We had a pretty non-traditional Easter this year.
Before we headed to Philomath to play with our friends there, we first went to "Chick Days" at the Old Mill Feed store. We had pre-ordered 6 Buff Orpingtons and had just planned to be there at 8:30am when the doors open... until Christie mentioned that last year there was a line already an hour before opening time. Jonathan, despite my protests that he really didn't need to do it, went an hour early and stood in line. I think he enjoys slaying the occasional dragon for me... :) The line wound around in the warehouse of this super-cool, 100-year old mill that is now the feed store. The kids and I were very glad to not have to wait in the cold (but covered) warehouse, and it was great to show up at 8:30 and only have about a dozen people in front of us. We were ushered into the chick area about 6 people at a time or so, and about swooned when we saw this:
We quickly selected our 6 chicks and were off. I had already bought everything for them and the heat lamp was at home warming up their brooder, so we whisked them home in a towel-lined boot box. We already had our day of fun in Philomath planned, so we let the chicks rest at home (brilliant planning on my part, of course) and headed down to Philomath.
On the way home we stopped at the barn to pick up the two bunnies that my friend Jen had given us. This was NOT the wisest way to transport said bunnies, but it worked out just fine. And aren't they cute?
(Do you see the ears in Calvin's lap?)
The next day was Easter Sunday.
There was no candy to be found in the house. No colored eggs, no baskets of fluff. Just lots of cute, fluffy chicks perpetually making the sweetest of peeps. A million times better than synthetic Peeps! The kids felt they had the best Easter of anyone they knew...
(we talked a little about counting our blessings...)
And since our church's worldwide General Conference broadcast happens the first weekend of April and October, it fell on Easter this year. It was SO nice to be able to stay home and watch Conference from the comfort of our couches while snuggling chickies. They were extremely reverent. ;)
It was a wonderful day to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ, his Atonement and resurrection.
Jonathan has sort of surprised me with how attached he is to his chick, Magpie (or Maggie for short). He's not a farm boy (yet) but that's not his fault-- he was raised in the city by non-animal-lovers. (My mother-in-law literally shudders when you say the word "horse" or "cat.") So it was sweet to watch him with his chick. Poor guy, he just about swooned at the Old Mill... I looked up from picking the last of our chicks to see him being pulled by a tractor-beam to another brooder. He spent two years in Sweden on his mission, and so of course... the thing that drew him in so completely was baby Swedish ducks! I'd never even heard of them, but it looks as though at some point when we have land (please God, let it be soon!) we will have to get him a pair of Swedish ducks. I wish you could have seen the look on his face...
So here are about a million photos of our little cutie-pies. My chick, Ladybug, is the one below with the brown spot on her head. As soon as I can find colored, plastic poultry leg bands we'll band 'em, but in the meantime, magic markers have worked quite well. Kizi's chick is Daisy (purple dot on her head), Caleb's is Goldie (green dot), Calvin's is Pearl (black dot), and Grandma's is Ginger (no dot, bigger than Maggie, and Maggie has a scrawny neck which is how Jonathan tells her apart from the others). They are all very affectionate and snuggly, with Ladybug always being the first one to jump up on your lap, and Ginger the first one ready for a nap on your lap.
The bedding pellets are a new product to me... they came highly recommended by the staff at Old Mill. They are made from recycled newspapers, are absorbent, and the chicks don't try to eat them. And they really kept the smell to an almost-non-existent level. I tried one day of paper towels and changed right back to the pellets.
I'm a big fan of "chick aprons"... which minimizes the amount of poopy laundry I have to do! Don't worry, these are OLD aprons, not my good cooking aprons!
The first couple of days with them reminded me of what it was like when you have a newborn baby in the house... they sleep so soundly that you have to stop and watch to make sure they're breathing...
Calvin with Pearl, above.
Look at those cute fluffy butts!
(and we're getting the carpets shampooed soon, so I didn't sweat the small (poopy) stuff...
They quickly outgrew their first brooder, so we moved them to the big one. Poor Gracie and Bailey were literally shivering with how MUCH they wanted to EAT a chick! The dogs usually stay in the sunroom, but once the chicks were in the big brooder I would let Gracie come lay down next to it-- and me-- to help try to get her a little more used to them. She herds the chickens at the barn and has never hurt one, but Bailey is a known chicken killer... and let's face it, those little chick mcnuggets probably look awfully tempting to those poor dogs...
I was very pleased with myself for using the Bogs boot box. Once I cut a doorway in it, the chicks really took to it. I think they liked being warm AND in a dark place. It looks bright in this photo because of the flash, but it was nice and dark and cozy for them. I had some nice, soft Timothy hay on hand for the bunnies, which was an ideal nest for the chickies.
