Day 1

They’re here! Yesterday Laurie and I went back to Callahan’s to pick out our little ladies.

There were so many to choose from. As the title of the blog implies, we wanted to get 4 chicks. We figured that would be the perfect amount to produce the number of eggs we want. But with so many different breeds to choose from, we needed help. Fortunately the lady at Callahan’s, Francis, is a chicken guru. She helped us pick out 3 different breeds: a New Hampshire Red, a Plymouth White Rock, and a Barnevelder. All three lay medium-large eggs that are brown in color. We also wanted an Ameraucana which lay blue eggs, but they were out of those. Francis said she’d hold one for us when the shipment comes in next Thursday.

 

Here they are on the way home. The Barnevelder is the darkest one. The Plymouth White Rock is the light yellow one in the top corner, and the New Hampshire Red is the darker yellow one off to the right.

 

We have a sweet little set up for them. I used a U-haul moving box for their pen and pine shavings for the floor. We have a 150W clamp light hanging about 2 feet high with a 75W infra-red bulb to keep them nice and warm. The temperature is supposed to be about 95 degrees for the first week. The hardest part is finding the perfect height for the light to produce that temp. Not too hot, not too cold.

 

Laurie and I spent about an hour just watching them check out their new home. They’re so fun to watch. It’s amazing that they’re only 24 hours old right now!

We named the Plymouth White Rock (the light one in the middle) “Spanky.” We’re still waiting for names for the other two to come to us.