Baby Chicks

Little Girl:  “Mommy, where do baby chicks come from?”

Mommy:  “From the Post Office, honey.”

The best part of winter is looking through chicken catalogs to pick out spring baby chicks.  I admit it:  I’m a chicken hoarder.  This admission is the first step of the 12 step “STOP IT” program that has just accepted me.  Oh, I didn’t sign up for it; my family held an intervention.

Here’s my dilema:  there are heavy breeds, light breeds, rare breeds, and fancy breeds.  There are Polish chickens and prolific chickens.  There are broilers (good eaters) and breeds who grow their own hats.  Some breeds are friendly and some are Pitt Bulls.   Darling pictures of chickens dressed in every solid hue pose as cover girls on these pages.  Other chickens, including, but not limited to, spangled, barred, spotted and chickens who lay colored Easter eggs are featured in the centerfold of the McMurray Hatchery catalog.  McMurray sells side orders of peacocks, guinea hens, ducks and geese, too.  My chicken catalogs are all dog eared and hiding in “the library” under the bathroom sink next to the toilet paper because God knows no one in my family will go in there to replenish a roll.

Day old baby chicks are shipped to homes from growers via the United States post office and some baby chicks (leftovers and overruns) are shipped to places like TSC or your local farm/feed store in bulk orders.  If you order chicks online or through the catalog, the minimum order is 25 of these mix and matchers.   If you are into picking up chicks, just a few at a time and not very picky, instant gratification is only a moment away at your local TSC or farm/feed store. 

Usually I will place an order for a couple dozen and when I open the box, I find a baker has been counting.

The postmaster has called me at 4 a.m. to come and get my chicks. NOW.  She will open the back of the post office for me.  They chirp a lot.  It drives the mail sorters crazy.    Generally I get “the call”  when standing in the checkout line at the grocery store with a full cart.   The Chicks are in!