Chick Fever

[sequoiacyclist]

Well, it all started like this....

I had a blog site where I made daily entries of the my day to day routines so I could keep my fiance (who is in the Navy and currently stationed in Naples, Italy) up to date on things at home. Before long I became friends with a gal from Virginia who kept a few hens in her back yard. I became instantly fascinated with her little gals and decided to get 4-6 chicks of my own. So, after calling around I was bummed to hear that none of the feed stores in the area carried pullets because they were in high demand state wide. So, I told the owner of a local feed store to take down my name and number so he could let me know when he got them in. (he really didn't have to take down my name and number because I ended up calling him every week for 6 weeks until they arrived) As you are all aware of chicken math my 4-6 turned into 14

and I ended up taking home 4 SLW, 3 RIR, 3 BR, and 4 EE chicks!

Then, after spending some time on BYC I became fascinated with incubating and hatching eggs and thought to myself "I can do this!" So, I drove back to the feed store and picked up a LG incubator and loaded it up with some fertile eggs I found at a local farmers market and 12 fertilized Rock Island eggs from a local grocery store. Now I've got 14 little peeps running around and 36 eggs in the incubator.

I blame BYC! HEH! Thank God I live on 3 acres in the countryside! Here are some photos of the gals....

Kate ,one of the EE chicks.

BR chick Pepper

Maple! RIR

And look at them Now!

And here comes trouble!

What have I got myself into?

 

[ranchhand]

A LOT of fun!

 

[ranchhand]

What does the distant for now fiance think of this madness?

 

[sequoiacyclist]

Heh. I think he was a tad jealous at first. I told him that raising baby chicks is good therapy for wanting to have children of my own and he didn't complain after that.

We video chat on Skype often and he is amazed at how fast they are growing. I found that hobbies and little projects help the time pass by. I sure hope he is ready for the chickens when he gets back!

 

[luckyramu]

The fourth one down is a chicken hawk!

 

[sequoiacyclist]

The feed store did get them from Ideal, but I don't think Ideal is in the business of chicken hawk breeding.

 

[geebs]

I am an enabler.... You should get a brinsea.... he he... for those expensive shipped eggs..... he he..