Fast Forward - Two Weeks after Adoption

The first two weeks were uneventful. With baby chicks, that is a good thing! Good health, energy, growth, and pin feathers coming in, all signs of a happy chick. I was lucky enough not to have any chicks "paste up", meaning that their feces would get stuck around their vent, and prevent them from answering nature's call. It can be fatal if not handled quickly. But like I said, I didn't have that problem.

I also had time to observe their personalities and choose names! The one that immediately jumped out to me was the largest of them, the Buff Orpington. When I first bought them, she looked to be about a week older than the others. She was a little diva, causing trouble, and thinking that she was the most important thing in the world. I named her Evangeline. Properly diva-ish in my opinion. (See top left picture.)

The second that jumped out was the other yellow little chick, the Amerecauna. She was a simple little girl, very calm, and just easygoing. She deserved a calm name. So I named her Aidella. (See top right picture.)

Then the last two, my little Australorps, were a bit harder to name. The bottom right was the adventurer, the first to get out of the box, and the first to feel her wings. She was also very sweet, and would gladly sit in my hand. I named her Charlotte. The other was content to follow her sisters, and I named her Josephine.

They grow so fast!

Day 1

Admittedly, Day 1 was actually on March 27th, but look at how cute they were! They barely had any real feathers at all, it was just all down and fluff! I had gone up to Auburn to pick them up from a feed store, as well as the necessary feeders, waterers, and chick feed. I was ridiculously enthralled by them, and I think that by the end of the day I had told everyone and their mom that I now had four baby chickens of my own. At this point, I had no names for them, but I had several ideas.

My neighbor (I'll call her C) who gave me the chicken bug in the first place, sets categories to choose names from. For example, all her chickens are named after types of guns. All of her goats are named after cars. At first, I was thinking of categories, and the only one that I liked up to that point was the Vegetables and Herbs category. I figured I could have Butternut, Pumpkin, Rosemary, Coriander, Kale, Ambrosia...the names were a bit limited though.

While discussing categories, my mom came up with the idea of Southern Belles. I loved it! And I could think of nine or ten names off the top of my head. Needless to say, the idea stuck. The options were:

• Beula
• Lillian
• Scarlet
• Evangeline
• Josephine
• Aidella
• Charlotte
• Scarlet
• Eudora
• Jezebel
• Hattie May
• Saidee May 

So I set about watching, observing, contemplating, changing newspaper covered in chicken poo, and hoping to catch a glimpse of their personalities. All the while, I'm making sure they have plenty of water, food, and that the temperature is just right. Let me tell you something, I think I only had two hours of solid sleep the first night, and even that was fitful. (Is this how new parents feel? Ugh!) I didn't really expect to have them named right away. I was just content that they were all healthy, happy, and energetic!

The Start of Collegiate Chicken

I was born a city kid. Packed suburban areas, where if your neighbor sneezed you reached over and handed them a tissue. I remained a city kid until I was twelve. Then, my parents decided to move away from the city life and out into the country, and I fell in love with it.

My primary reason for starting this blog is to share with you, the reader, the process of raising my chickens. I want to be able to share their antics as tiny little featherheads, to their sudden spurt of growth into gawky teenage birds. From the construction of their coop, to their first night outside. When they lay their first eggs, you can bet I'll have a post and pictures all about it!

I will try to make it interesting, I will try and be entertaining, and I will try to keep up with it! But, being a college student means that I may not be as diligent with this blog as I'd like to be. So stick with me, and watch my baby girls grow into gorgeous ladies!