Chick Day!

Yup, 10 little babies came home with me this morning...I walked into the store intending to get 8, but there was a discount on some chick related items if you bought ten...good enough reason for me! Besides, there is the horrible possibility that all ten may not make it to blown hen stage, they tend to be fragile when they are little.Another reality is that even though all of my original 8 from last year made it to the adult stage, we ended up losing 3 of our hens to predators, and we found out that Berkeley was a rooster rather than the egg laying hen we thought we'd brought home. The breed I picked this time is Buff Orpington, they are known to grow to be heavy birds - they get to around 8 pounds. Buffs are also winter hardy and will continue to lay even during short, cold winter days. They are also known to be mellow and docile...we've been having some issues recently with an agressive rooster...ahem, Berkeley...and my hens have always been a bit skittish, so I am ready for a different type of avian personality around here. My newest little ladies (at least I hope all 10 are ladies!) are adorable, even though these Buffs are going to be a good fit for us because of their breed characteristics, I have to admit that the breed choice I made really came down to cuteness. I almost went with Rhode Island Reds, but the "classic" chick-look of these Buffs caught my heart. They are the sweetest little yellow puff balls! They seem to do pretty well in a photo shoot too, I had fun snapping a few shots of this little one, and there will be many more photo shoots to come!