Baby Chicks

Our order from Sand Hill Preservation arrived at the Post Office this morning.

Some of the new chicks…

We ordered 5 Black Welsummers

Named after the village of Welsum in Holland. Most famous for the deep, dark brown eggs. Medium sized bird with yellow skin and a single comb with five points. Color pattern of chicks and adults is similar to Brown Leghorns.

5 Black Copper Marans

The Black Copper Marans is one of the rarest breeds of chicken in the United States. It is a fascinating breed of laying chicken; producing one of the darkest chocolate-brown eggs known. It is one of the rarest breeds in this country due to the import ban on fowl in the US. They are quite common in France.

5 Blue Americaunas

A blue chicken that lays a blue egg.  How perfect!  These lovely birds are excellent layers with gentle dispositions and sport beards, muffs and a tail. Their small pea combs make them a fine choice for Northern and Southern poultry fanciers.

And…. 11 Icelandic Chicks!

An unbelievably hardy land race. A land race means that they are not all uniform in color or body type. You will see a diversity in comb type as well. They all do seem to have a tuft of feathers on the top of the head. They are superb layers of small to medium sized off-white eggs. Knowing Iceland’s moderate maritime climate and that this breed had developed there for over a thousand years, I was fearful they would not handle the extremes of Iowa weather very well. I was first pleasantly surprised in the Winter when they handled -25 deg. F with ease. Then on that horrible July day with a heat index of 133 deg F, I was afraid that when I reached their pen I would find them all dead. I was pleasantly surprised to see none dead even though there were massive losses in adjoining pens. They are superb foragers with a most pleasant temperament. This is perhaps the ideal breed for someone who wants a diversity of color, but only wants one breed. They are not a terribly large chicken but are extremely feed efficient.

We suffered some minor losses during transport by 3 being squished beyond recognition and 1 that is pretty squashed but we are hopeful will recover.  The kids of course are extremely excited!!

Hayden handling the squashed one, hoping to nurse it back to life.

Zayne’s pick

Teigen’s pick

Garrett, the chicken guy himself!

Cheep!!

Unpacking the box

Too cute.

Concern…

Hopping

Look at me

Happy boy

Emma checking things out.

Hopeful.

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