Special Delivery: Chicks have arrived

The telephone rang at 7:45 this morning. The post office informed us that we could pick up our box of chicks right away! We knew the babies had been hatched and shipped on Monday and we were ready for their arrival. As we stood at the counter in the post office annex, we could hear the peeping loudly from the back room---a good sign that they had survived the journey.

With no further ado, let me introduce the new girls:

This white one is Daisy. She's a Delaware, a heritage breed on the threatened list. At first, Daisy was very weak and we thought she wouldn't live through the day, but she's turning out to be rather bossy in the brooder box.

The striped chick is Crocus. She's a hybrid known as an Easter Egger because she'll lay green or blue eggs. This breed is usually gentle.

This is Rhododendron, the Rhode Island Red. She's a standard breed that lays lots and lots of big brown eggs.

This black and white chick is Petunia, a Barred Plymouth Rock. You can't see her white bottom in the photo, but she looks like she's wearing a diaper! So far, Petunia seems pretty mellow.

The brown chick is Poppy, a Partridge Plymouth Rock. She's the tiniest of our new chicks, but full of personality.

And this ugly duckling is Squill, a Speckled Sussex. Isn't she something?

Many thanks to my teenaged daughter, who took the glamour shots of the chicks---not an easy undertaking.