More chicks! Or, Impulse buy of chickens!

Seriously, I'm starting to feel obsessed with these chickens.

Two nights ago, we finished our hen house, and sent Sky, Sunkist and Clover out. We hooked a heat light up to the hen house on a timer, so they'll stay warm enough at night. They seem to be thrilled with the arrangement. Given that they could jump out of the tote, and we thought it was time.I took the kids to the feed store to buy more chicken feed today (boy, these chicks are sure eating a lot nowadays!). The littles wanted to look at the baby chicks, and I was mildly curious to see if they had any of the breeds I was contemplating. I want a total of 4 hens when it's all said and done. I wanted an Americauna and a Copper Maran, and then I was thinking about something black and white.

As we walked in, the store got a delivery of 2 day old chicks! We got to watch the employee count all the chicks (because counting chicks AFTER they hatch is hunky dory), and then help them get their first drink. They had a shipment of Americaunas. They also had some 3 day old Silver Laced Wyandottes. That makes for a beautiful hen, and it lays brown eggs. Here's what an adult Silver Laced Wyandotte looks like: (thanks to THIS blog for the picture)

I then wanted to get an Americauna, since they lay blue or green eggs, which sounds totally cool. The store had a minimum chick order of 5, so I bought four Americaunas, and one of the Silver Laced.The four chickens huddled closely are the Americaunas, and the one in the top right corner is the the Silver Laced Wyandotte.

I figure we'll end up selling three of the Americaunas, assuming all live. They are only two days old, and went straight from shipping container to our purchase package. They must be pretty shocked right now. They seem to be fine, but you just never know.