I received the call at 7 in the morning;
“Sorry to call you so early ma’am, but we have some live chicks here for you. We open at 9.”
“Oh wonderful, thank you so much!” I managed to murmur, “I’ll be there when you open.”
Two hours? How could I wait two more hours?
We had put in this order back in April and needed to reschedule it several times already since things on the farm were still far too primitive to be able to keep the chicks warm at night.
Since we were house sitting at a friend’s house for the next 10 days, thankfully we now had access to electricity which could run our heat lamps at night during the first precious weeks of the chicks lives.
Even so, we weren’t exactly ready.
I jumped out of bed, gave my son and husband kisses, and headed to the store for some last minute supplies.
At 9:02AM, I excitedly pulled into the post office.
They came via USPS in a small cardboard box with all sorts of holes in it and a lid you can easily lift to check on them. Shipping priority of course, the mail carrier handed them to me after taking a quick peek and exclaiming “Enjoy cuddling these little cuties!”
I carefully carried them to the car, balancing them on my knee while unlocking it. I placed them on the passenger’s seat, took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and then peeked in.
Oh thank God, they were all alive!
I had heard they were usually cold from shipping, so I put them on the floor and ran the heat full blast as I gingerly drove back to our temporary home.
Once I got home, we threw together a quick brooder out of a large plastic storage tub, cutting out the majority of the top and replacing it with hardware cloth so the chicks could have enough air circulating, yet be protected.
We put some pine shavings in the bottom and then layered on paper towel, a trick I heard from someone on YouTube. Then we placed their food and water in the tub, on top of some scrap wood so it was elevated just a tad from the shavings.
Finally it was time to meet our layer chicks!
I cautiously carried the box from the truck to the garage and opened it up to reveal 20 baby chicks, all chirping and huddled together.
“They’re sooooo cute!” Arlo exclaimed!
My son and I took them out one at a time and slowly placed them in their new home, making sure to dip their beak in water so they knew where it was. We watched them start to eat and drink immediately, as they examined their larger space.
Have you ever watched a baby chick drink water? It is the cutest thing ever!
We stared at them for quite some time, attempting to notice the differences in each one so we could tell them apart. It was easy for a handful, but so many seemed to have the same coloring: tan with dark stripes down their back.
We nicknamed those girls “The Chipmunks”.
I hemmed and hawed over whether they were too warm or too cold for the rest of that day and night, and let’s face it, for weeks until they were all fully feathered.
But that was the day we fell in love with our layer girls.