6:30am – 400 balls of fluff arrive via USPS

We were half-awake and stumbling out the door on our way to low mass when our post office called us to say that our shipment of chicks had arrived. Dad and I went to pick them up after dropping off some of the kids at mass. The post office looked deserted when we walked in and the desk was closed off. I could hear the person back behind the wall of postal boxes sorting mail so I asked through the wall (a little timidly since it seemed a strange thing to do) about picking up the chicks. The lady met us around the back and helped us load up 4 boxes filled with chirping fuzz balls. We drove the birds home and set them up in our sun room with heat lamps, thermometers, and little dishes of water. The temperature is very important since it must stay around 90-95 degrees. In preparation for the chicks David had built a (very elaborate) brooder “cabin”. My uncle, cousin, and grandparents all helped with the process which included first moving the mammoth brooder outside and near the house. Once David had finished installing the water-feeder, and feeding troughs, heat lamps, thermometers, etc. we moved the boxes out and transferred the little chicks into their new home. Most of the chicks are broilers which we will raise for meat and the others are Rhrode Island Reds which we will be our egg layers. David and Dad are building portable structures to house them once they outgrow the brooder.