Oh friends! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I have been for this day to arrive. The baby chicks that I ordered a few weeks ago arrived to the post office on Tuesday of this week. The chicken rearing adventures have begun!

We received a Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog in the mail about a month after we moved to WayMaker Acres. It was addressed to a previous owner, but I knew it was meant for me. For weeks, I poured over the pages, learning about different breeds, studying which ones would make a good addition to our farmstead. At the beginning of February, I was ready to order, and order I did!

I chose breeds based on their suitability to our climate and weather, whether or not they free-range well, how many eggs they lay (on average), the color of the eggs they produce, and their looks. We were going to be adding Black Copper Marans, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, Barred Rocks, Whiting True Blues and True Greens, and a few different Polish varieties just for fun. We ordered a total of 25 birds knowing they could throw an extra bird or two in for free. We ended up with 27 birds arriving – the twenty-five I ordered, an extra Silver Polish female, and a “free Mystery Chick” which will likely be a rooster. (The Inventor has already named him King Ube the Third.)

I don’t recall being this excited about anything in a very long time. The anticipation of their arrival has been electrifying. I’ve had such fun setting up their brooder. As I would randomly declare that the baby chicks would be arriving soon, my kids kept saying, “Ok, Mom, we get it. You’re excited.” They just didn’t understand. I’ve been dreaming of the day when I could raise baby chicks for years.

The hatchery gave me the option of setting up a text alert to let me know when the chicks had been shipped. Of course, I said yes. When the text came on Monday, I promptly went to the USPS website to set up text alerts for every step along the way. I knew when they arrived at the distribution center in Des Moines, when they were checked in at Kansas City, and when they were out for delivery. When I received the phone call on Tuesday morning that they were ready for pick up at post office in town, I was over the moon with excitement. I was going to meet my baby chicks within the hour!

The Equestrian and the Inventor both joined me for the pick up. As we walked into the post office, I could hear their little chirps. It was as if they were calling out, “Take us home, Chicken Mom!” I was happy to oblige them.

Once we got home, I worked to get them all settled. I dipped each little beak into the water to help them learn how to drink. I checked each little chicken butt to make sure it was clear of dried poop (a daily task for the first little while of their lives). I did my best to figure out which chicks were which breeds to make sure my order was right (it was). Let’s just say it’s taken some time to get to know all of the chicks and see the differences between a Barred Rock chick and a Black Copper Maran chick. They look a lot alike at first glance, especially to this novice Chicken Momma.

I spent hours in our basement with the chicks that first day – and the days since. I have loved watching them dart in and out from under the brooder heater. The kids and I have been surprised by how little they all are. Then it occurred to me – they have to be little enough to fit in an egg. Duh. They aren’t staying little for long, though. They’ll be big girls before we know it.

So here we are with five-day-old chickens chirping away happily in our basement. By the end of summer, we should be collecting more than two dozen eggs a day!