it was FREEZING yesterday. add to the cold, it was WINDY. when we ordered our chicks back in early march, it was 60 degrees. i imagined us picking up our chicks donning shorts and t-shirts, sunshiny day and all. the sun met us in ohio, but pennsylvania was hidden under stormy clouds all day long (and we were in ohio all but one hour).
so it didn't REALLY take 10 hours. but we left at 10, met kenny at 12:15, and were on the road by 12:30. it took us over two hours to get to
the hatchery in polk, ohio, which was really quite nice and not at all what i expected. we parked the car, got out and stood next to a penske delivery truck with literally thousands of chicks in boxes inside, waiting to be mailed. it made me happy that our little chicks were to be riding home with us, and not the noisy 1000-other chicks in the truck.
it was a long day, but totally worth it. the chicks are loving their new little home in their brooder in our laundry room under warming lights. the boys step up on their stools to be eye-to-eye with the chicks and they all run over to the glass to see the boys.
a few things we've learned about chickens from observation already:
- when they are one-day-old, they suffer from narcolepsy. they walk from the water to where the light is warmest and stop mid-step, eyes begin to close and then fall flat on their face. or they fall asleep with their head still in the food dish. it was really quite entertaining for kenny, my mom, and i to watch after the boys were in bed last night.
- they'll peck ANYTHING. they especially like to peck at harder things, like wedding bands and screws in the walls of their brooder.
- they've stopped chirping so much and now when we hear them chirp, we wonder if something is wrong.
- today, they all seem to fall asleep together, for about 45 seconds each. they've all had about 89 naps already since this morning.
- just as a newborn infant, they'll keep you up all night. kenny came down to check on them (and their temperature) at least three times last night.
- three brooder lamps shorted on us last night, even after checking them out last week. we have two normal bulbs in there now, keeping it at around 85-87 degrees (it should be close to 90 the first day, and down a few degrees as they grow).
adam, sitting in the middle seat with me:

the boys, with their new chick friends in between them in the back seat:

rowan, gazing into his new little friend's eyes. his friend wondering if he's her mother?

kayle, the tabby is "interested"

where the boys went the minute they woke up this morning: