Chicks come home, May 2

Day 1: Hilda and I got to Farm and Fleet soon after they opened at 8:30 to pick up our 10 chicks. Hilda had ordered them back in March. She read that a family needed 3 chickens to supply a sufficient number of eggs, but there was a minimum of 5 per variety, and we wanted at least two kinds. She ordered 5 Araucana (a.k.a., Easter egg chickens, named for the pastel blue and green eggs they lay) and 5 Buff Orpington. We had one receipt, but not the right one. Our order could not be found. Thus, we picked our chickens from the selection out front. We got our 5 Araucana, ranging from buff to chocolate brown, 2 Brahma, and 3 Dominique. The woman helping us threw a couple handfuls of pine chips in the bottom of a small box, then our chickens, and we were off.

Our chicks in their new home.

The chicks' first home was in a large plastic container. The good folks at Farm and Fleet had already dunked the beaks in water when they unpacked the chicks. All the books emphasize this practice as critically important when the chicks first arrive, as they get dehydrated in shipping. We were concerned that they didn't seem interested in the water when we installed them in the storage container. They did start drinking eventually. It was my first observation of their herd (or perhaps flock) mentality. One chick goes to the feeder and thinks, "FOOD!" All the other chicks run over, thinking, "Food, food, food, food." On that first day, following a feeding frenzy, one chick headed for the water: "DRINK!" And all the other chicks went over, "Drink, drink, drink, drink."



Top: Me with an Araucana. Center: Hilda with a Brahma. Bottom: Me with a Dominique

Several books I'd read suggested that one can learn to live in the moment from chickens. I know what that means now. When we take the food out to refill it, there is no squawking or fussing. The chicks stand around and scratch in the pine shavings. "Hmm. No food. No food, no food." The return of the food is always new and exciting. Yes, there are important life lessons one can get from watching chickens.