The Baby Chicks Have Arrived!

I'd ordered my baby chicks way back in April but scheduled them for delivery midsummer so I would be all moved in and ready to care for them. When the ship date arrived, the hatchery called to say there had been a problem and they couldn't ship until an even later date. But true to their word, the chicks were shipped at the alternate date and arrived in just two days:

They were tiny things, baby bantam (miniature) Barred Plymouth Rocks. and incredibly cute:

I ordered 25 but received 28. Most hatcheries include a few extra to cover losses during shipment. My were all alive although one died moments after I put them into their brooder:

They were ravenously hungry and thirsty, but I interrupted their feeding frenzy for just a few moments to take photos:

Minutes after getting them settled, I realized that their brooder box was too small and put them in a much larger one. They grew so fast that six days later I had to split them into two brooders:

This is how tiny they were:

I certainly didn't want my dogs attacking them (and I was particularly worried about Daphne, the mouser), so I brought them in one by one to look and sniff. But giant, sweet Seamus was the only one I trusted for this sort of photo:

The chicks are thriving, healthy, active and alert - not to mention eternally hungry and thirsty:

I'll post updates on the babies as they pass from the cute stage into the ugly, teenage, "vulture stage:"