Our May issue features an article on chickens and their place in the garden, by Peter Garnham. The photos with the article show Barbara Emerson's hens, which she got last spring. Barb will be blogging about her chickens over the next several weeks. Last week she welcomed some new chicks to her flock. Below is her report.—Meg

So far six of the eight baby chicks I am expecting have reached their new home….joining their adult “cousins” that are featured in the May issue of Horticulture. It had been quite a journey for them, but surprisingly they were quite boisterous when I put them in the cardboard box they will call home until they feather out and can move outside. All are heritage breeds. There are two Polish and two Rose-Combed Leghorns chickens for me, and two Rhode Island Reds for my friend and chicken-raising mentor, Dave. Soon to come are two Barred Rock chicks for Dave.

Here is a bit about the trip they made. Fertile eggs take about 20 days to hatch. These chicks were born on Friday, April 4, in Iowa (at Murray McMurray Hatchery). They were mailed through the USPS on Saturday, April 5, to my friend Norm on the South Shore of Massachusetts. (The majority of mail-order poultry companies require a minimum order of 25—our eight chicks were part of a larger order Norm made.)

When they are mailed, all the chicks are crowded into a smallish box and this keeps them warm for the trip from the hatchery. They aren’t meant to eat or drink for two days after hatching, so they can use up the remaining yolk that has been feeding them during the hatching process. So not having food and water while they are in the mail system is OK.

Early last Monday morning, Norm got a call to pick them up at his local post office. As soon as he got home from the post office, Norm dipped each chick’s beak in water to clue her in about how to drink. Norm is an experienced chicken raiser and he said this is the most active group he has ever seen and they all survived the trip. It is not unusual to lose one or two.

I picked up our chicks from him on Wednesday and drove them to my home on the North Shore. We asked for my and Dave's eight to come labeled so that we could tell them apart from Norm's chicks, which are a different breed. But there was a miscommunication and two were not labeled. No problem there—we’ll call Murray McMurray and get details about how the Barred Rock chicks look, and Norm will i.d. them and bring them to me this week to join the others.

Lots of travel for anyone, let alone a baby chick!—Barb

4/14/2008 9:32:44 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]