Picking up chicks

I had an early phone call from the post office this morning. It was one I was expecting.
The chicks I ordered from an in-state hatchery were there waiting to be picked up!

 The brooder was all set up and ready to go last night, all I had to do was get the box of peeping chicks home.

This hatchery sells the standard Cornish Cross(CX) broilers but also has the newer Freedom Ranger(FR) chicks. We ordered 25 of the CX and decided to try out 5 of the FR too. The FR's are the reddish-brown chicks above. They will be a slower growing bird that isn't supposed to have the possible leg problems the fast growing CX are known for. All the chicks made it through the mail and they even sent one extra CX as well.

After a quick dip of their beaks in water they were off and running in their new brooder. Their home for the next 3 weeks or so. For the first 4 hours I'm giving them water with electrolytes and vitamins only, to make sure they are well hydrated. After that I'll add in the crumbled chick feed to start filling up their little bellies.

It's hard to believe how fast these little chicks will grow. In 8 weeks they will be ready to send off to the butcher and will come home all nicely packaged and ready for the freezer. Giving us many Sundays of wonderful roasted chicken dinners!