My tiny u.p. farm

I received my chicks yesterday.  They were shipped on Monday, and the two day journey in freezing temps was not good – the place I ordered from has a 15 chick minimum right now, until the end of March, for a very good reason – it’s meant to help them keep warm on the journey (more chicks = more body heat). They had a heat pack, and there were 16 chicks in my box.  I got a call from the post office on Wednesday, and they said the chicks had arrived, but only 2 were alive.  I ran to the post office, and there were two visibly alive – everyone else looked to be dead.  The postal trucks are not heated at all.

I ran them back to my office, and immediately put a heat lamp on them.  Over the next couple of hours, 6 more of them woke up –  so total of 8 alive, and 8 had died.  I talked to the company I ordered from, and they said to call them back on Friday with the final total, just in case any more didn’t make it.

I brought the 8 survivors home, and they all seemed to be doing well, until late last night.  I noticed one little guy had one eye shut, and his peeping seemed to be weak.  I went to bed, and had a dream that he had died (in my dream he was a little penguin, which I think is because I thought he looked like a penguin – he was a little black and white chick) – I woke up today and sure enough, he had died in the night.  One other little orange guy was acting weak this morning, so I didn’t think he would make it either.  About an hour later, just before leaving for work, I went to check on them and he had died as well.

I now have 6 chicks. They seem to be doing really well, everyone is eating and drinking well, and running around in their giant box.  They are getting along well with Peepers, although that was a little touch and go at first.  Luckily, poor Peepers can’t really move very fast due to his/her crippled legs, so they aren’t in much danger.  They like to run up to her, peck at her feet, and then run away.  (I’ve found myself calling Peepers a “she” lately instead of a “he” although I still have absolutely no idea what she/he is).  One chick kind of nuzzled under her for a bit today.

So anyway, here are the surviving chicks (as of tonight):

I’ll have to see about getting the replacements for the losses sent in a month or so, when it’s warmer so that I don’t lose them as well.  For now, these guys are doing well and are a lot of fun to watch.