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It's true; we still haven't really started unpacking. Our storage container is full to the top. I still
don't have most of my kitchen equipment. The kids don't have their toys. My gardening stuff is still in the container...somewhere. But we just couldn't delay getting chicks anymore.

It was a sad day for my hubby when he took down our suburban hen house and gave our chickens away to a co-worker. He loved those birds. The kids loved watching them. I loved those much-more-delicious-and-healthy backyard eggs. But buying a bunch of stuff we already had - in storage somewhere - so we could get chicks this fall wasn't something I wanted to do.



Still, last weekend, hubby and I went to the feed store. They didn't have our favorite breed (Australorps), but they had Barred Plymouth Rocks, which are a great laying bird, pretty, and they have a cool name. But when we started filling a shopping cart with the stuff we'd need to keep the chicks healthy - a plastic storage container to use as a cheap brooder, a heat lamp and bulbs for it, a waterer, a feeder... - I added up the cost, told myself it was wrong to buy new equipment when we had perfectly good stuff in storage, and we walked away from the store empty handed.

Then I paid the monthly bills and missed backyard fresh eggs some more, and this morning said, "Let's just do it."

Hubby, the kids, and I were all ridiculously excited as we packed into the car. We love this property, but it just wasn't a homestead without the chickens. In some ways, it just wasn't home without them, either.

And in the delightful way God works, on Saturday we walked into the feed store to discover the Barred Rocks were gone...and had been replaced by Australorps. That really got me grinning.

The fluff balls peeped all the way home, then piled on top of each other in their cardboard box because they were getting cold. (TIP: Always go straight home with the chicks. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Those babies need a nice, warm brooder ASAP.)  Once home, I lined the plastic tub with sheets of packing paper, filled the waterer and feeder, and hubby hooked up the heat lamp. The chicks huddled under the lamp for a bit, then wandered away and literally fell flat on their faces, sound asleep.

As I type this, they have slept off the excitement of their big move and are now eating and exploring their new digs.

We've never purchased chicks in the fall before. It seems like a less economical way to do things, since hens don't start laying until they are 5 or 6 months old, and since darker, wintery weather reduces egg laying, too. But it will be interesting to observe any differences.

Anyway, it's good to have them home.

Related Posts:

* Getting Ready for Chicks
* Buying and Caring for Chicks
* Setting Up the Henhouse and Run
* Predator Proof Your Henhouse and Run
* Chicken Care
* Why You May NOT Want Chickens