I got chicks!

After some loving encouragement from my amazing husband, I brought home new baby girl chicks on Monday. I've been talking about the possibility of raising hens for some time now. (My sister said it's been almost 4 years since I started talking about chickens!) On Saturday night, I decided to start another round of "should I get chickens?" After a lot of thinking out loud by both of us...well, mostly me, my husband said, "You're getting chickens". "Pick out a coop on Craigslist and buy one. If you decide you don't like it, we'll just sell it or give it away. Don't worry." That was it! I decided to take the plunge.

As it turns out, a man in Pacifica builds coops with attached runs. He sells them on Craigslist - one of our favorite places to shop. So after a few emails to the builder, my husband and I are going up to Pacifica (with the trailer) to pick up my coop on Thursday!

After talking with a friend on Sunday night, I decided to check out the Hacienda Hay and Feed store in Carmel Valley. She said they sell chicks and supplies, so I went down there on Monday morning with a plan of "just looking". I had decided the night before that I should only get 3 hens after I installed the coop and this was just a trip to see if there were any chicks for sale at the feed store.

You may be able to guess where this is going, but when I got down there they had a dozen breeds of 2-week-old baby hens. Several breeds were on my "Good" list, meaning that they were likely to suit my purposes. I wanted standard sized hens that would be friendly (or at least not aggressive), beautiful, and at least average at laying eggs. Well, I ended up bringing home not 3 or 4, but 5 chicks! They were too cute to resist. And the owner gave me one for free. These are the breeds I got: Ameraucana, Barred Rock, Brahma, Buff Orpington, and Welsummer. They are lively little girls and I love hanging out with them.

Here they are in the midst of an intense competition to see who can peck directly into the corner of the box :)