meet the peeps, take 1 1/2

So… my first thought when I thought we lost our chickens was that we had just gotten into the chicken groove and now we were down two chickens and it was kind of lame that we had this perfectly good coop and everything that wasn’t being used (especially since Buffy is inside recuperating).  When it started to look like Buffy might make it, my next thought was that she was going to be lonely.  Everyone knows chickens need other chickens (you can’t just have one) to keep them company, keep them warm, give them someone to talk to, etc.  We could have just gotten another grown-up laying chicken, but 1) that’s not really the most fun way to go and 2) I didn’t want to get a chicken than would put Buffy on the bottom of the pecking order.

Luckily, it’s baby chick season and a lot of the feed stores are getting shipments regularly.  They get different breeds at different times, but they usually have the “common” ones all the time.  I made a few calls and a very patient Travis drove with me to the Country Feed Store in Vista to pick out our new chickens and Buffy’s new family.  Two days after we buried Bunny, we brought fluffy peeps home with us.

The feed store didn’t have any Barred Rocks (we had discussed these as the next chickens for next year) but they had Delawares, New Hampshire Reds, Turkens, California Whites, and a couple random ones.  We picked a New Hampshire Red and a Delaware (both supposed to be good layers AND friendly).  Travis took a liking to a little Bantam, so we brought her home, too.  I don’t know what she’ll end up looking like, but she’s got these huge feathers on her feet and she’s really pretty so far.  She’s so tiny!

The really nice thing about the Country Feed Store is that if we end up with a rooster (their chicks are supposed to be pullets 95% of the time), they said we can bring it back to them.

New Hampshire Red

Delaware

the Bantam