Thank you all so much. Had a shipping issue with the babies - paid for Express shipping, not realizing it was "Pony Express." They arrived in, and then left Casper and were scheduled for delivery yesterday, according to the tracking information. Late yesterday afternoon while I was at our post office trying to figure out the discrepancy in tracking info, our postmistress, Jan, called the Casper Post Office, and they told her the chicks were still there. They hadn't even left Casper yet. They were peeping, but still hours away by truck. Jan told them to put a big sign on the chick box that said, "Transport in cab of truck not with the cargo." Our mail goes to Lovell first, 6 miles from here, then is trucked over, so Jan also called the Lovell Post Office and told them when the truck got there to call me....it usually gets there at 6 am. I woke up at 3:30 this morning just worried sick. Would they be on the truck? Were they okay? I resigned myself to losing a number of them as cold as it is here. By 5:54 we were sitting in the parking lot at the Lovell post office and as soon as the truck showed up I ran in the outer doors, banged on the still locked inner doors, and Mary let me in immediately. We checked the chicks - they didn't all look real good and there were 2 dead. Got them home, took them out one by one and checked for Pasty Butt, dunked their little beaks in water laced with a little sugar (thanks to the person who posted that hint, by the way) showed them where the food was and helped them each grab a nibble. It's now 7:34, and they are all chirping, eating and drinking. Although three of them still look a little wobbly, most of them are already exploring their fancy new digs. I got 5 each of Golden Laced Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers, and Golden Buffs. Not sure which of them didn't make it - they were yellow chicks but I'm not sure which are B Orpingtons and which are Golden Buffs.
