Of all the things you can get in the mail, I never thought a box full of baby chicks could be one of them! I ordered them almost 2 months ago in March! Dave (surprisingly) gave us the green light on having chickens. I couldn’t believe it. I quickly told the kids so he couldn’t change his mind. We have been anxiously awaiting this special package for so long. The kids constantly asked me, “When are we getting our chicks?” Keeping chickens has become very popular again so some of our friends have been getting them from the local feed store. But NO, not me I had to SPECIAL order mine! I actually wanted specific breeds and after weeks of research decided on three for their egg producing qualities.

Yesterday morning our post lady came right to the door with a box stuffed with hay and the sounds of cheep cheep!

After tearing it open, there was another box inside. It looked like a box you would put cupcakes in, but with holes. The cheeps got louder! Under the box was a special heating pad that was still warm.

Opening this box and we saw three of the cutest fuzz balls you ever did see! Meet the girls; our new additions to mylilfamily.

Meet Boo Boo Chicken. Her name was given to her by Isaiah. She is an Ameraucana Chicken or what’s known as an Easter Egger. We’re hoping for green or blue eggs! She looks so much like a baby owl! She has very puffy cheeks and is super round and fuzzy. She’s the friendliest girl, she’ll come right up to your hand. She doesn’t mind being petted and seems to like being held.

This is Cheep Cheep. Her name was given to her by Lilianna. Cheep Cheep is a Leghorn Chicken. She’ll be all white with a red comb when she is full grown. She is an egg laying machine! Leghorns are commonly used for commercial egg laying. She will lay white eggs. Cheep cheep is the leader of the pack as far as we can tell. I think she is first in the pecking order. She is pretty friendly too. Not as mellow as Boo though. She’s so funny and feisty. She gets so excited sometimes and cheeps like crazy! I guess Lala named her well!

Here we have Clementine. We named her after our last address on Clementine Street. Clementine is a Golden Buff (also known as a Cinnamon Queen or Red Star). Golden Buffs are prolific layers of brown eggs. Clementine is the shyest  of the three. She is also the smallest. She does not like to be held or petted at all, but she’ll come around!

Welcome to the family girls! These sweet girls spent 2 days in the mail to get to us. Here they are getting to know their brooder box. They need a heat lamp on at all times for a few weeks. 95 cozy degrees.

The girls do everything together, eat…

Sleep…

And play! It’s only the second day and they are trying out the roost!

The kids are so happy and check on the chickens constantly.

Oscar checks on them too. But not because he loves them. I think he wants to eat them.

His nose gets all wet, and he starts licking his chops when he gets near them. We have started putting the brooder box up high, just in case. I had to scold him once and tell him to stay away when we had the chicks out. He was not too happy about it.

It’s a lot of work keeping these chickens! Round the clock care! Like having newborn babies again. What did we get ourselves into? It’s been lots of fun so far, and hopefully this kids will learn some responsibility. They’ll be in charge of egg collecting, feeding and watering our flock. We’re getting two more girls on Saturday morning from the feed store, pictures to come. What a diverse flock we’ll have. Here’s hoping for lots of fresh, free range, organic eggs in 5 months or so! Quiche? Custard? Devilled eggs anyone? Next I’m going to ask Dave if we can get a pig to add to the menagerie.