Chirp Chirp

Its that time of year again... spring babies are everywhere!  While we are continuously calving and having a great time looking for new babies in the pasture (Sarah and Caleb's newest favorite game in the car is to play the "who can spot the most babies first when we drive by the pastures"!), this post is all about chick babies.  I'll do a post about calves soon!

Each Spring and Fall, we replenish our chick supply.  I've blogged about this before, so I'll make this post short.  Sometimes we incubate the whole supply, but sometimes we order a whole new batch of chicks to keep our blood line from getting too inbred.  This Spring, we did both.  Caleb's preschool class did a project with our incubator in which they hatched several chicks.  Those came home with us to join the rest of their adopted family that came in the mail Tuesday.  I actually had the foresight to order the chicks from the hatchery to arrive at the same time the chicks were going to hatch so they would all be the same age! 

Now for this spring's chicks:

This is how chicks arrive from the hatchery.  The chicks are boxed and mailed the same day they hatched, thus arriving on their second day.  There is a minimal order required by the company.  In addition to convenience for the hatchery, this ensures that there are enough chicks to huddle and keep warm.  Can you tell Sarah's a little excited?  She couldn't wait to get home, unbuckle and climb in the front seat with the babies!

Daddy met us when we got home... we needed his pocket knife to set the chicks free!

And there they are!  I think Smokey (who is very pregnant... anyone want some kittens in a few weeks?) was as interested as Sarah Rose was!

We received 10 more chicks than I ordered (they always add a few extras in case there are some weak ones that die during shipping).  With the few that Caleb's class hatched, we're sitting at about 70.

The chicks are itty bitty, still Sarah was very timid about touching one!

There they are in their new home.  This is a stock tank for watering livestock.  We've bedded it, added the food and water dishes and a heat lamp to keep them warm.  They'll stay in here for a few weeks.  When they get too big for one tank,  we'll split them into two tanks and then eventually transition them to the hen house with the older birds.  We have free range chickens, which means they are able to roam the whole yard all day.  We put them up at night because of the coyotes and nighttime fowl.