They are Finally Home...

Ok - so on Saturday morning about 12:30am - my little chickies began their journey home. They traveled for 9 hours from Iowa to Minnesota. Then they went from Minnesota to Texas in the next 8 hours. As of Sunday morning at 12:54am - they left Coppell Texas- traveling to our little town - which by the way is only about 1 hour away - maybe a bit more. Anyway some how it took till this morning at about 8:00am for our girls to arrive at the Post Office. We have no idea where they spent that 31 hours. All I know is that I was getting worried about them.

 

We got our phone call this morning that the girls were at the Post Office. And wouldn't you know it - the sleet and ice have moved through just like the weather men said. And most, if not all, of the school districts are closed. Thankfully my husband took the day off so he could go get the girls since he knew that I am afraid to drive on the ice.

 

When he got back from the post office - I noticed that the box was bigger than it was last time - but it had been almost 10 years since we had ordered from that company so I just thought that maybe they had changed things.

 

When my husband opened one side of the box- (the box was divided into 4 sections) we noticed that there were several dead. My heart sank. I was so sad. I had worried about the girls going that long without food or water.

 

We began introducing each chick to water- showing them where the water was so that they would begin drinking. I began counting the chicks and when I told my husband that I counted 16 he said, "They must have sent us a lot more chickens than we ordered." Especially since we had not even opened the other side of the box. He then handed me a little chick and said, "this one looks like a quail...oh no - I think we got the wrong box" Sure enough we had.

 

My husband was able to water a couple of chickens that looked like they were close to dying and we pray that maybe because we took the time to water them that they will make it.

 

We called the post office and found out that the other people were there to pick up their chickens. Well since we got the wrong box - it meant another trip - about 20 minute drive under normal conditions - to go get our chickens. All the while- worrying because if the other people had lost at least 7 of there chickens(50) then there was a chance that we had lost some chickies too. I began to brace myself- I had already cried over the couple of chicks that my husband had seen when he glanced into the box at the post office(the first time).

 

He drove back to the post office and got our small box. And when he looked in - our chicks looked and sounded so much better.

None - had died. It was truly a miracle! I truly believe it was. Especially since the other box lost at least 20% of the chicks.

 

Here are our girls - all 26-27 of them in their box!

 

The red light in the photos - is the heat lamps to help keep them warm. They are doing so well!

We ordered 25. They say that they put in an extra chicken, probably because the likelihood that some may be lost in transit. Well we did not lose any and our count so far seems to be 27! They move so fast that it is hard to get a clear count - you will be half way done and someone will decide to run as fast as they can to the other side of their home! They are silly. Anyway we broke it down to colors and that made it easier.

 Anyway ~ It has been a stressful couple of days- worrying about our girls. Not knowing where they were or how we would get them- with the bad weather and worried because of how long they were in that box with out food and water. They are certainly making up for not eating or drinking for 3 days!

Oh and I am not sure if I shared with you all or not- but I am excited about this. With this cold weather that we have going on here - I am so happy that my husband came up with the idea to put the baby chicks in our sun room. It is much easier to keep them warm and we can check on them many, many times during the day. And I can hear them peeping as I sit here at the computer! So that will be their home at least for the next week or so. There seems to be a chance for more slow stuff on Wed and on Friday. Oh and the temps are going to be down -so there is no way that the stuff we have will melt till maybe Tuesday afternoon- then a chance for more stuff on Wed and then on Friday. So I am more than thrilled that the girls are so easy to get to!

Well I will try to get more photos of the girls. It is just a bit hard because of the heat lamps - but at least you get an idea of what they look like!

Hope you all are staying warm and dry. :O)