I took Monday off from work so that I could go with George to get his wisdom teeth cut out. That all went as well as can be expected and was even quite comical at times (gas and anesthesia). In the evening after Jon got home from work we all took a trip to Tractor Supply. I figured George would want to stay home and take it easy, but he wasn’t going to miss out on Jon and me buying our first baby chicks. He is a country boy and has had his own chickens and roosters for several years. I’m sure he figured we would need his guidance.
TSC got their first chicks and ducks supply in on Monday. By the time we got there, all the baby ducks were gone and one container of the baby chicks were empty as well. Oh, you could hear them cheeping as soon as we entered the store. They had 4 large metal tubs still left. Oh, they were all so cute! I wish I had thought to take a picture of them then. But we were so excited, that it never occurred to me.
All of the little yellow fuzz balls were a straight run of White Cornish. The sign said they were better for meat chickens.
Then there was a tub of dark brown fuzz balls that were a straight run of Partridge Plymouth Rocks. There was no guarantee that they were gals.
The third tub was light brown/yellowish fuzz balls that were guaranteed pullets. Great, we wanted pullets. But they were mixed varieties of…. So, there was no guarantee of what variety we would get.
The last tub was full of black with white striped fuzz balls that were guaranteed pullets. These were also a mixed variety of Commercial Black, Dominiques, Leghorns, etc. Again, there was no guarantee of what breed we would get.
Prior to our trip (for weeks), Jon had done all kinds of research and decided his top picks were:
- Barred Plymouth Rocks
- Buff Orpington
- Rhode Island Reds
- Australorp
And George swears by the Dominique. Around here they are called Domineckers.
So, based on their suggestions I wanted Barred Plymouth Rocks or Domineckers. Why? Because I just think they look cool…LOL. I really hadn’t done any research so yes it was just about looks. I don’t even know how to tell the difference between Domineckers and Barred Plymouth Rocks! They look the same to me and I know are very similar breeds.
Damien had no preference as they were all cool. And Sarah would take them all if we let her.
A few weeks ago we were discussing getting 4 hens. Then at some point Jon upped it to 6 hens. We were feeling lucky that the black and white ones were domineckers. So, we got 3. And then well we got 3 of the light brown/yellowish ones just because. Then I insisted on getting one of the dark brown Partridge Plymouth Rocks. It wasn’t a Barred Plymouth Rock, but still a Plymouth Rock. I figured we had a 50/50 chance it was a pullet. And if it wasn’t it couldn’t hurt to have one rooster.
We had not planned on initially having a rooster. To be quite honest as a child I was petrified of them because of a mean white Game rooster that had flogged me. So, Jon was looking for “docile” chickens and I think trying to ease me into it all. LOL. Well, George said if it turned out to be a rooster and we didn’t want it he would take it. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I’m sure we’ll be fine even if he is a rooster.
George told us to be sure and check they feet that they were not broken or had malformed webs. He’d had some like that before. That had not occurred to us.
Right now, we have them in the house in a box under a lamp. I just was too afraid to leave them in the building. I’m sure we will move them out there eventually before they are big enough to be let loose outside. But in the meantime they are in the house where we can keep a constant eye on them and I know they are safe.
I have already learned that baby chicks are hard to take pictures of! I’m not the greatest photographer anyway, but wow it was difficult. Most of my pictures are just little blurs, but here are the better ones to show. You can’t really see the chicks coloring because the pictures are all red because of the heat lamp.
They are so cute and so funny! We have already nicknamed one of them Narky because she falls asleep ALL of the time…while eating, while drinking, white standing, leaning on the side of the box and so on. It’s like she is narcoleptic!
I’m sure we will have many updates and chicken adventures coming soon!
