New Baby Chicks

Not much can compare to new baby chicks.  It feels like Christmas and Easter all rolled into one.  The post office called me yesterday and told me that my babies had arrived!  Although they will deliver them right to my door, sometimes it's faster to go pick them up myself as soon as the truck arrives.  (It's also fun to hear them peeping and chirping in the box and enjoy the curious stares and surprised smiles from anyone else in the post office that didn't know you could order baby chicks in the mail.)  Little chicks can last up to 72 hours without food or water right after they are hatched, but really the sooner you can get them eating and drinking after their trip (which usually lasts about two days) the better.  So I went and got them right away.  I took them out of the box one by one and made sure each chick had gotten a drink of water mixed with some "quick chick" electrolytes and a little sugar before placing them into a cozy bed of hay in a horse trough in the tack room under a heat lamp with chick food and water where they would be warm and safe from the nosy cats.