here we go again...

Our new flock of chicks has finally arrived!

We decided to try the mail order approach (I had no idea live animals could be sent via USPS) to be sure that we got the exact chicken breeds that we wanted, and I wish I could say that the experience was pretty easy but it is never really easy when you have to deal with the Post Office.

This morning I drove over to the Post Office to pick up our package of 15 (yes, 15!) little chicks and received some sideway glances at my chirping box. I'm guessing picking up chickens from the Post Office is not too common. And I admit that the whole process of packaging and shipping tiny, tiny chicks seems a bit crazy to me but I guess it works and works well since all of our girls got home safe and sound.

So the farm now includes five Barred Standard Plymouth Rocks, five Black Australorps and five Cuckoo Marans.

The chicks are only a few days old.

Of course, they are much too tiny to put in the chicken coop with their sisters, so they are currently residing in the "chicken room" for the next month. You are also supposed to wait 30 days before adding new chicks to your current flock because of disease, which is a fact that I just learned today.

So soon it will be back to poop duty but for now, I am enjoying the absolute adorableness of our new chicks.

Their little wings are the cutest!!

Such sweet faces!

Just hangin' at the chick trough

I thought that the cool, colorful marks were special features of the breed but was soon informed that the marks were actually put on them for tracking purposes. I guess that makes sense...

the chicks are moving on up

Today is a good day! The chicks are finally out of the house and into their chicken coop!

It's not that I don't enjoy our chicks, but let's be honest, having chicks in the house got old real fast. They are currently at that annoying stage between being super cute and being productive members of the family. You know that long stage where they don't really do anything besides eat, poop and be really frightened of everything.

So, it's finally warm outside and we finally finished up the first stage of the chicken coop. An old well house made out of concrete serves as the main part of the coop, and after filling it up with dirt and fixing up the door with hardware cloth, it's practically impenetrable and a perfect home for the chicks.

The chicken coop.
I probably should have moved all the junk before I took the picture but I was just too tired to do it.

I was in charge of filling the coop up with dirt.

The chicks not being very cooperative for their picture in their new home.

But they have lots of space now.

There is still a lot to do before the coop is finished: the outside part of the coop needs to be built, a place for them to roost needs to be installed and I'm in charge of making the coop all fancy.

But the most important thing is that I don't have chickens in my house anymore. And I'm in the clear for one more week until the next batch of chicks arrive. And this time there will be fifteen.

That's right fifteen...