Somebody Needs To Stop Me…

For reals.

I seriously have a problem.

It’s this new sense of freedom I have.  And it’s totally dangerous. Especially when it comes to chickens.

You see, right now we have 20 chicks.

This all started because I missed the big chick day at our local farm store. The day where they bring in a ton of different chicken breeds to choose from all in one day. Because I missed it I was forced to order my chicks online. So I went on over to the MyPetChicken.com site. What a cool site. So many chickens! So many breeds! It’s like a candy bar isle for me… I want to sample them all.

Originally I was thinking I would only need about 6-8 chickens to keep my family in eggs.  But as I started adding chicks to my cart I got this whole chicken collection mentality or something.  I wanted one of each I tell ya! I ended up adding 12 chicks to my cart and clicking that buy button. My chicks weren’t going to be delivered until the middle of April so I had 5 weeks to get ready. I was disappointed that I couldn’t order a Buff Orpington or an Easter Egger. Those breeds of chicks were sold out for that shipment. But I was happy with my selection as there were some really cool new ones I’d never seen before in real life. 

Here are the 12 I ordered:
Black Frizzle Bantam
Buff Brahma
Light Brahma
Blue Copper Maran
Blue Andulasian
Light Brown Leghorn
White Leghorn
Olive Egger
Golden Laced Wyandotte
Swedish Flower Hen
Partridge Cochin
Rhode Island Red

But waiting for 5 weeks for chicks to arrive is a long time.

And in my defense it was Easter weekend. Plus two families with kids would be joining my house for the holiday. So I thought to myself… maybe I’ll just go down to the local farm store to see if they have any chicks in stock. Who knows.. maybe they would even have a Buff Orpington or Easter Egger? I said to myself… “I’ll just get one or two chicks and we can have babies to hold during Easter. What’s one or two more, right?

So down I went to the farm store with my two kids, and came home with 3 Golden Sex-Links, a White Leghorn, A Rhode Island Red and two Easter Eggers. I was weak I tell ya, weak.  But we officially had some baby chicks at our house! It was so much fun.

 7 baby chicks with 12 to come a month later.

After the excitement wore off  I was starting to worry about having so many. I thought to myself, well they all probably won’t make it. I’m sure the little kids that visit will be too rough on them or something. It’s bad to think that I know, but I also was getting a bit worried. 19 chickens is so many!

Yet, they all survived, every single one of them. Of course they did.

My youngest two really loved holding the chicks and spending time with them. The 7 are super sweet and used to being held. But I personally didn’t end up having the time to really bond with them.  (Yes chicken bonding is a thing….) The 7 chickens got bigger and bigger and by 4 weeks old we were able to put them outside (as it was really warm) in my husbands unfinished chicken coop. They just stayed in the bottom part of it with a tote I made with shavings inside.

THEN MY CHICK ORDER CAME IN..

12 new sweet babies. These ones are mine. I am the mama hen. 🙂

As soon as I opened up the box my heart melted. They were just the cutest sweetest chicks ever. And they’ve been my babies ever since. I am starting to get attached to these ones. As are my children. We are always holding them or watching the silly things they do. Currently they are 3 weeks old now – let me introduce you to them.

1.  Olivea – our Olive Egger
2. Lagatha – our Swedish Flower Hen
3. Katniss – our Rhode Island Red
4. Emerald- Golden Laced Wyandotte
5. Butterscotch – our Buff Brahma
6. Taylor – White Leghorn
7. Sumo – our Light Brahma
8. Lina – Blue Andulasian
9. Martha – the Partridge Cochin
10. Drew – our Blue Copper Maran
11. Chica – the Light Brown Leghorn
12. Penguin – the Black Frizzle Bantam

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL… NO, THAT IS NOT ALL…..

I had placed my name on a Buff Orpington waiting list at our feed store, and was going to pass on it. But they called me only 5 days after my new babies arrived and I was weak again. So, now we have 20 chicks.  But…but…but… I love this Buff Orpington!!!  She is the sweetest of all! Her name is Gigi – (named after our beloved last Buff Ginger.)

Yeah, I need help. Someone needs to stop me. I am banning myself from any farm stores from here on out. Unless I need to buy chicken feed, in which case I may need someone to come with me for support.

Well, off to clean out the chicken bins..again.

xoxo,  Karrie

 

PS – You can see pics of my crazy chicken life on my Instagram here. And if you want to get started with chicks you can read my How to Raise Baby Chicks Guide HERE.