My Peeps

Steve brought home a box of these last night:


They are so sweet! We have been raising chickens ever since the first summer we lived here (over 500 chickens so far!) and this variety is our absolute favorite! They are Buff Orpington chicks, all hens, and when grown will look like our School Mascot on my sidebar. Buff Orpingtons are like the Golden Retrievers of poultry. They are mellow, friendly, curious and loyal. OK, I made up the part about loyal, but they do run to meet the car when you pull into the driveway! We have 15 chicks and we'll keep all of them as egg layers. Steve says they are about 3 days old.



Here they are in their temporary home, the bottom of our guinea pig hutch. Yes, they are in our house! (insane?) Normally we would have a brooder box in the barn, but since we have so few of them this year (we usually have 100 to take care of in years we raise them for eatin') it is easier for us to have them inside as opposed to way out in the barn. The weather is staying cool later into the spring this year, too, so they will be warmer under the lamps inside. They get big really quickly so they will be out of the hutch and the house in a very short time. In the meantime, it is very sweet to hear their little p'cheep cheeps as they scramble around doing their chicken thing.