Peep Peep Peep

So I went with the intention of getting 6 chicks and came back with 11....

They were too cute! Also, the lady convinced me that adding adult laying hens to the healthy flock of chicks would be a bad idea because of possible disease transmission. Since the 6 chicks I'd already chosen were bred specifically to be meat birds (they'll gain weight pretty fast and be ready for processing by 4 months) this left us with no egg layers. Sooo I ended up taking 5 more chicks that are laying breeds/crosses. They're leg banded and will end up a lot smaller than the meat birds, so we'll be able to tell them apart. They 'meat' birds are Light Sussex crossed with various meat breeds. The 3 blonde layers are Light Sussex and the 2 dark layers are utility Welsummer with maybe Silver Leghorns. Oh, and I say layers even though all 11 of these chicks could end up being roosters! They all hatched between March 26th and today...so I guess we'll know in a few weeks.

I tried to pick a variety of colour so they'd be easier to tell apart. They're so funny - they fall asleep mid eating, mid running around, mid peeping...and then the next second they're up and running around again. It's really cute when they fall asleep on their bellies and stretch their legs straight out behind them. 

Huddled before the heat lamp had warmed up enough. So much poop already and they'd only been in there for 5 minutes!

Falling asleep on the food trough. 

This one has the coolest markings. Wonder how he/she will look as an adult?

One of the laying crosses...although possibly a he. 

The three blondies are really calm.

I'm putting money on this little guy being...a guy. He stands up really tall all the time and peeps away when the others are sleeping!