First website wanted to charge us something like $40 for shipping cuz we had too few creatures. They huddle for warmth apparently and five is too few for adequate warmth generating. Without the extra brothers and sisters the company inserts some fandangled heating contraption. So we went shopping elsewhere. Found a site that would ship for less but warned that they may pack in some extra chicks (most likely baby roosters) to supply that needed warmth. Sounds good we thought. Clearly we didn't think that one through.
A few days later the mailman rang the doorbell. "Your chickens are here. You need to pick them up at the post office." Then he went into inquiry mode asking for details. He was interested. As everyone should be.
Well off to the post office we went. At the counter we waited for an eternity. Not sure where the little things were being kept but it sure was a long ways back. We heard them before we saw them. Chirp! Chirp! Awwww... In the box they shuffled and chirped. We carried them out and strapped them - oh yeah, we were on bikes - to the rack on the back of Adam's bike. A few bungee cords later and we were off.
Fifteen minutes later we were home. We open the box to check on our purchase. I was sure it would be bedlam. Poor chickens, two days in the mail, in the heat. I was worried. Those fears, thankfully, were for naught. A new problem was quickly realized. Remember those extra chickens for warmth? Yeah, we got, um, an extra eleven. Eleven extra chickens! So there were sixteen cute, fuzzy, multicolored chirpers in the box. So cute, but now a bigger problem. See, thing is, Bloomington ordinance allows for four hens (i.e. females). We'd ordered five hens and now we have, what we are assuming (as sexing chicks - careful typing - is much harder than it would seem), are an extra eleven roosters. Oh dear.
Oh yeah. And their food has not arrived yet.
Thankfully the book on raising chickens arrived.
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| It's never too late to learn. |
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