Kevin did a lot of looking into different breeds, and we decided we wanted a lot of egg production with good looking birds. So we got 3 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Black Sex-links, also called Black Stars. We were only going to get 4 chicks, but then I was thinking that if one of the Reds turned out to be a rooster, we'd only have 3 birds and that wasn't enough! So if one ends up being a rooster we'll be good with 4 birds, and if they all end up being hens, well, more eggs for us! :) 
Right now they are camped out in our living room under a heat lamp, and they have been snoozing most of the day away. When they are awake, they chirp like crazy and seem really alert. But boy do they sleep a lot!
Hopefully getting an odd number won't mean one of them is always the 5th wheel, so to speak! There seems to be one hanging by herself at all times. You know, in the whole 5 hours I've been watching them! Nervous parents! Every time one of them pecks another one, Kevin thinks they are going to cannabilize one another! Just wait until we have real babies, then see how crazy we are! 
I immediately wanted the nephews to come over and see them, so Matt and Terri brought Nate and Jackson over this afternoon to meet the girls. Nate was really excited and very gentle with them. Jackson loved them, and wanted to touch them a lot, which surprised me since he is a little shy around new things usually! It was great getting to introduce him to little babies!
My handsome almost 12 year old nephew! Dyed his hair for the first time a couple weeks ago, here we come teenage years! :)
Jackson was really sweet and would just brush his fingers so softly on the chick. I was really proud of him! And Nate did a great job of holding the bird and really seemed to like them!
Jackson was very interested in everything in the box, too, like the feeder and the waterer, so we had to keep a pretty tight reign on him so he didn't knock anything over. But he chattered away at the girls, and had the biggest grin on his face!
So now we need to get our coop plans finalized, and then get building! Anyone wanna help? :)
3 comments:
Hooray!
That is definitely the best way to get things moving--get the chicks. But you have a couple of months at least before you need to have the coop done.
Five chicks is a lot. When we first got chickens we had two, and would get a dozen eggs a week (good for eating, but sometimes we would buy eggs for baking). Now we have four. Last year that meant two dozen a week; this year it's more like 18. Plenty to have for eating and baking. If you have no roosters, you'll have a ton of eggs, but I'm sure you'll find something to do with them/someone to give them to. And if two are roosters, you'll still have enough eggs. Unless you eat eggs everyday.
You may want to move them to the garage soon. Chicks kick up a lot of dust. And they poop a lot. They will be perfectly fine out there with your lamp.
Another thing you can do is put something for them to roost on in the box. I usually cut holes and slide a board in there. Even when they're little, they like to roost.
I would be happy to help with your coop construction, though the weekends are pretty full up here. However, like I said, you've got a month or two or so before they can even be outside anyway. How long before your plans are finalized?
Epic comment award!
Woohoo! The coop plans should be finalized this week, I'm hoping to start construction (at least digging post holes) on Thursday. Any weekend anytime soon that you'd have a free day to come help, Monger?
It's funny seeing all their personalities, one definitely seems to spend most of her time pecking at the wispy feathers on the other chicks' wings. Too bad we didn't see her doing that at the feed store, she's going to be trouble!
They definitely do have personalities. We have one that gets picked on a bit, and others that do the picking. But not bad. I wouldn't worry.
I'll email you about possible weekends.
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