that there was no way the crew at the store messed up. They went by exactly what was on the sticker in each section of the box. Oh, well. In the overall scheme of life, it's not the end of the world, right? I still have some very friendly chicks to raise......I just don't have my Buff Brahmas. <sob, sob>

As for your 20 lashes, Speckled Hen - how about I just unroll an entire spool of quilting thread in the bottom of your sewing box?

Thanks, everyone, for letting me hog up your thread for a bit. If anyone has a stray for really Buff Brahma, I'll take it. Teehee

Oh, harsh!

 

[Blooie]

The babies are here, the babies are here! And they all have feathered legs! Yippeeee!!! Ordered 8, and all 8 made it but one looks a lot weaker than the others. They all got a dose of sugar water, then a drink of regular water, and a little chick feed scattered on the paper towels. The weak chick also got a dose of PolyViSol. But sugar, water and food ain't what they wanted - they wanted to get under that heating pad and stay there!

I'll take some pictures after they've had a little time to settle in. They were delayed overnight in Casper so it took four full days to get here. I figure I've got plenty of time to take "first-day" photos but they need to warm up and get settled. That's the same reason they aren't going directly out into the run right now. I want to keep an eye on them for the first 24 hours before they go out to the brooder pen.

I'm so excited!!!

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

The babies are here, the babies are here!  And they all have feathered legs!  Yippeeee!!!  Ordered 8, and all 8 made it but one looks a lot weaker than the others.  They all got a dose of sugar water, then a drink of regular water, and a little chick feed scattered on the paper towels.  The weak chick also got a dose of PolyViSol.  But sugar, water and food ain't what they wanted - they wanted to get under that heating pad and stay there!  

I'll take some pictures after they've had a little time to settle in.  They were delayed overnight in Casper so it took four full days to get here.  I figure I've got plenty of time to take "first-day" photos but they need to warm up and get settled.  That's the same reason they aren't going directly out into the run right now.  I want to keep an eye on them for the first 24 hours before they go out to the brooder pen.

I'm so excited!!!

Yay! Yay! Yay! What a delight!

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Congrats!!!